Michigan Football: 3 reasons Wolverines must beat Michigan State

A win in East Lansing would set up a season-ending showdown with Ohio State

This game is huge for Michigan football for a lot of reasons, least of which is what it would mean for the Big Ten East standings.

Right now, the Wolverines are tied at 4-0 with Ohio State. Michigan State has one loss and Penn State has two. At this point, that means the Spartans, Buckeyes and Wolverines have the best chance to win the division.

Those three teams all have two games left against each other too, with the first coming this Saturday in East Lansing. If UM wins that game, it will be handing the Spartans their second conference loss, which with tiebreakers, would basically knock MSU out of the division title race.

A win for Michigan would also give it some room for error. Even with a loss to Penn State, Michigan would still need to just beat Indiana and Rutgers, following a win over Michigan State, to set up a showdown in the final week for the division with Ohio State.

A win would also keep Michigan football in the playoff picture, but more than that, winning this game means Michigan won’t need help to win the Big Ten East down the road.