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Michigan Football: Who Stands In The Wolverines' Way?
Michigan football’s schedule was supposed to get really tough in a few weeks with road games against Michigan State and Iowa, but how’s that looking now?
This is less about Michigan football looking like a pretty good team—a national title contender, even—and more about most of the rest of the teams on the Wolverines’ schedule having a lot of issues.
I said before the season began that Michigan had a really good shot at starting the season 7-0 before facing Michigan State in East Lansing on Oct. 29. My feelings haven’t weakened.
The Wolverines should have beaten Wisconsin something like 20- or 23-7, since field goals were such an issue on Saturday. A 14-7 score didn’t do that game justice; the Wolverines dominated from start to finish. Wisconsin was never winning that game.
What did Michigan State do on Saturday? Went to Bloomington, Indiana and lost to the Hoosiers. It’s not like Indiana is a bad team—I maintain this is a trap game for Michigan later—but the Spartans were supposed to be much better. Playing almost 60 minutes of neck-to-neck football with Furman wasn’t a good look, and rolling over Notre Dame is getting less significant by the week.
How about Iowa? The Hawkeyes have been extremely underwhelming the last thee weeks, losing to North Dakota State and Northwestern and beating Rutgers 14-7. What in the world, Kirk Ferentz?
Michigan being undefeated—11-0—heading into its finale with Ohio State was at one time considered to be just a bit too hopeful for reality. Surely, we thought, Michigan State or Iowa—or both—would have the Wolverines’ number and win at home. That’s looking less and less likely now, and we’re just barely into October.
Michigan State has four weeks to get its stuff together; Iowa has six. That’s a long time, definitely enough to turn things around and once again become a legitimate threat to Michigan. But right now, neither team would score twice, and boring as Michigan’s offense is, neither could shut it down.
You have some deep prior convictions if you’re trying to convince me that Michigan and Ohio State won’t be playing for the chance to represent the Big Ten East in the conference title game in December.
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