College Football
Michigan vs Western Michigan Preview
In the most predictable turn of events possible, the Michigan Wolverines lost to Notre Dame in their season opener. They travelled to Notre Dame Stadium last week to face the rival Fighting Irish for the first time since 2015. No one was surprised by the loss. The Wolverines have now lost 17 straight road games against ranked opponents. This does not bode well for the struggling team, nor for their head coach.
Michigan
This week the Michigan Wolverines face Western Michigan in their home opener at the Big House. Michigan did not put out a good showing in the rivalry renewal game last week. Shea Patterson, the much-touted QB transfer, did not play up to expectations. Admittedly, there were some pass protection issues with the Wolverine offense last week. Patterson will get another chance this week to show his skills. This second chance is very Jim Harbaugh, but also a necessity. Brandon Peters, last year’s regular QB, is questionable for Saturday’s game. The other two quarterbacks in that room are both young, and Harbaugh will likely try to give them some more game experience before throwing them in to start. Young Dylan McCaffrey was impressive in his debut last week, and shows promise of good things to come.
Western Michigan
Western Michigan also lost their opening game last week, falling 55-42 to the Syracuse Orange. QB Jon Wassink found his target only 53% of the time last week. That’s not a good percentage, and will likely be even lower against Michigan if he can’t figure it out. Michigan’s defense is their pride and joy, the heart of the team. Although they struggled last week, don’t forget they were ranked number 3 in college football heading into the season. If they can figure it out, they’re a force to be reckoned with. Rashan Gary and Chase Winovich don’t give up easily.
Looking Forward
Despite losing their game last week, the Michigan Wolverines are still ranked 21 in the AP Poll. They won’t retain a ranked position for long if they can’t figure their game out, however. Next week they face SMU, but after that all of their opponents are Big Ten opponents. Three weeks in a row they face Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State. All three of these teams are currently ranked higher than Michigan, and show no signs of slipping. Harbaugh needs to win these games. He needs to win in East Lansing and also in Columbus. He needs to break the losing-to-ranked-opponents-on-the-road streak. It would be nice if he could break the losing-to-rivals streak as well. It could prove important to him keeping his job.
Written by Susannah Schmidt
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Photo credit to JCoultas via Flickr
