Since halftime of the Penn State game, Michigan has been one of the hottest teams in the nation. Don Brown’s defense has remained stifling (5th in Defensive SP+), and Jim Harbaugh and Josh Gattis have helped turn around Michigan’s offense, which has surged to 26th in Offensive SP+.
In their last 4.5 games, the Wolverines have outscored their opponents, 180-52, which is an average score of 40.0 to 11.6. Their average scoring margin of plus-28.4 points per game would be the fourth best in the country if it was extrapolated over an entire season, and it is more impressive when one considers that three of those opponents are 22nd or better in SP+ and another is 40th.
As a result, Michigan is 10th overall in SP+, and given how the Wolverines are trending, one would think they would have more than a reasonable shot of topping any opponent in Ann Arbor.
Yet Michigan is currently a nine-point underdog to Ohio State this Saturday. Yes, even at home.
And SP+ projects it will be worse (OSU by 11 points).
Why? Because despite how well Michigan has been playing lately, Ohio State has been in a different stratosphere all season. The Buckeyes have been Superman, performing at historic levels.
And Michigan will need to find their kryptonite if it wants to finally make them look human.
