Michigan Football: 5 predictions for Wolverines against Northwestern

Corum shines

Michigan football should be able to ground and pound Northwestern into submission on Saturday. Kenneth Walker III ran all over Northwestern in the season-opening win for Michigan State and I expect Blake Corum to have a big day this time around.

Nothing like what Walker did. But Corum will get his first 100-yard game in the Big Ten conference, which will require breaking off a long run or two with the way he and Hassan Haskins split carries.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see them each get the ball close to 20 times and don’t forget about Donovan Edwards either — coming out of the bye week, he could use some touches too.

Haskins will be the bulldozer and he’ll have a solid day too, but Corum will be the one who takes advantage of the battered Northwestern run defense to the tune of at least 100 yards and a touchdown.

Prediction

You can probably see where I’m leaning here. Northwestern is capable of making this a game and it’s not going to be a blowout. It will be competitive in the second half.

But there’s a difference between hanging around and actually having a chance to win. I think this will feel like the Rutgers game, except the Wolverines will do a better job of finishing.

Northwestern will keep it tight early and might even be within a score at halftime. But Michigan is too talented and has too much on the line to lose this one.

Final score: Michigan 34, Northwestern 13