5 bold predictions for Michigan football vs. UNLV

The second game of the season is up for Michigan football and the UNLV Running Rebels are next. Here are five bold predictions for the Wolverines. 

Michigan football returns to the Big House on Saturday for the second time this season, with the first game being broadcast on CBS.

UNLV comes into the Week 2 matchup at 1-0. However, the Running Rebels knocked off Bryant last week, a team from the FCS ranks.

Barry Odom is a first-year head coach at UNLV. He was previously at Missouri as the coach and was the co-defensive coordinator at Arkansas last season.

Michigan football clearly has a talent advantage and the No. 2 team in the AP and coaches poll is a 37-point favorite heading into Saturday.

Will the Wolverines cover the spread? Will the running game get back on track and can Michigan football win another game without Jim Harbaugh as the head coach?

Here are five bold predictions for the Wolverines against UNLV.

The run game gets going

Odom has talked about selling out to stop the run. The Rebels run a 3-3-5 type defense, similar to TCU, which gave Michigan some issues in the Fiesta Bowl.

Certainly, UNLV will try to follow the East Carolina method last week, but I don’t know that the Rebels have the same talent up front. ECU was a top-20 run defense in 2022, so it shouldn’t be a huge shock that they did well against the run.

Blake Corum will have more confidence and Donovan Edwards won’t be bottled up two weeks in a row, especially since UNLV allowed over 200 yards to Bryant on the ground.

I’m not saying that Michigan is going to have a monster day on the ground, which I’d say is 300 yards. However, the Wolverines will rush for at least 200 yards and quiet any questions about the run game after Week 1.