Worst comes to worst, the national media will see the great flaws in the Northwestern defense, making Jim O’Neil’s chair slightly warmer. Maybe watching Ryan Hillinksi get bounced like a basketball by Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo will make Jake cut the cuteness out of his game plan and call plays to let Hilinski get the ball to his playmakers. But maybe Fitz will finally stop playing the linebackers who have struggled all year long. Is it going to be O’Neil? Absolutely not. With another embarrassment on a national level, it will be impossible for a change to not be made.
Cade McNamara is going to throw for over 300 yards (increasing his season yardage by over 33%) and the combo of Haskins and Corum will add another 300 themselves. This score looks bad, but it’s actually very good. Jacob Brown: Michigan 52, Northwestern 21
Add on top of that a confident QB Cade McNamara and I don’t really see Northwestern staying in this game for very long, regardless of whether Mike Bajakian’s offense has Mike MacDonald’s defense figured out. And you know who else is in the Top 15? Both of Michigan RBs, Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum. Remember those two running backs that have had their way with the NU defense this season: Kenneth Walker III and Mataeo Durant? They’re both in the Top 15. I’ve gotten into somewhat of a PPA (Predicted Points Added) craze as of late, and when I looked at the top FBS running backs, I was instantly struck with fear for the ‘Cats defense this Saturday. Michigan will likely have 150+ rushing yards by the end of the day and the Wolverines cover due to a missed extra point from Charlie Kuhbander. I don’t think Northwestern’s defense is anywhere close to good enough to stop Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins. The line is Michigan by -21.5, and if the Wildcats were to win it would be the second largest upset in college football this year (behind Bowling Green’s win over Minnesota). The only question about this game is whether the ‘Cats will cover. Still, I think the Wolverines will emerge soundly victorious after a dominant second half in which their talent advantage over NU is displayed for all to see. I’ve decided that the ‘Cats actually will come out of the gates hot, putting a bit of a scare into the maize-donning fans at the Big House by keeping the game either very close or tied at halftime. A big question in this game is whether the Wildcats will stand up to the Michigan Stadium crowd early and show that they’re going to put up a fight, or whether they’re going to wilt in front of college football’s biggest crowd like they did at Nebraska earlier this month. Moral victory!Īfter predicting a 38-14 win for the Wolverines earlier this week on a podcast for Maize N Brew, UM’s SB Nation site, I’ve decided to reverse course a little bit. NU loses but only in kind-of-miserable fashion rather than all-out-miserable.
Sadly, the Wolverines reside in the East, where superior athletes, coaches and also Rutgers lies.
on a Tuesday night - they all have an equal chance to win and/or throw up on each other at any given time for no reason at all. Last week was fun and gave evidence that the entire Big Ten West is the equivalent of seven out of shape dads fighting each other in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven at 3 a.m. Daniel Olinger: Michigan 31, Northwestern 14