Big Ten Championship Edition: Five Questions for Michigan Football

Can Michigan stop Purdue’s rushing attack?

Purdue is known as a pass-first offense under head coach Jeff Brohm, but they also have been more effective as of late running the football on the ground too.

Purdue is #97 in the country in rushing offense, averaging 125.8 yards per game on the ground, and 3.84 yards per carry, which might not pop out at you, and is still really bad, but over the last couple of weeks, Purdue has averaged 5.1 yards on the ground per game.

Michigan just can’t show effort in trying to stop the run. They should hold up, but they can’t get complacent, lackadaisical, or uninterested.

Play sound, disciplined football, and they will be more than fine.

Final Thoughts

I think Michigan football is safely in the playoff, regardless of the outcome of this game (the only possible exception is a blowout Purdue win, which is dang near 0% probability), so there’s way less pressure in that sense.

Although none of us have watched much Purdue for the last several years, this year’s version of Purdue (and last year’s) is probably similar to Maryland, just with one really talented wide receiver instead of about three or four with Maryland.

Purdue’s QB Aidan O’Connell has slightly regressed from last season (a big part of that can be attributed to losing David Bell) but overall, he is still playing quite well, all things considered.

I don’t expect Purdue to just drop down and play dead. They will put up a fight, possibly punch Michigan in the mouth first with a quick score, so Michigan has to be on their P’s and Q’s.

Purdue QB Aidan O’Connell is also playing for more than a Big Ten Championship this weekend. His brother passed away earlier this week (prayers and thoughts up to him) so he will come out even more motivated to win this game, so Michigan will need to adjust accordingly.

I don’t think I need to say what will happen in the first half. I’ll say it anyway: Michigan will do Michigan things, slow play things, play around with their food (Purdue) for a half, Michigan football will only be ahead by 7-10 points, and then the Wolverines will pull away in the second half, for seemingly the millionth time.

The spread right now is -16.5 according to Fan Duel in favor of Michigan. I expect them to be ahead at least 14-21+ points after halftime, so I have them covering the spread and winning, 38-17.