Michigan Wolverines football is set to take on Minnesota Saturday at The Big House. Here’s a look around the internet at what they’re saying before kickoff.
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Stock down: Michigan
Yes, Michigan just beat USC, but it passed for only 32 yards and won through big runs and a pick six. That’s going to be a hard recipe to sustain against quality opponents. Sure, the [junior quarterback] Alex Orji move at quarterback is best for the team, but at the end of the day, the Wolverines appear to be just a more athletic/talented version of the Iowa teams of the past few years. Can they win eight or nine games? Yes. But a Playoff run? That’s unlikely.
Michigan still has Oregon at home as well as a trip to Ohio State. Don’t sleep on road trips to Washington, Illinois and Indiana, either. My model gave Michigan just a 2 percent chance to make the Playoff last week, and that number increased to just 5 percent after the USC win. Such a slight increase paints the picture of the long-term concerns.
It’s possible Orji allows the Wolverines’ run game to be more explosive than it was the first three weeks. [Graduate running back] Kalel Mullings seems to be their best running back, and they leaned on him late against USC. And running the ball efficiently while taking care of the football with a great defense has been successful in past years of the Big Ten. I’m just not sure it’s a recipe to become a Playoff team. With a loss already on the schedule and the tricky slate still ahead, I have had time seeing Michigan getting to double-digit wins.
The optimists saw a mobile athlete who allowed the Wolverines to lean into their strengths and play a rugged, ball-control style geared toward limiting the possessions of their opponent. The pessimists came away thinking Orji’s effect was nothing more than a mirage and the victory Saturday materialized from a series of fortuitous events, including an early 14-point lead and a defensive touchdown by [junior cornerback] Will Johnson that saved the Wolverines from collapse in a frustrating second half. But Orji wasn’t willing to indulge the legion of doubters. When a reporter asked him whether he can have success as a quarterback if he couldn’t effectively throw the ball with consistent accuracy, he said, “It’s hard, but I guess it’s not impossible.”
The victory against USC went a long way toward validating the long-held belief that Orji, more than any other quarterback on the current roster, was the most sensible option to lead a team that didn’t have any proven skill players on the outside and was in the process of breaking in five new starters on the offensive line. The most accomplished players still in the fold after a mass offseason exodus were [junior] tight end Colston Loveland and a pair of running backs, Mullings and [senior running back] Donovan Edwards . The prevailing thought was that Orji, who had carried the ball 21 times but had only one attempted one pass during his first two seasons in Ann Arbor, appeared capable of spearheading an extreme version of a [former head coach] Jim Harbaugh -inspired offense that featured a power running game and heavier personnel packages.
Three big story lines
Can the Gophers end their Big Ten skid?
With their loss to Iowa, the Gophers have dropped five in a row against Big Ten teams, being outscored 171-83 in the process. Their last Big Ten win was a 27-12 triumph over Michigan State on Oct. 28, 2023. Facing a team that’s ranked 12th and has playoff aspirations is a tall task.
Can the Gophers stop the run?
They’ve been victimized for 129 yards by North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and 206 by Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson , and now the Gophers will face the duo of Kalel Mullings, who rushed 17 times for 159 yards against USC last week, and Donovan Edwards, who carried 14 times for 74 yards.
Can Max Brosmer find consistency?
Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer has had some hot streaks, such as the second quarter against Iowa when he completed 10 consecutive passes and went 11-for-14 for 188 yards and two TDs. He’s also had slumps, too, including his 5-for-11, 44-yard second-half showing vs. Iowa. He’ll seek balance at Michigan.
This is going to be a knockdown, drag out type of fight that requires Minnesota’s defense to be better against the run than it was in a 31-14 loss to Iowa last week. The problem is that Michigan may be even better at pounding the rock than the Hawkeyes. Bottling up Kalel Mullings, Donovan Edwards and Alex Orji for four quarters is a tough ask, and the Wolverines should be able to create separation in the second half with the help of their solid defense.
Pick: Michigan -9.5
1. Michigan 27, USC 24 (CBS mid-afternoon; Brad Nessler play-by-play, Gary Danielson analyst)
Michigan’s quarterback uncertainty ran the risk of dampening some of the national enthusiasm leading up to the season’s first heavyweight clash of new and old contenders in the expanded College Football Playoff era. To its eternal credit, CBS pulled out every stop to make this matchup feel like the game of the year anyway, and it was rewarded with a thrilling back-and-forth game with an exciting finish sure to do big numbers when ratings are released later this week.
From the opening montage to the SkyCam shots of Michigan fans’ stripe-out, the broadcast made this game feel as special as any big-time SEC on CBS telecast from recent years. I for one think I’m fully on board with the network’s Big Ten era after Saturday afternoon. Nessler and Danielson sounded genuinely thrilled to be there.
“Been waiting for this one for years,” Danielson said just before the action got underway. “All the papers were signed (years ago), and now we’re gonna kick it off.”
One moment of unintentional comedy that will stay with me was the decision to show crowd noise measurements throughout the traditional playing of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” CBS had made a predetermined decision to go big on “Mr. Brightside” throughout the day, but the broadcast’s decibel reading hovered in the low 90s throughout the song, safely between “Normal Conversation” (60 db) and “Rock Concert” (110 db) on the CBS scale. Not exactly a death blow to the many critics of how loud (or not loud) the Big House gets compared to other iconic college football stadiums.
Between the whistles, Nessler and Danielson were rock-solid and got a big boost from four quarters of back-and-forth drama. Danielson picked the right late-game moment to raise the question of whether Michigan should go back to Week 1 starting quarterback Davis Warren , even though the Wolverines mounted their game-winning touchdown drive not long afterward. Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday” eats first in the conference rights hierarchy, but I will be looking forward to the matchups CBS gets down the line.
For many years, [ Jon] Falk kept the jug locked away in the equipment room, fearing something might happen to it. Eventually, he decided it “wasn’t fair to the jug” to have it hidden in storage all year. Michigan began displaying it in Schembechler Hall, and it now sits in a trophy display that was added as part of Michigan’s recent locker room renovation.
Michigan-Minnesota doesn’t generate the same buzz as the Michigan State or Ohio State game, but players still consider this a rivalry. [Sophomore] wide receiver Fredrick Moore said Michigan has been talking about the jug “since the summertime,” and keeping it in Ann Arbor has been a point of emphasis this week.
As long as Falk is around, that’s not going to change.
“If you see the faces of these kids Saturday,” Falk said, “whoever wins, when they swoop in and take that Little Brown Jug, it’s the proudest day of their life.”
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