Wolverine247 Board

I'm not worried about Ohio's offense. I'm worried about Michigan's.

I think Michigan wins the other two with or without denard

You're worried about Michigan's Offense against Ohio Defense? Why?

Agreed.

Agree. Denard needs to be 100%. And he needs to have a very good passing day, just like last year. Unfortunately, he hasn't had many of those this year (I believe the elbow nerve issue has affected his passing all season). I would rather see him sit this week and even next week, if necessary, if he's not 100%. We can win both of those games with Devin and our defense. Playing Devin in another game or two will also force Urbie to prepare for both QBs. Bottom line: Denard is nearly unstoppable when he is passing well, but he is average when he isn't. We cannot beat Ohio this year if Denard plays average.

Could see all three games going either way. Michigan is - and should be - favored to beat both Northwestern and Iowa, but both of those teams are capable of playing well and stealing a game. As for the Ohio State game, this is a tough call, especially with it being Meyer's first Michigan-Ohio State game as a head coach. Tressel and Lloyd Carr figured it out right away, but Cooper and Rodriguez never did. I've said this here before, but I really see a lot of similarities between Hoke and Tressel. Whether that will translate to similar success for him in this rivalry remains to be seen. There have been some great teams on both sides of the rivalry that didn't play well on that day, and were therefore upset.

We'll examine the matchup with Ohio State in much more depth the week of the game, but as a lot of you have mentioned, Michigan will be one of the best defenses the Buckeyes have played against all year. I like Michigan's chances of stopping the run for the most part, but similar to Denard, Braxton is capable of manufacturing a big play all by himself at any moment. Defensive pursuit is a major factor in preventing big plays, and Michigan has been doing that better and better, so that's a good sign. One key, IMO, that may not be discussed much is whether or not the Wolverines can get pressure on Braxton. He's not going to beat anyone by throwing the ball all game long, but if you can get enough pressure on him, he's much more liable to make a crucial mistake that can swing the momentum in Michigan's favor. Michigan's passrush hasn't been great this season, so it may come down to Mattison's ability to dial up the right blitz at the right time.

On the other side of the ball, this is unusual to say at this point of the season, but it's tough to predict what the key will be for Michigan's offense against Ohio State. No one knows what level Denard will be playing at over the next two weeks heading into the Ohio State game, or how much - if any - time Gardner will see behind center. I think these next two weeks will give us a much better idea of what we can expect to see from Michigan's offense on November 24.

I agree with you Ducks.

The OSU game is scary because it's not necessarily the other teams D that stops our offense as much as it is our O stopping itself. If we need to put up 40 to win then I don't think we will pull off the win.

Yeah but they are a much much better offense this year.

Run the ball, control the clock, and don't turn the ball over. This will keep it out of Braxton's hand. Play the game like we did first drive against Purdue and it'll all be good.

The road bump for that theory is that Purdue is one of the worst teams of a weak Big Ten and thus utterly terrible whereas Ohio State has high-end talent across the roster and is an unbeaten 10-0 team. I don't think OSU is as good as 10-0 indicates and, sure, with a lighter out of conference schedule maybe we are 7-2 or 8-1 rather than 6-3 but nevertheless "just play like against Purdue" won't really be the answer vs OSU

We've not had a running game all year vs. decent Ds. And the reason is that we can't pass reliably so Ds just stack the box and thus our already mediocre O-Line looks overwhelmed. Only if we get a good passing game going is there any chance of beating Ohio State and that will require Denard to play his best game this year vs OSU or if he is called upon, Devin showcasing why he was so highly touted as a QB coming out of high school.

But let's not kid ourselves here, we didn't score a TD on MSU or ND or Nebraska. Maybe we would have scored one on Nebraska if Denard had been in all game or Devin had been in, but that's neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that our offense has been atrocious when facing Ds with a pulse. OSU's D isn't like top 10 in the country great but it's got a pulse for sure. There's no reason to be *sure* we will outscore them.

I think we can hold them to less than their "usual" output but there's a chance that's still gonna be more than our output.

I don't say we can't win, I say that we'll be underdogs.

I think the home team will always be a bit more emotional, but we have seen that hurt teams in the past as well.

Ohio fan here, I come in peace just wanted to give my 2 cents.

First anyone who can tell me with 100% certainty who the best team in the BIG is is a fool. Teams have been way to up and down to make that conclusion with 100% certainty.
With that said Objectively you prolly have to give the edge to OSU
Moon - Have you watched many OSU games ? The reason I ask is because I don't really get the feeling you have. We are not a top 5 team and most likely aren't a top 10 team. we are probably in the 8 - 16 range. We should have the best offense you have seen all year outside of BAMA although I do think your defense should match up pretty well but I think it will take more than 21 points from your offense to beat us. In are game vs MSU we turned the ball over 3 times in MSU territory also that game was an away game. The key to the game is UMs offense. If UM doesn't stop themselves on Offense I think you guys have a rally good chance but that's a big if. I think the game comes down to hitting Braxton early and often and turnovers. Even though we run the spread we dont do much razzle and dazzle we really only run 4/6 base plays on offense that should play into Mattisons hand although I am sure Urban will have a couple tricks up his sleeve.

I think

15 % chance OSU wins big 14 or more points
5% chance UM wins big 14 or more points
45% chance OSU wins a close game 7 points or so
35% chance UM wins a close game 7 points or so

With that said if it was in the Big House I would probably call it 50/50

Thankfully for you guys I am wrong all the time, Looking forward to a great game.