Michigan Football: Predicting each non-conference game for Wolverines

The Army West Point Football Team

Army was great, in the 1940’s and yet when you look to recent history, it seems that the Army of old has come back with a vengeance.

The team decided winning ten games in the regular season wasn’t enough so they traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for the Armed Forces Bowl against the 8-4 Houston Cougars and showed the college football world they deserved to be ranked No. 22 in the country, winning 70-14.

Realizing they needed to adjust to a more passer-friendly offense – Army averaged 27.8 passing yards per game – they turned to Kelvin Hopkins Jr who rushed for and threw for over a thousand yards during the 2018 campaign. Now Hopkins returns as a senior to lead the Black Knights against the Wolverines on September 7th in the Big House.

Just like all of the service academy’s, Army runs a triple-option flexbone offensive scheme which means the QB has the option to hand off the ball, pitch it, or throw it on any given play.

Their offense is fast and confusing at times but they’re not coming to Michigan to play Western or Eastern, they are traveling to grind it out against one of the top defensive minds in the country and they suffered some significant losses after last season including their top rusher in Darnell Woolfolk and top tackler James Nachtigal.

They have shown they can compete with the best when they took Oklahoma into overtime; however, the Wolverines are much more dependent on the defense and not the air-it-out offense and lay down defense approach of the Sooners.

My prediction: Over 200 yards rushing for both teams with a lot of punting. Michigan Wolverines 14, Army 10.