The Michigan Wolverines will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday in their first road game of the season.
The Wolverines are reeling coming off a 20-19 loss at home to the Iowa Hawkeyes, and need to bounce back before the schedule at the end of the season gets daunting.
This is not your father's Minnesota team. They are tough, resilient, and playing good football after last week's 27-24 win over the Washington Huskies.
PJ Fleck may be a little odd, but he has his team playing well. Will that be enough to spring an upset over the Wolverines who are favored on the road?
Here are some of our predictions for Michigan's first road game of the season.
Jordan Marshall says he's good to go. We're taking him at his word here, but the Michigan run game needs to find some traction. The Wolverines have been putrid on the ground this season, and rank 92nd in the nation in yards-per-game .
Michigan's task did not get any easier this week, as Minnesota's run defense has been stingy to start the year.
This is the type of defense where run plays need to have yards come after the running back is first contacted. When he is healthy, that is Jordan Marshall's specialty. He gives the Wolverines a personality in their run game, and is a violent runner. Last week, it looked like he was getting on track and running as hard as he has all season before curiously being out of the game for the final possession.
No such mistake will be made this week. Marshall is going to be the man, he'll have some short runs earlier that turn into long runs as Michigan plays into the body-blow theory. The bet here also is that Marshall breaks a run for an explosive gain, which the Wolverines have not had on the ground for one of their running backs this season.
Marshall tops the century mark for the first time for any Wolverine rusher this season.
Where are the takeaways? Michigan's defense has been great in almost every metric this season, but have been unable to take the ball away enough.
The Wolverines had two takeaways against Oklahoma, and one against UTEP. That's it so far this season, and their offense has been too sloppy with the ball. The result is that Michigan is currently minus-3 in the turnover margin. Yes, Michigan needs to play cleaner on offense, but their defense needs to start making some plays as well.
Drake Lindsey has a chance to be an NFL quarterback when his college career is over, but he has some arm arrogance to him. That's a compliment, but also means he might put the ball in harm's way. The bet this week is Michigan picks off two passes and gets a strip sack from someone we're predicting as the star of the game.
Whether John Henry Daley plays or not, he's likely to play on a reduced snap count thanks to a leg injury he suffered on the second-to-last play of last week's game against Iowa.
That will mean more snaps for the backup defensive ends.
Tariq Boney has been productive whenever he has been on the field. He often reminds me of Chase Winovich during the 2016 season. Winovich did not play much on run downs, but was tasked with getting after the quarterback in obvious passing situations. That could be Boney's role throughout the season, even if it's not a perfect comparison between the two players.
Michigan defensive end Tariq Boney (41) celebrates a play against Iowa during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
This week, Boney should get more snaps, and he'll make the most of them. He gets two sacks, including a strip sack to put the Wolverines' offense in prime scoring position. At the end of the game, we'll be talking about Boney as the star of the show.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/michigan as 3 Predictions for Michigan Football Against Minnesota .
