The Michigan Wolverines hit the road this weekend to take on the Maryland Terrapins. Michigan is 7-2 (4-2 Big Ten), and coming off back-to-back wins over Rutgers and Minnesota.
Here’s how they can keep that momentum going heading into the stretch run of the season:
JUMP ON THEM EARLY
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about this Maryland team since D.J. Durkin took over, it’s that they can look formidable one week and really bad the next week, often depending on what type of start they get off to. If they can sustain some momentum early, they can be dangerous; just ask Texas. But if you jump on them early, the wheels will come off the bus quickly.
If you don’t know what I mean just watch their match-up with Ohio State from this year. Whenever you’re playing against an inferior opponent on the road, you don’t want to give them any early confidence and let them think they can win this game.
If there’s a time to get going for Michigan, this is the week to do it. The Wolverines are a collective -9 in first-quarter scoring against Big Ten opponents this season, but they were a +6 against Minnesota last week and rode that to a blowout win.
RUN, RUN, RUN AND RUN SOME MORE
Sophomore quarterback Brandon Peters will be making his second consecutive start for the Wolverines on Saturday, but it’s been the ground game that has been the main focal point of the offense for Michigan the last two weeks. That shouldn’t change any against Maryland on Saturday.
Junior Karan Higdon and sophomore Chris Evans absolutely gashed the Gophers’ on the ground last week, racking up nearly 400 yards rushing on just 29 carries combined.
The Terrapins are not very good against the run, surrendering 174.8 yards a game on the ground. It’s a strange number for the Terps, however. They’ve had four games where they allowed less than 100 rushing yards, and five games where the defense yielded north of 200 rushing yards.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines are now averaging 213.1 yards rushing per contest. That’s a pretty combination and it’s a good way of keeping the pressure off of Peters for one more week.
LORD GIVETH, LORD TAKETH AWAY
It might sound simple and boring, but it holds so much weight here. The Terrapins are on their fourth quarterback this season, as the injury bug has hit them hard at that position. On top of that, this Maryland team has always wanted to be a run-first team anyways.
So while Michigan gives the Maryland defense a heavy dose of ground n’ pound, the Wolverines defense should be loading up to take the run game away from the Terps.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Terrapins are averaging a solid 172.6 rushing yards a game, while they’re averaging just 164.4 yards threw the air. The Michigan defense has been stout against the run all year, giving up just 102.6 yards a game on the ground. If they can continue to do that against Maryland, they will make the Terrapins very one-dimensional and it will be hard for their offense to find much success against a stout Wolverines defense.
GAMEDAY INFO
- DATE: Saturday, November 11
- KICKOFF: 3:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network
- LINE: MICH -16.5
- O/U: 45.5
DSN STAFF PREDICTIONS
| DSN STAFF | PREDICTION |
| AUSTIN HEMMINGSON | MICH, 34-17 |
| ALEXANDER MULLER | MICH, 30-17 |
| ROB OTTO | MICH, 30-13 |
| CARL POPOSKI | MICH, 31-7 |
| A.J. REILLY | MICH, 31-10 |
| MARK TORCHIA | MICH, 35-3 |
