Michigan football will battle Purdue for the Big Ten championship on Saturday night and here’s the key info including injury reports, a betting preview, and how to watch.
It’s a huge day for the Michigan football program as the Wolverines will be playing for their second consecutive Big Ten championship on Saturday night.
Winning it last year felt like a dream. This year, Michigan football was expected to be in the mix but most, including myself, thought Ohio State would take back the crown.
The Buckeyes got some help from Utah last night and appear to be headed to the College Football Playoff, along with the Wolverines, but the Big Ten championship is a prize reserved for only one team, and 8-4 Purdue is standing in the way of the Wolverines.
Purdue will be plenty motivated. The Boilermakers don’t get chances like these often. A win would clinch a Rose Bowl berth for the first time in 22 years and it sure seemed to inspire Utah last night.
Jeff Brohm is also one of the best head coaches in the Big Ten. Aidan O’Connell is also one of the best quarterbacks, so Michigan football needs to play its best.
With that in mind, here is a look at the injury report, a betting preview, and how to watch.
Michigan Football vs Purdue Injury report
Blake Corum is out for the game and out for the season according to reports. He suffered a knee injury against Illinois and despite trying to play last week, is having surgery.
That means Donovan Edwards will get the start. He ran for 224 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio State last week but will still be wearing the cast, so ball security is a concern. C.J. Stokes should get some attempts too but he hasn’t done anything special in recent weeks.
The biggest question for me on the injury front is Mike Morris. He played against Ohio State but didn’t seem right and was limited to just 11 snaps. Braiden McGregor really stepped up in his absence and so did Eyabi Okie, but he’s a force and not just as a pass rusher.
Morris does as well setting the edge as any player in the country that I’ve seen. Both this season and last year, he’s been an essential part of the run defense. Outside of Morris, everyone else that went last week should be a go for the Wolverines.
Michigan Football vs Purdue betting preview
According to FanDuel, Michigan football is a 16.5-point favorite going into the Big Ten championship game with an over/under of 51.5.
I’ve been saying that Purdue scares me. I don’t think the Boilermakers match up as well as Illinois did and without Donovan Edwards, it was a perfect storm once Corum went out.
But don’t sleep on Brohm and O’Connell. When you have a coach/QB combination like that, you can pull some upsets and Purdue has. It beat two undefeated teams last season.
Edwards and J.J. McCarthy are going to have to have another good night and so will defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
I do think Michigan will pull away and get ahead by three scores in the second half, but Purdue will put up some yards and 20 points in a 34-20 loss, covering the spread just barely.
I’d feel comfortable betting the over too in this game. Red zone defense will be key and a couple of stops down there will keep the Boilermakers in the 20s.
What Channel is the Michigan Football Game on in Championship Week?
Michigan will play Purdue on Fox at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST.
Michigan football vs Purdue Live Stream
Today’s Michigan football game can be live-streamed on Fubo TV.