Michigan Football: 5 Predictions for the Wolverines against Maryland
Maryland doesn’t match up well with Michigan’s defense
During the first three weeks of the season, Michigan football played damn good on defense. However, in the past two weeks, they have taken their play to an entirely new level.
In wins over Northwestern and Nebraska, the defense held back-to-back teams to less than 200 total yards. The Wolverines also registered 10 sacks and 24 tackles for loss, numbers that are simply out of this world.
Last week, Chase Winovich had 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack, while Kwity Paye, a sophomore defensive end, also had a big day, notching two sacks with Rashan Gary missing some time due to injury.
.@Chase_Winovich decided to come back to Michigan for his fifth year — and what a year it’s been.
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) October 3, 2018
He ranks 1st in the #B1G and 3rd in the nation with 10.5 tackles for loss after five games. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/osFFZI7yKy
Michigan leads the Big Ten in total defense, and pass defense and ranks third in scoring and run defense. Maryland, on the other hand, has the worst pass offense in the Big Ten. The Terps running game is solid, ranking third in the conference with 258 yards per game, but against a defense that allows 86 yards a game and 2.5 yards per attempt, it doesn’t look promising.
In fact, it’s hard to see Maryland scoring much more than 10-13 points in this game. That is unless the Terps passing attack, which averages just 141 yards per game, suddenly finds it way against the Big Ten’s best pass defense.