Winning back-to-back national championships is always challenging, especially when you lose over half your roster. The Michigan Wolverines face that exact adversity this upcoming season.
The Wolverines rank 126th among FBS teams in returning production, having lost players such as J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum, Mike Sainristill, and Junior Colson. Former head coach Jim Harbaugh is also off to Los Angeles to take over the Chargers, and Sherrone Moore will take over the reins.
Despite losing so much talent, CBS Sports analyst Josh Pate says the Maize and Blue will have a strong season.
“I predict them to go 9-3,” Pate said on his show “The Late Kick.” “Keep in mind Texas plays them in week 2. So there’s a world where one of those losses is to Texas, and the other two losses are in-conference. Depending on who they are, and depending on how good those teams did the rest of the way, maybe there’s a world where Michigan finds their way into the Big Ten Title game?”
Aside from the Texas game, the Wolverines face some premier opponents in the new-look Big Ten. Michigan opens up conference play at home against No. 23 USC in Lincoln Riley’s first Big Ten game. They will travel to Seattle a few weeks later to take on the Washington Huskies in a rematch of last year’s national championship game.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier from there. Michigan will host a very talented Oregon team on Nov. 2 at The Big House in a matchup of two conference championship contenders. The Wolverines will end their season in Columbus, taking on No. 2 Ohio State, a team they have defeated three straight times.
We will really find out what this Michigan team is made of early in the season; if they can take down Texas in week 2, it suddenly makes the race for the Big Ten championship much more interesting.
Local Ann Arbor, MI
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