Michigan Football: Wolverines Still in Position for Big Ten Title

No, it’s not a straight and easy path, but this Michigan football team is still in decent position to represent the East in the Big Ten Championship and win its first conference title since 2004.

Let me make this clear though. Another loss and Michigan’s out of it.

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Road games against Minnesota and Penn State, as well as the home finale vs. Ohio State, are going to give Michigan all it can handle.

The two easiest games remaining are against Rutgers and Indiana, and I honestly view Indiana as a potential trap game. It’s a long shot, but in all reality the Hoosiers have the right formula to mess up someone’s Saturday afternoon.

The margin for error is so little now with one loss.

Everything has to get rolling again against Minnesota. It’s not like reclaiming the Little Brown Jug is going to take the place of letting the Paul Bunyan Trophy slip away, but a road win at night is exactly what this Michigan team needs when it comes back for the second half of the season.

The two biggies are against Penn State and Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions were dismissed after losing to Temple in Week 1, but we’ve seen Temple develop into a pretty good team. So maybe that loss wasn’t so terrible after all.

And besides, Penn State raked off five straight wins following that, and then hung in there with Ohio State before the Buckeyes pulled away to win 38-10.

I’m not writing off Penn State; that’d be a bad idea.

If Michigan is going to run the table the rest of the way, a few things need to happen.

First, Jake Rudock has to develop something further downfield. I used to say it wasn’t necessary, but after watching him against Michigan State, I’m not so sure about that anymore.

Second, the offensive line needs to get better when it comes to run blocking. Pass protection isn’t a problem. Run blocking has been—at least at times.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Credit: MGoVideo and Big Ten Network

(Image courtesy of MGoVideo, which is a great resource for Michigan fans.)

So, yeah…

Room to grow.

If Rudock can continue to develop and become a better downfield passer, and if the offensive line can do a better job run blocking, Michigan’s in pretty good shape moving forward.

If not, I see this team dropping one more game, maybe even two.

A final stamp of 10-2 (7-1) would be excellent. That would give the Wolverines the tie-breaker over Ohio State (if the Buckeyes win out), but we’d need to see Michigan State lose twice.

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Considering how spotty the Spartans have been this season, it’s not out of the question.

Michigan is still in play here. I said earlier that a loss to Michigan State wouldn’t derail the season, and it’s still true.

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