Michigan Football vs Maryland: Prediction and odds for Week 4 College Football

Michigan football will finally start Big Ten play this week as 3-0 Maryland will come to Ann Arbor for the home opener. Here’s a look at the odds and an early prediction.

Everybody has had their say about Michigan football‘s non-conference schedule and there’s no doubt that it was weak.

It wasn’t meant to be as weak as it was. In most years, Colorado State and Hawaii are Moutain West teams competing for bowl games. UConn has been a mess but the program wasn’t always that way and does appear to be headed in the right direction under Jim Mora Jr.

It allowed Michigan football to figure out the QB situation. It also allowed a ton of guys to get experience over the first three games which should be helpful now that Big Ten play begins.

But Maryland is no joke and the competition steps up for real. Every team in the Big Ten East is 3-0 right now except for Michigan State.

First things first, Michigan football has to take care of Maryland and its dynamic offense (499 yards per game). Maryland got a bowl game last year and won it. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa has thrown for just under 300 yards a game. He’s completing 77 percent of his passes and has six touchdowns to go along with two interceptions.

Roman Hemby has also emerged for the Terps and is averaging 9.3 yards per carry so far this season. The receiving core isn’t bad either. The Maryland defense is allowing 393 yards per game, including 272 in the air.

The defense has registered just five sacks and is giving up way too much penalty yardage. Almost four first downs a game by Maryland are given up due to penalty. The Terps also have just one takeaway forced per game.

Maryland also beat up on some cupcakes but defeated a solid SMU squad by a touchdown last week. We’ll have much more on the Terps, but here’s an early look at the odds, plus our early prediction for Michigan football against the spread.

Michigan football vs Maryland Odds in Week 4 College Football

After being favored by 40 points or more in each of the last three weeks, Michigan football is favored by 16.5 points right now over the Terrapins according to WynnBET. The over/under for this matchup is set for 62 points and the money line is -700 for Michigan and +475 for Maryland.

Michigan football vs Maryland prediciton in Week 4 College Football

We’ll have a more thorough breakdown and prediction at the end of the week, but our first impression is that Maryland will be a decent test for the Wolverines.

At the very least, we are going to find out about the pass defense. Through three games Michigan football is allowing just 91 yards through the air and a completion percentage of 44 percent. The Wolverines have also allowed just one touchdown.

The run defense is also giving up just three yards per carry and was pretty effective against UConn which was averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground.

Tagovailoa is dangerous and he even moved the ball well at times last year against Michigan. Yet, Maryland has struggled mightily against U-M under Jim Harbaugh, who is 6-0 against the Terps and has won those games by an average of 33 points.

21 points has been the closest margin and I believe we’ll see Michigan by something in that range on Saturday — Wolverines 41, Maryland 17.