Michigan Football: How Shea Patterson can live up to expectations

Shea Patterson is expected to be the savior of Michigan football and here’s what he needs to do to live up to that expectation.

Michigan football fans have a lot of reasons to be excited about the upcoming season, but the biggest by far is new quarterback Shea Patterson. Soon, that title will be new starting quarterback Shea Patterson.

The transfer, who came to Michigan football from Ole Miss, gave a wide-ranging interview to the Bleacher Report this week and the junior embraced his role as the savior of the Wolverines, saying wherever he’s been, that’s the role he has played.

“I’ve been it all my football life; it’s part of playing the position,” Patterson told Bleacher Report. “But I get it. This is different. There’s more at stake now.”

There definitely is more at stake. The Rebels were a middle-of-the-road program in the SEC. Getting to a bowl game and have an eight or nine-win season every few years is pretty good. At Michigan, that doesn’t cut.

In his first three seasons, Jim Harbaugh averaged more than nine wins a year and many people believe he should be on the hot seat. So, anything less than nine or 10 wins this season, would obviously be a huge disappointment.

In terms of Patterson, he can only do so much. He doesn’t even have a full season of starts under his belt, but he has also shown he can produce against those elite SEC defenses. In seven games, Patterson threw 17 touchdown passes for the Rebels, while the Wolverines had three QB’s combine for less than 10 all season.

Simply put, Patterson can’t be worse than John O’Korn, Brandon Peters and Wilton Speight. He just can’t be. But the added wins won’t be easy to come by. The schedule is brutal and Michigan football faces four really tough road games: Notre Dame, Northwestern, Michigan State and Ohio State.

Winning even two of those games will be a major challenge. But, with Patterson playing at a high level, anything is possible. Statistically, it’s easy to expect him to eclipse 3,000 yards passing and 20 touchdowns. That’s actually being conservative.

But more than stats, Patterson needs W’s. That is why Michigan football brought him on board — to beat teams like Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. And that will be the measure of his success.

Harbaugh and the Wolverines have to start beating the teams they haven’t so far, especially the Buckeyes and Spartans. They also need to start winning championships. And in the Big Ten East, winning titles and beating both MSU and OSU, goes hand-in-hand. You have to get through those teams to win the division and the Big Ten Championship.

Outside of one game against a poor Michigan State team in 2016, Michigan football has been unable to win these season-defining games and if Patterson doesn’t make the difference, then his status as the savior will not be justified.