Michigan’s remaining difficult game before the showdown with Ohio State on November 18th is this weekend against Iowa. Michigan’s other games are against Northwestern and Ball State at home and then they visit Indiana in their final tune up for the Buckeyes. Iowa has caused Michigan fits in the last couple of years. The Wolverines have won each of the last 2 years but last year the Hawkeyes pushed Michigan to overtime. In 2003 Michigan lost a close game on the road and in 2002 they were embarassed at the Big House with a score of 34-9.

This year I think that Lloyd Carr will have his team fired up to meet the Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium. Michigan’s stifling defense should continue to dominate. The Wolverines are coming off a stellar performance where they allowed Penn State -14 yards rushing last weekend. Iowa, who luckily for them relies heavily on the pass, is coming off an embarassing loss to Indiana last week that has caused them to become unranked. They will be looking to rebound this week, but it’ll be an uphill battle. On top of facing the #3 team in the BCS, Iowa also has injuries to contend with, their leading receiver and running may be out as they face Michigan’s tough defense. Michigan will also be without their leading receiver, Mario Manningham, who had arthroscopic knee surgery last week.

I think that Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes will have a really tough day in store. Michigan’s defense will be able to pin their ears back and attack Drew Tate. If the Hawkeye’s offensive line is unable to stop them, Tate will be on his back a lot on Saturday. For Michigan, look for the same thing they bring every week, power running, that sets up the passing game. With a healthy Mike Hart leading the charge, Michigan should win this game fairly easily. That being said, there is something about this team that I don’t quite trust yet. I have hopes that this is a “great” team. But I’m just not sure yet.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Football, Michigan Wolverines, NCAA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.