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.
J.J. McCarthy has another stellar outing
Michigan football’s starting quarterbacklooked like a Heisman Trophy candidate in Week 1. He completed 26-of-30 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns.
It was hard to describe but McCarthy just looked different than last week. The game has definitely slowed down for him. I understand it was East Carolina, but still, McCarthy made some spectacular plays and just felt in complete control.
The third touchdown pass to Roman Wilson was one of the best throws I saw from a quarterback in the first full week of college football. It was an NFL-caliber throw.
McCarthy has more confidence in his arm and the Wolverines showed they aren’t afraid to air it out if the box is loaded. J.J. is good enough to make teams pay and he’ll do the same on Saturday against UNLV throwing for around 250 yards and multiple touchdowns.
Michigan will get a couple of sacks
Another thing Michigan football fans talked about over the past week was the lack of sack production as the Wolverines didn’t get a sack against East Carolina.
There was a reason for that. Mason Garcia and the Pirates were determined to get rid of the ball quickly and it’s a good thing they did. However, the interception by Mike Sainristil was caused by Kenneth Grant’s interior pressure, so the pass rush did have some impact last week.
The Rebels are likely to try to get the ball out quickly too. Quarterback Doug Brumfield is experienced but only completed 11-of-18 passes last week for 86 yards. He does have a big arm and I expect UNLV to try some shots downfield.
However, Brumfield is going to get hit at some point. The defensive front is too good. With Derrick Moore, Braiden McGregor, T.J. Guy, Josaiah Stewart, and Jaylen Harrell on the EDGE, as well as Grant, Mason Graham, and Kris Jenkins, I don’t see another no-sack game.
The offensive line will be better
Michigan’s offensive line was solid in Week 1. Mccarthy had a lot of time in the pocket and the running backs had some tough sledding but Blake Corum still had a pair of 20-yard plus runs.
It wasn’t all bad is the point especially for a group with a couple of new starters. Karsen Barnhart also started at a different position, so it was understandable.
I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if Corum and Edwards went over 100 yards this week. It’s hard to predict that because they only combined for 22 carries. Those guys get better as the game goes on — look at Penn State last season and they didn’t get that chance much in the second half.
It feels like Trente Jones and LaDarius Henderson will get their chances this week and we’ll see how that shakes out for the offensive line.
My prediction is that not only will the numbers better — more in the 5-6 yards per carry range that we’re used too — but that it looks better for the offensive line too.
Special teams will improve
Michigan football did a lot of things well last week, but the special teams could have been better. There was a missed extra point by James Turner, as well as a miss from 52 yards.
Turner also connected on a 50-yarder. The second missed was wide left and the operation didn’t look great. The Wolverines also lost a bunch of yards on their first possession after a punt couldn’t be caught and bounced down to the one.
Karmello English is a name to watch in the return game and my expectation is the special teams will be more crisp than they were a week ago.
Michigan vs. UNLV prediction
This game should be similar to the game against ECU. UNLV will be well-coached and they have some solid additions from the transfer portal.
Mike Hart and Jay Harbaugh are sharing the interim coaching duties by each taking a half. Hopefully, Michigan football should be sharp, as it was a week ago.
I feel like the offense is going to score more points, while the defense will give up a little more but will still be suffocating. The spread is large and is similar to last week, but the Pirates were a program and UNLV isn’t at that point yet.
Michigan 48, UNLV 10.