3 reasons that Michigan football will beat Minnesota

Michigan football is the heavy favorite going into Saturday night’s game against Minnesota and here are three reasons why the Wolverines will win. 

The start to the 2023 Michigan football season couldn’t be any better for the Wolverines and last week against Nebraska, they played their best football of the season.

Nebraska didn’t offer much resistance but that was more about Michigan than the Cornhuskers. Minnesota is a team that’s also had some ups and downs.

The Golden Gophers are 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten. They rallied to beat Nebraska but also blew a 17-point lead against Northwestern.

Minnesota is a hard team to figure out. P.J. Fleck’s teams always play hard and they play a similar style to Michigan — just not as well.

Fleck has yet to win a game against the Wolverines or Buckeyes and here are three reasons why his first big win won’t come against Michigan football on Saturday night. 

The run defense

Michigan’s run defense is as good as any in college football. The numbers might not reflect that. Michigan is allowing 3.1 yards per attempt. Last week, Nebraska got 32 yards on its first 20 carries before a 74-yard run in garbage time skewed that average.

When the game was on the line though, Nebraska couldn’t run the ball at all and the Huskers lead the Big Ten in rushing yards per game, still after last week.

Minnesota wants to pound the rock. Darius Taylor and Sean Tyler are their top players on offense and if Minnesota is going to pull an upset, they have to run the ball.

Otherwise, Athan Kaliakmanis is going to be under a lot of pressure, which will lead to mistakes.