Michigan Football vs Maryland: 3 Predictions for the Wolverines

Terps will test Michigan run defense

If there was one thing that disturbed me watching Michigan last week, it was its inability to stop Michigan State from running the football.

The Wolverines allowed the Spartans to rack up 217 rushing yards on 42 attempts, an average of 5.1 yards per carry.

LJ Scott, who hadn’t run the ball particularly well before the Michigan game, ran for 139 yards and also had two receptions for 47. It was the biggest reason, in my opinion, that Michigan State remained competitive.

Michigan still has the second-best run defense in the conference at 111 yards allowed per game, but with a Maryland offense that gets 252 on the ground per game, second in the Big Ten, it will be tested.

What makes the Terrapins even scarier, are two talented runners in Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison. Johnson has 624 rushing yards and gets 10.4 a carry. Harrison, on the other hand, has 575 rushing yards and averages 7.3 yards a carry.

Michigan football’s ability to stop the run will be key in this game and will go a long way towards showing if it’s a problem or if last week’s result was an abnormality.