The Wolverines can’t possibly lose this game. Can they? Northwestern lost to Duke. A couple of things that I know. Michigan has consistently had trouble with Northwestern. For some reason the Wildcats play Michigan tough. Northwestern runs a version of the spread offense that gave Michigan fits against Appalachian State and Oregon. Thankfully Northwestern’s version of the spread doesn’t feature Dennis Dixon. C.J. Bacher is less of a threat to run the ball than Dixon. The best player on the Northwestern team, Tyrell Sutton, has been sidelined off and on all season with an ankle injury. If he does play, it may be limited action.

It seems like the real story this weekend will be who lines up under center for Michigan. Chad Henne has been cleared to play by team doctors, but Lloyd Carr has not announced who will be the starting quarterback on Saturday. True freshman Ryan Mallett has shown flashes of brilliance in his 2 starts. He has definitely shown that he is a freshman, but he has also shown that he has a rocket arm, and can really command the huddle. Both of those things are qualities that have made the decision difficult for Lloyd Carr and offensive coordinator Mike DeBord. It seems like Mallett will start so as to not rush Henne back into action. The Wolverines should be able to win this game without their senior quarterback.

If all else fails, give the ball to Mike Hart. Hart needs 138 yards to become the all-time leading rusher at Michigan. I would imagine that he’ll eclipse that number this weekend and then Travis Minor will come in and mop up.

On the defensive side of the ball there is only one person that scares me. Number 6, freshman, Donovan Warren. I know he’s young, but he also has not showed that he can tackle or cover someone consistently. Apparently they don’t have much depth at corner so Warren will continue to play. Hopefully he won’t cost Michigan many big plays.

Look for Michigan to win big this weekend behind a 150 yard performance from Mike Hart and the Wolverine defense should shut down the inept Northwestern offense.

Final score: Michigan 31 Northwestern 6

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 12:58 pm and is filed under College Football, Michigan Wolverines. 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.