Michigan Football: 3 reasons Wolverines will beat Northwestern

There are no easy wins in the Big Ten conference. Michigan football will have to play well to beat Northwestern but here are three reasons it will and beat the Wildcats. 

Coming off a bye week always makes me nervous. That week off can be useful for resting healthy players but it can lead to rust too and Michigan football can’t afford any of that.

I know the Wolverines are playing 3-3 Northwestern, which is 1-2 in the Big Ten. Yes, the Wildcats were beaten handily by Michigan State and Nebraska just a few weeks ago, but Northwestern is getting better as evidenced by last week’s 21-7 win over Rutgers.

Their quarterback is healthy and is fresh off his best game of the season and frankly, Pat Fitzgerald has made a career of winning games he shouldn’t and getting the most of teams with average talent levels at best.

Michigan football is the heavy favorite and the No. 6 team in the country should win this game. Here are three reasons why.

The talent gap is huge

Fitzgerald does a great job of maximizing talent. Northwestern has a great culture and there’s a reason the program constantly overachieves. It’s won more division titles than Michigan has.

But the Wildcats also rank 45th according to the 247 team talent rankings for 2021. Michigan football is 15th. The Wolverines have three five-star recruits and 41 four-stars on the roster. Northwestern has one five-star and six former four-star recruits.

That’s a significant difference. Of course, talent alone isn’t enough to beat Northwestern, however, this Michigan football team has played to its talent and even exceeded it.

The schedule hasn’t been filled with elite teams, but it also hasn’t featured any cupcakes. And so far, Michigan has played up to its ability and if does that Saturday, U-M will improve to 7-0.