What’s the ceiling and the floor for Michigan Football in 2020?
The ceiling
Much of this depends on what Michigan gets out of Milton. If Milton is making incredible throws, taking care of the football and if he truly is a once-in-a-decade talent as Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck said this week, then the Wolverines have the chance to be special.
With Aidan Hutchinson, Kwity Paye and Cameron McGrone in the front seven, among others, and a back end that features Daxton Hill, as well as Brad Hawkins, the defense is going to be stout.
It remains to be seen how it holds up against Ohio State, but the bigger problem against the Buckeyes has been the poor quarterback play. If Michigan has a better quarterback, it wins “The Game” in 2017 and at least has a puncher’s chance in 2018 and 2019.
More from GBMWolverine
- 3 things to watch for Michigan football vs. Rutgers
- Michigan football vs. Rutgers: Prediction, Odds, Spread and Over/Under for College Football Week 4
- Michigan Wolverines news: Jim Harbaugh wants J.J. McCarthy ‘gunslinging’, plus a drop in recruiting rankings
- Grades, game balls for Michigan football vs. Bowling Green
- Michigan Wolverines news: Jake Moody is money in the NFL, plus more
Remember, Michigan was only down one score in 2018 at the half and if Shea Patterson was able to execute in the red zone last year against OSU, it would have been a game in the fourth quarter.
The problem is that with Patterson, O’Korn, Wilton Speight and Jake Rudock, Michigan was essentially bringing a knife to a gun fight, against an opponent with a sniper rifle and expert marksmanship.
That really limited Michigan’s ability to win football games. The formula always had to be the same and if the defense had an off day, the Wolverines couldn’t rely on their quarterback to win the game for them.
In five years, Harbaugh hasn’t had a single quarterback who could do that. Their production was above average but on the biggest stage, they were exposed as ordinary and that’s been the single biggest difference in the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.
So if Milton is the real deal, then the ceiling is reaching Indy for the Big Ten championship.
Maybe this pandemic will turn out to be a perfect storm for Michigan, which is more talented than people realize, especially if it finally has an elite-level quarterback.
dark. Next. Top 15 Michigan quarterbacks of all time
The Wolverines have all the other ingredients needed to be a championship team, but unless Milton lives up to the hype, those other pieces won’t matter and OSU will dominate again.