Michigan Football: It’s hard to argue with Jerry Palm’s bowl prediction

While many experts have picked Michigan football to win the Big Ten and reach the College Football Playoff, Jerry Palm of CBS isn’t one of them.

Over the summer, it has felt like just about every prognosticator has jumped on the bandwagon of Michigan football and predicted that the Wolverines will conquer Ohio State and the Big Ten.

Phil Steele, one of the most renowned experts in college football had the Wolverines going 12-0 and getting to the final four after winning the Big Ten championship for the first time since 2004. Heck, even I predicted a 12-0 mark, although I didn’t go farther, because you know, superstition.

But even the Big Ten coaches and the Big Ten media followed suit, placing Michigan football atop both of those preseason polls, even if the actual coaches poll has the Wolverines ranked seventh.

Yet, Jerry Palm of CBS doesn’t seem to be as high on Michigan as a lot of the other pundits and he showed as much when he did his first bowl game prediction of 2019.

While Palm still expects a really good season out of the Wolverines, he predicts that Michigan will fall to Ohio State again. Palm puts the Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl in his projection; UM lands in the Cotton Bowl against UCF.

In his post, Palm explains his reasoning for not picking the Wolverines over the Buckeyes and basically, his message is I will believe it when I see it. Here’s what he wrote:

"Many are on the Michigan bandwagon this season with Urban Meyer finally out of Jim Harbaugh‘s hair.  The Buckeyes are still the most talented team in the league.  I am not foolish enough to say the Wolverines cannot win the Big Ten this season, but I will believe it when I see it."

Michigan football fans aren’t going to like that, but if we are being honest, it’s hard to argue his point. The Wolverines seemed like they were going to have a good chance at beating Ohio State in each of the past four seasons. Three of the last four years they have been ranked in the top-10 leading up to the game and just couldn’t seal the deal.

After winning 10 straight games in 2018, many felt it was Michigan’s time, only to see the Buckeyes rout UM in what turned about to be Urban Meyer’s last home game.

Many believe, rightfully so, that this is Harbaugh’s most talented team at Michigan. He also brought in dynamic offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who should also make a big impact on the offense, which could be described as archaic last season.

But can any of us say with certainty that Harbaugh and company will beat Ohio State until we actually see it happen? The talent has been there and even without Meyer, Dwayne Haskins and some of those incredible receivers, Ohio State is loaded. OSU is an elite program.

Michigan isn’t yet but it’s on the doorstep and if the Wolverines want to silence their critics and become one of the true contenders in college football, they need to prove they can beat Ohio State. Once that happens, anything is possible, even a national championship.