Michigan Football vs Ohio State: 5 Predictions for the Wolverines

The Wolverines defense won’t repeat last season’s embarrassment

Last season, few Michigan football fans expected the defense to be completely dismantled by Ohio State to the tune of 369 rushing yards and 42 points.

Ezekiel Elliot ran for 214 yards and two touchdowns, while J.T. Barrett added 139 yards and three scores of his own on the ground. The Buckeyes owned the Wolverines, plain and simple.

Michigan’s defense may not be able to completely stop the Buckeyes, who have the best offense in the Big Ten at 493 yards per game, but UM should be able to do a much better job of containing them.

For starters, Ryan Glasgow will be in the middle this year, after being absent from last year’s game due to injury. The front-seven as a whole is better, especially with Peppers, Ben Gedeon and Mike McCray playing so well at linebacker.

Barrett is still going to give Michigan football fits. He has more than 722 rushing yards this season in addition to averaging 209 passing yards per game.

Mike Weber, who is fourth in the league in rushing with 1,046 yards, has scored eight touchdowns. and limiting his explosive runs will also be key.

I think UM defensive coordinator Don Brown will have some tricks up his sleeve, especially with Peppers and I think Michigan has enough athletes, it can limit some of the big plays.

In order to win the game, Michigan will probably need to hold Ohio State under 20 and while I don’t know if the Wolverines will do that, I think they will keep OSU under 30.