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It's hard to gauge how good a lot of teams in college football will be ahead of the season, and one of the more difficult squads to pinpoint is the Michigan football team. The Wolverines went 8-5 last year, but it was a weird 8-5. It was genuinely impressive that they found a way to win eight games and beat some of the best teams in the country with how bad their offense was. So, if Michigan can just be okay offensively, the team should be in the College Football Plaoff conversation. That's a big if, however.
The Michigan football team should be better offensively, but who knows. Freshman Bryce Underwood is expected to be the starting quarterback, and there's no way that he isn't significantly better than what the Wolverines had last year, right? On the other side of the ball, we know the Wolverines will be good defensively, and that is why The Athletic's Chris Vannini is confident in this team.
“Defensively, they're loaded,” Vannini said during an interview with Big Ten Network. “Again, this team is what we saw in the bowl game. Even though they had a lot of guys sit out, they've got future NFL guys stacked on this defense. Once again, it just comes down to can you get something going in the passing game, not only at quarterback but the wide receiver position has been pretty thin as well last year, maybe coming into this year. So we still have to see, do they have those playmakers on the outside?”
The offense is where the question marks are. Michigan should have a good offensive line and run game, but the quarterback and wide receiver situations are still up in the air.
“Look at last year, they were like, the worst passing offense in the country, like bottom five nationally, and they still beat Ohio State and Alabama,” Vannini added. “So it's like, all right, if you can just get something competent in the passing game, you've got a really good team here. I think they're going to run the ball very well. I like the pieces that they have there and on the offensive line. Does Bryce Underwood, the quarterback, the five-star, win the job? Or do they start with Mikey Keene, the veteran, especially when you go into Oklahoma in Week 2.”
It's going to be interesting to see how the Michigan football offense operates this season. We won't have to wait long to see the Wolverines get tested as that Week 2 showdown on the road against the Sooners is a big one.
