Will the Michigan Wolverines' football team go 6-2 or better in this shortened 2020 eight-game regular-season? The schedule is brutal (crossover matchups with Wisconsin and Minnesota from the West), but Jim Harbaugh's crew nevertheless has the talent to put together what could be a special club.
Clayton Sayfie and Austin Fox provide their takes on the matter below, while explaining which games will be the most challenging for Michigan this fall.
Austin Fox — Buy
This one is an incredibly tough call. We'll buy, but barely. Assuming the regular-season finale at Ohio State is a loss (unfortunately, this is the reality we're in and Michigan's odds of winning that game — as of today, at least — appear to be very slim), U-M can only afford to lose one other game if it hopes to meet the aforementioned criteria.
Home contests against Wisconsin and Penn State and a road showdown at Minnesota are the next toughest games, with even a trip to Indiana on Nov. 7 against a Hoosier squad set to have its best team since 1993 shaping up to be quite difficult.
Can the Wolverines go 3-1 (or better) in the aforementioned quartet of games? Absolutely, but they'll likely need to come out of the gates strong (unlike last year) and gradually progress as the season goes on.
Home field advantage will mean less this year than perhaps any season in college football history (literally), minimizing the impact of where these games are played. With that in mind, it's fair to view the Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin games all as tossups.
The season-opening Oct. 24 trip to Minnesota should set the tone for Michigan's season in a lot of ways; if the Wolverines pick up a big win in Minneapolis, then a 6-2 mark or better in the regular-season should be expected.
On top of that, a victory over the Gophers would give redshirt sophomore quarterback Joe Milton and the rest of the club a tremendous amount of confidence moving forward, which as we've seen in the past can propel a team to great heights, or when it's lacking, destroy them.
Some prognosticators have tabbed Michigan as perhaps a 5-3 team (or worse) with senior wideout Nico Collins and senior cornerback Ambry Thomas choosing not to play and redshirt junior quarterback Dylan McCaffrey transferring, but it's still important to remember how much talent and experience is on the roster.
The Maize and Blue's defense remains loaded and should return to the elite status it had during Don Brown's first three years on the job. The offense, on the other hand, has significant question marks at both quarterback and along the offensive line, but possesses what should be Michigan's best group of running backs since the Lloyd Carr days.
There is still plenty of talent at wide receiver as well even with Collins no longer on the team, most notably in the form of junior Ronnie Bell (who led the club in both catches and yards last year).
Yes, U-M's schedule is brutal, but the Wolverines are nevertheless on equal footing with Penn State, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the race for the conference's second-best team.
Clayton Sayfie — Buy
“The last game, for us, defines the season,” Jim Harbaugh has said in the past. And it’s largely true, with the matchup between the Wolverines and Buckeyes always meaning more than the previous 11 games (in this year’s case, the previous seven). It doesn’t solely define the season, however, and Harbaugh would certainly agree with that. “Win the next game,“ has been a popular mantra during his tenure.
But as we saw in 2019, in terms of championships (“multiple championships” is the goal, Harbaugh has said), Michigan’s season was defined by losing at Wisconsin and at Penn State, taking them out of the running for the conference crown weeks before the Maize and Blue clashed with the Scarlet and Gray — given the fact that Ohio State had an unblemished regular season.
The big question this year is, what will The Game mean? It has plenty significance regardless of what transpires in the weeks leading up, but for the purposes of predicting Michigan’s fate in 2020, we’ll look at the first seven tilts through the lens of how that sets up the Dec. 12 showdown in Columbus.
There’s three “red letter” games out of the first seven — against both 2019 Big Ten West co-champions, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and versus Penn State — and four if Michigan State is included, which is really all they’ve ever really wanted, right?
The aforementioned three will define what’s at stake in the last one, and there’s reason for optimism in all of them. Minnesota had a slow start to last season, even though it won 11 games including in the Outback Bowl against Auburn. Michigan has had the edge over Wisconsin at home, and the Badgers lose legendary running back Jonathan Taylor, No. 1 receiver Quintez Cephus and some talent, including linebacker Zack Baun on defense. Penn State has been outscored 101-27 at The Big House in their last two games at the venue, and the Nittany Lions have question marks in the secondary while also being (likely) without All-American linebacker Micah Parsons, who opted out of the season.
Those games will all be dogfights, but I predict Michigan to win two of three. Indiana won’t be a cakewalk, either, but the Wolverines should continue their historic dominance of the Hoosiers. I believe the Maize and Blue will fall to the Buckeyes in Columbus for their second loss of the year, and will likely play in the 2 vs. 2 game on “Champions Week.”
If it plays out this way, it will be the third time in the Harbaugh era in which the Wolverines can advance to the Big Ten title game with a win over the Buckeyes, and maybe — just maybe — they can get the break they’ve so desperately needed in that rivalry.
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