Michigan Football: The Biggest Letdown This Season Will Be…
There are four obviously difficult games waiting for Michigan football this season, and at least one of them will unfortunately let us down.
Well, I’m not here to predict terrible injuries to plague Michigan football. Nor recruiting heartbreaks or terrible transfers like something that happened last year (ahem, Asiasi Asiasi oye oye oye no mo).
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Nope, I’m going to discuss the possibilities and likelihoods of heartbreaking losses. I know, so sad.
I figure the parameters of the season go something like this: I think Michigan could go anywhere between 8-4 to 11-1. It could be outside those parameters, but I doubt it. And I have a pretty good idea which of those four games are most likely to end up in our “L” column, but it’s not like exactly a submarine secret now – my four are pretty much what everybody else has.
So, let’s get into it and discuss those four games, huh?
Game 1: Florida
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Michigan’s got the Florida Gators to start the season on Sept. 2 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, aka “Jerry World.” It’s the first high profile game to open the Wolverines’ season since they played Alabama in the same venue in 2012.
The Gators are rated almost as highly as Michigan in most polls (and in some cases, even higher). But Florida has had some problems and I just don’t suspect they’ve been working as hard and I don’t expect they’ll be as ready to come out the gate quick like the other side will.
I initially gave them maybe a 25 percent chance of winning. After hearing that seven players, including leading receiver Antonio Callaway, I’ll update their chances of winning to about 5 percent.
Game 2: Penn State
Oh, a night game, a whiteout in Happy Valley against the Big Ten champions. That sounds really scary. And there will be a lot of people who know what they’re talking about picking Penn State—at least in the preseason.
Me? Well, the sight of Penn State’s uniforms and James Franklin on the sideline—sorry, that just isn’t very scary to me. Still, they’ll maybe have about a 45 percent chance.
Game 3: Wisconsin
I believe this one is expected to be a night game as well. Scary. No, really, scary. Yes, I have heard that likely All-Big Ten linebacker Jack Cichy is out for the season. It still sounds scary to me. I think Michigan will have the better team. I just expect it to be a big emotional trap game. In “Star Wars parlance,” I have a bad feeling about this. This is the one I expect to be the big letdown.
Game 4: Ohio State
OhHowIHateOhioState. Another phrase Han Solo was famous for: “Don’t tell me the odds.” In a game like this you just throw ’em out. And I don’t care if Michigan is 11-0, 8-3 or something worse than that; I think this is the year the Wolverines put Urban “Oscar” Meyer on notice.
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I think Michigan rises to the occasion. Too bad about that big letdown the week before.