Michigan football will finally get back to playing on the field Saturday and here are five predictions for the Wolverines vs. Michigan State.
It’s been an exhausting day or so for Michigan footbal fans who have heard about nothing but sign stealing instead of talk about their 7-0 Wolverines.
Who knows what will happen with the NCAA? There hasn’t been any evidence of Michigan doing anything wrong at this point, yet the national media is acting like guilty until proven innocent.
Regardless, Michigan football has a game to play on Saturday night. Michigan State is a 24.5-point underdog. The Spartans were also made aware of Michigan’s “sign-stealing” which as we all know isn’t illegal, despite what social media has to say about it.
Usually, we have our predictions earlier but keep getting distracted by the rabbit hole that is this “scandal.” A low-level Michigan staff has been suspended with pay yet, outside of Michigan knowing signals, which again isn’t illegal, no evidence has been provided or even referenced.
So the task at hand, here are five predictions for Michigan football vs. Michigan State.
It will be business as usual
This Michigan team is a veteran team and I don’t expect them to be distracted by any of this. In fact, I expect them to be even more focused — wanting to prove that they don’t need any of this stuff to beat their opponents.
Michigan was already going to be motivated for this game because it’s Michigan State, but also the incident last season after the game.
I don’t think that Michigan is out for revenge in a physical sense. But I do think they want to send a message to the Spartans and I think they’ll want to send a message to the rest of college football too after the latest NCAA investigation.
J.J. McCarthy keeps the Heisman campaign alive
There has been a lot of talk about Michigan State’s third-down defense this week and for good reason because the Spartans rank third in all of college football.
They allow their opponents to convert third downs just 27 percent of the time. However, I hate to break this to Michigan State fans, but part of the reason for that is the defense is so bad on the early downs it doesn’t matter.
The pass defense ranks 11th in the Big Ten allowing 7.1 yards per pass attempt. Michigan State has also allowed the second-most touchdown passes of any Big Ten defense so far this season and ranks 64th in scoring defense.
J.J. McCarthy’s stellar play has been well-documented. He’s a legit Heisman trophy contender now and I expect him to have a typical game of around 250 total yards and multiple touchdowns, without any turnovers.
Blake Corum runs for 100 yards
Michigan State has a respectable run defense. The Spartans are sixth in total rushing yards allowed, as well as eighth in the Big Ten in yards allowed per attempt at 3.5.
However, Michigan football proved against Nebraska earlier this season that it can run on just about anyone. The Huskers had the No. 1 run defense in all of college football and were allowing just 1.6 yards per attempt.
Yet, Michigan football rushed for 249 yards and averaged 4.9. The Wolverines used a lot of 13 personnel (three tight ends one back) and I’m betting we see that on Saturday.
I also think that we’ll see maybe the best game from Corum that we have seen all season. Kalel Mullings will be out with an injury and I see Corum getting enough carries against Michigan State, as well as being effective enough to rush for 100 yards.
It might be too much to call it a breakout game, but I think Michigan fans can expect a good night from Blake Corum in East Lansing.
Michigan stuffs MSU on the ground
A huge key for Michigan State in this game, in my opinion, is the Spartans having a productive day on the ground.
Outside of there being a crazy amount of turnovers, I have a hard time seeing the Spartans upset Michigan without of some semblance of a running game.
The good news is that Nathan Carter is a talented running back. He’s averaged 4.7 yards per attempt for the Spartans this season. Michigan football has also struggled to stop the run the past two weeks, especially in the first half.
I’d expect the Spartans to challenge Michigan’s front seven and try to establish the run as Indiana and Minnesota were able to do. Indiana rushed for 92 yards; Minnesota had 117.
The Wolverines have been stingy against the run. Heck, they are allowing under seven points per game as a team. A huge part of that has been the run defense and I don’t see it letting the Wolverines down on Saturday night.
Michigan football will run for close to 200 yards, while Michigan State won’t reach 100 and folks who know this rivalry, know how important that can be.
Michigan picks off Katin Houser twice
The Michigan football defense has been cranking up its turnover production in recent weeks. Michigan intercepted two passes against Minnesota and ran them both back for touchdowns.
Last week, the Wolveriners intercepted Indiana twice too. Katin Houser, the Michigan State starting quarterback is talented. He’s also one of the youngest starters in the history of the series.
Houser is bound to make some mistakes, especially if Michigan can force the Spartans offense to be one-dimensional.
I think Houser will create some explosive plays in the passing game, but there will be mistakes too — maybe a couple of interceptions since the pass rush will be bearing down on him.
Michigan football vs. Michigan State prediction
There hasn’t been much talk about the game in the past couple of days. But Jim Harbaugh and his team will be focused. J.J. McCarthy is going to have a great game and there is too wide of a talent gap right now between Michigan and Michigan State.
The Spartans will keep it competitive during the first half, but the Wolverines pull away in the second half and they will win 38-10.
Michigan 38, Michigan State 10