Michigan Football: Previewing Big Ten title game vs Purdue
By Andrew Brion
Looking ahead to Michigan football and Purdue in the Big Ten championship game this Saturday.
On December 3rd Michigan football will play in their second straight Big Ten Championship Game, this time against B10 West Champion Purdue. The Wolverines won the 2021 B10 Championship game against Iowa, 42-3, and proceeded to make their first trip to the CFP.
The Wolverines (12-0) are matched up with the Boilermakers (8-4) who are led by Senior QB Aidan O’Connell. O’Connell has tallied over 3100 yards, and 22 touchdowns, while also throwing 11 INTs.
The main runner in the Purdue backfield is true freshman Devin Mockobee, who has ran for just under 900 yards and 8 touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. The WR room is headed by Charlie Jones, who has just under 100 catches, for 1,200 yards and 12 TDs. One of the main battles in this game will be how Jesse Minter decides to cover the elite WR from Purdue.
I fully expect Blake Corum to sit out this game, regardless of how the knee feels. Assuming the Wolverines win, they will almost certainly clinch the #2 seed in the CFP, and will be off until 12/31. This month-long break gives the Heisman hopeful almost an entire month to heal up and help Michigan continue on their national championship hopes.
Even after the emergence of Donovan Edwards in the Rivalry game at Ohio Stadium, I do expect Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss to call 20-25 passing plays for J.J. McCarthy this game. The truth is, this team will go as far as McCarthy will take it.
This team will not take down Georgia by just running the ball, as we saw last year. McCarthy would need to replicate, if not, improve his performance from Ohio State to win a National Championship.
The good news is, it’s clear this defense is good enough to hold just about the best of offenses, after holding the Buckeyes’ “best offense in the country” to just 23 total points, (3 in the second half).
Back to the Boilermakers, their most impressive performance is probably their 20-10 win at Minnesota or their win at Illinois 34-21. They have 2 ranked road wins this year, #21 and #20, and look to make another against the Wolverines.
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If I was calling the plays Saturday, I would dial up at least 3 deep shots for JJ, and have his drop back to throw at least 25 times. Ideally, I would like to see JJ McCarthy throw another 300-yard, 3-touchdown performance in this game, giving him more confidence before he likely draws a 13-0 TCU team on New Year’s Eve.