Yes, it's late. But we didn't want to cheat you of any Michigan content! So without further ado, let's make some wild speculations on what the Wolverines can do this season.
Schedule
Predictions
Transient Buckeye: Michigan feels like one of the harder teams to project this season, because while I think they're going to have a pretty high floor, the extent to which they can reach their ceiling is going to be almost entirely dependent on Bryce Underwood's development as a quarterback, and I don't have any good sense of how far that development is going to go. The floor this year should be "pretty good." Kyle Whittingham is a vast improvement over Sherrone Moore, and Whittingham brought a lot of Utah's roster with him. I'm expecting Michigan to have a solid defense and very strong offensive line and running back play. 2026 will be the first time in ages that their wide receiver room looks better than "meh"--Andrew Marsh was excellent as a freshman last season, and they've brought in some needed reinforcements through the portal. But will they be able to rely on their passing game if the running game is getting slowed down, or if it's the fourth quarter and they're behind? Magic Eight Ball says "check back later."
This looks like 8-4 (6-3) to me, at first blush. They'll beat Western Michigan and UTEP, but I have them losing to Oklahoma--though a win wouldn't shock me. The first half of the schedule isn't bad. Iowa and Penn State both look to be solid teams, but Michigan gets both of them at home. I think they're going to be better than Minnesota, so given the Iron Law of Fleck, Michigan should win that one. The back half of the schedule is much tougher. I can't pick them to beat Indiana, not even at home. They're not beating Oregon in Eugene, and I think they also lose to Ohio State in Columbus. This would actually result in Michigan having a worse record than they did last season, but that's because last season's schedule was a cakewalk, and this season's schedule most definitely is not. They're going to be a better team than they were last season--maybe quite a bit better--but that improvement might not show up in their record.
WSR: In a perfect world Michigan would take a huge step back and miss a bowl game. Unfortunately, there's probably no way that's even get close to happening. I have a ridiculous amount of respect for Kyle Wittingham and am looking forward to seeing what he can do with his rock grinding offense that has Underwood plugged into it. I think 8-4 with losses to Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon, and tOSU feels about right, and I think the universe deserves them losing to Minnesota as well.
HoustonBoiler: Thanks to some idiocy on the part of Sherrone Moore, Michigan was able to hire Kyle Wittingham and thus upgrade their football coaching staff. I don't really know what to make of this year's team given the coaching staff and player changes, but I think Michigan will be better in the coming years.
For this year, I have them losing to Indiana, at Oregon, and at Ohio State. The games with Oklahoma, Iowa, and Penn State are kind of toss-ups. These three are at home so I will say the Michigan drops one. The solid coaching and talent should carry Michigan in their remaining games leaving them at 8-4 overall and 6-3 or 5-4 in conference.
Kind of...: I respect Whittingham a ton, too, and he's clearly an upgrade over Moore. BUT Utah has been uneven post-Covid (even slightly before), and the two best teams--the back-to-back Rose Bowl teams in 2021 and 2022--feasted on mostly bad Pac-12 South defenses. Are we really sure Whittingham isn't just 10% more aggressive Kirk Ferentz? Yeah, he'll have Michigan-level resources, but that schedule is not joke, and it's easy to see Michigan/PSU and Michigan/Iowa being 17-13 slugfests where the opponent does the better job of avoiding the untimely turnover. I'm going to say 7-5/5-4. But far fewer scandals. So there's that.
