Michigan Football: 3 reasons for confidence against Michigan State

UM has the edge at QB

One of the first things you look at when comparing two football teams are the quarterbacks and the head coaches. We can talk about the head-coaching matchup later but when it comes to quarterback, the Wolverines have a huge advantage.

Patterson was 14-of-25 for 212 yards and two touchdowns against Michigan State in a rain-soaked Spartan Stadium and also ran for 30 yards, including a couple of clutch first downs.

Lewerke, on the other hand, was 5-of-25 for 66 yards. In the previous year against Michigan, he was 11-of-22 for 94 yards, while rushing for 61 and a TD. So in two starts vs UM, Michigan State’s guy at QB is completing 34 percent of his passes and averaging 80 yards per game.

Those numbers are so bad you can’t make them up and on the opposite sideline is Patterson, a sure-fire NFL draft pick that could even go in the first round in the 2020 NFL draft. He has the accuracy, the arm strength and the intangibles of a great quarterback in addition to being a threat to run.

The thing that held him back the most in his first year at Michigan was Harbaugh’s old-school offense. Thankfully, that’s out the window and that’s another edge the Wolverines have going into 2019.