Michigan Football: 5 predictions for Wolverines against Maryland

Patterson will have a big day throwing the football

Maryland brings the 13th-ranked defense in the Big Ten into this matchup as it allows 424 yards per game. What’s even worse is a pass defense that allows 273 yards per game, which is far and away the worst in the league.

While the focus of Michigan football should be the running game, because it has become the focal point of the offense in recent weeks, look for some big plays in the passing game too.

Shea Patterson has been really good throwing out of play-action and should have plenty of chances to do that Saturday. If the running game gets going early, expect the Wolverines to take shots over the top to Donovan Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins.

It will be interesting to see if Tarik Black is more involved this week and if Ronnie Bell can’t go, expect to see more Mike Sainristil.

Regardless of who is out there to catch the ball though, when he has time, Patterson throws a solid deep ball and if the run game can get Maryland bringing more bodies into the box, Shea can take advantage of a really poor pass defense.