Michigan's defensive line
If Michigan football is going to win this game, it needs to win the trenches, on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, that means running the ball for over 200 yards and protecting Bryce Underwood. On defense, it means hitting Dylan Raiola as much as possible.
Raiola is second in the Big Ten in passing yards. He's got eight touchdowns and zero interceptions. He's completing 76 percent of his passes. Given time, Raiola will do damage.
Nebraska's wide receivers are good. Dane Key might be an All-Big Ten player. He's got a touchdown reception in each game. Nyziah Hunter and Jacory Barney are explosive, too.
Good luck covering all those guys. Having Rod Moore back in the secondary will help, especially in terms of getting into the right packages and alignments, but an even bigger help would be applying constant pressure on Raiola.
It starts with the run defense. Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson is a dude. It won't be easy to corral him, but Michigan is elite against the run (2.6 yards per attempt allowed). Even Oklahoma didn't run much, outside of the quarterback.
So as long as Michigan stops the run, it can tee off on Raiola, and with Jaishawn Barham playing more EDGE, it feels like the pass rush might be too much for the Huskers' O-line.