After winning three of their first four games, the Michigan Wolverines find themselves ranked 20th in the AP poll. Michigan football is in a good spot, one game into the Big Ten season.
If Michigan wants to be in the playoff mix in November, it has a narrow margin of error. Ohio State might be the only ranked opponent left on the schedule for the Wolverines.
Outside of USC, Michigan should be favored in every game until the Ohio State game, so a 10-1 or 9-2 record isn't far-fetched. The Wolverines have to take care of business, though.
That starts this Saturday at 12:00 EST on Fox. Michigan will be featured on Big Noon Kickoff for the game against 2-2 Wisconsin. Looking ahead to that game, here are the five biggest questions the Wolverines are facing.
Can Michigan keep running the ball?
The Wolverines were able to beat Nebraska on the road thanks to 286 rushing yards. Justice Haynes was a big part of that with 149 yards and a 75-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.
Jordan Marshall also had a breakout game with six carries for 80 yards and a 54-yard touchdown. The Wolverines not only have the Big Ten's leading rusher in Haynes, but Michigan is averaging 253 yards per game on the ground with an avreage of 6.7 yards per attempt.
Wisconsin has struggled this season. However, the defense hasn't been that bad, at least not the run defense, which is allowing just 2.1 yards per attempt through four games.
Wisconsin allowed just 133 rushing yards combined to Alabama and Maryland. They also allowed 2.9 yards per attempt, so this might be the best run defense Michigan has faced since Oklahoma.
Giovanni El-Hadi is expected back this week. Jake Guarnera has also been stellar. If he isn't the new starting right guard, he will get some snaps off the bench.
Wisconsin will want to make Michigan one-dimensional. The Wolverines need to avoid that and they might need to keep Underwood involved in the running game but Michigan needs to have success on the ground or this game will be much closer than expected.