Michigan Football: Breaking down injuries, weather for Michigan State

We take a look at injuries that could impact Michigan football and Michigan State, as well as what the weather might look like.

Injuries are part of football and they stink. There are few things worse than a key player missing due to injury and hopefully, Michigan football will have all hands on deck Saturday for Michigan State.

The truth is that the Wolverines won’t because Ronnie Bell was lost for the season in the first game against Western Michigan.

It’s hard not to think about the impact he could have on this offense. But at least he will likely be back next year.

As far as Saturday is concerned, there are some key injuries to monitor on offense and we don’t have much indication about who will play and who won’t.

The most important injury might be to starting guard Zak Zinter who has missed the last two games. Trevor Keegan has also been out and their replacements have been Chuck Filiaga and Karsen Barnhart.

Barnhart has played pretty well as Sherrone Moore, the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator said earlier this week:

"“Yeah, I’m really excited about what he’s done. Going back to the Nebraska game, when he came in there and played well throughout that game, and in the last game played well. Very excited about his development. Kinda knew he could go inside if we ever needed him to. Kinda helps to cross-train those guys to do that. I’m really excited about what he’s done and the physicality and being able to move inside. Very excited to see what he’s been doing.”"

Barnhart normally plays tackle but has moved inside and played well at guard. So even if Keegan isn’t able to return, but Zinter is and it seems likely since he dressed out last week, he and Barnhart would make a solid duo inside at guard. Keegan might be able to go too but all we got from the coaching staff was “We’ll see.”

At least Roman Wilson should be 100 percent. He played just five snaps last week after emerging earlier in the season in the win over Wisconsin. His speed could be important.

Weather for Michigan football vs Michigan State

We all know the weather can impact the game. Michigan fans will remember John O’Korn trying to throw all over the lot in a monsoon back in the 2017 loss to Michigan State.

This time around, the weather looks pretty solid. Here’s what the national weather service has to say about Saturday in East Lansing:

"“A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly before 7 am. Cloudy, with a high near 53. North northeast wind 8 to 11 mph.”"

That should make for pretty good conditions and neither team should be limited by what’s going on with the weather.