The situation for Michigan football is clear. Win and the Wolverines are probably in the College Football Playoff.
A single loss along the way will end that hope for Michigan. Ohio State is the game everyone is thinking about, at least from a Michigan perspective, but there are two difficult games looming before that.
Fans might be scoffing at the idea of Northwestern and Maryland being difficult games. Yet, just this week, we saw second-ranked Indiana need a last-minute touchdown to survive against winless-in-the-Big-Ten Penn State.
Winning the next two games on the road might be as difficult a beating the Buckeyes. That's just the reality of the Big Ten with a freshman quarterback. Usually, only the better teams in the conference have winning records on the road.
Michigan is 2-1 right now, with wins at Nebraska and Michigan State. A 4-1 road record would be impressive, regardless of the opponent. Ohio State is another animal. Yet, it's one that the Wolverines are programmed to beat.
This program has been built to beat the Buckeyes. It feels like Ohio State has adjusted. We'll see what that looks like three weeks from now.
Keeping all that in mind, here are three things Michigan has to do to run the table.
Get more production out of Bryce Underwood
The Wolverines have been really conservative with Bryce Underwood on the road. Michigan barely threw the ball in the second half of the Michigan State game. It didn't need to. But it didn't feel like there was a ton of confidence in Bryce to see the field.
Last week, Bryce saw the field. He just missed his targets. Upon review, it felt like the Purdue game was closer to a good game than we realized, or at least not as disastrous.
Underwood was seeing the field much better. That's a good sign. After a bye week, if his physical execution can match the mental side of things, outside of the one interception, which was a bad decision, too, he should be fine.
There is a lot of talk about the "freshman wall." Quarterback development is just this way. It's up and down and Underwood was forced to play to early, which hasn't helped.
The hope has to be that he looks less like a freshman after the bye week. It's not unreasonable, but with two games on the road, it's hard to predict how he will play. If Michigan football wants to finish 3-0, they need more production, especially in the passing game from Bryce Underwood.
Michigan needs to keep having success on he ground
A good running game is a quarterback's best friend. It doesn't look like Justice Haynes will be returning from injury this season, although we don't know for sure.
Jordan Marshall, who is part of a backfield that has produced seven runs of more than 50 yards this season, has three consecutive 100-yard games. Last week, the redshirt freshman ran for 185, amassing 210 total.
Michigan needs that Jordan Marshall through the end of the season. The Wolverines need to try to rest him as much as possible against Maryland and Northwestern.
It might not be possible. Regardless, the running game needs to keep cranking out 200-yard rushing games if this team wants to win out.
Get healthy
Michigan has the pieces needed to beat Ohio State. They just need to get as many players healthy as possible. Getting Rod Moore, Jimmy Rolder, Cole Sullivan, and Jaishawn Barham back on defense would be a game-changer.
Michigan is missing multiple starters on offense, too. Haynes is still out, and Evan Link was the starting left tackle before a leg injury knocked him out of the past three games, maybe the entire season.
Sherrone Moore hasn't said much about the return of either. Hogan Hansen is another who has been hampered with injuries. If he could stay healthy, if most of these pieces could get and stay heathy, Michigan can at least put its best foot forward over the next three weeks.
November has brought out the best in Michigan football. We'll see if that's stil true over the next few weeks.