2013 University of Michigan Football Season Predictions
Drew Montag
7 August 2013
Wow, football season is right around the corner; time for my annual UM football predictions. Sure, I’m the “basketball guy” at UMGoBlue.com, but I’m also a big football fan, and I’ve been going to UM games since 1974.
Last season, I didn’t do as well as usual at predicting the games. I thought we’d beat Notre Dame (close), and Ohio State (not as close). I got the rest of my predictions right.
So, how is Michigan going to do this season? I’m thinking “pretty well”. I’m expecting the offense to be a little bit better than last season, the defense to be quite a bit better, and the special teams to be about the same as last season.
Here are my predictions for the 2013 season:
| Date | Opponent | W/L | Record | Comments |
| 08/31 | Central Michigan | Win | 1-0 | On the positive side: UM is obviously better. On the negative side: breaking in a new O-line, first game jitters. This one will be closer than expected. |
| 09/07 | Notre Dame | Win | 2-0 | Under The Lights II: Big game, big stage, big improvement. A solid win. |
| 09/14 | Akron | Win | 3-0 | Another MAC team, another victory. An easy game, everyone plays. |
| 09/21 | at Connecticut (East Hartford, CT) | Win | 4-0 | The first road game of the season is always tough, and this one will be close. |
| 09/28 | Bye | There are 2 byes this season! | ||
| 10/05 | Minnesota | Win | 5-0 (1-0) | Minnesota is better than last year, but still beatable. |
| 10/12 | at Penn State | Win | 6-0 (2-0) | The Sandusky Sanctions hurt PSU’s depth. UM wins a close one. |
| 10/19 | Indiana | Win | 7-0 (3-0) | Indiana is better than last year, but not nearly enough. |
| 10/26 | Bye | An excellent time for a bye week. | ||
| 11/02 | at Michigan State | Win | 8-0 (4-0) | The biggest game of the year. It’s tough to win in East Lansing, but Michigan’s got the team to do it. |
| 11/09 | Nebraska | Loss | 8-1 (4-1) | This is already developing into quite a rivalry. Michigan loses a heartbreaker. |
| 11/16 | at Northwestern | Win | 9-1 (5-1) | Michigan barely beat Northwestern in Ann Arbor last season, so expect a dogfight. |
| 11/23 | at Iowa | Win | 10-1 (6-1) | The only easy road game of the season. |
| 11/30 | Ohio State | Loss | 10-2 (6-2) | I hate to lose to Ohio 2 years in a row, but they’ve got too many weapons. |
That should be good enough for a tie for 1st place in the Legends division of the Big Ten, but not a place in the B1G Championship game. It will be good enough for a good New Year’s Day bowl game, probably another BCS game.
It’s possible that UM might beat Nebraska, but I doubt it.
Michigan has 5 games that they should win (Central Michigan, Akron, Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa), 5 “toss up” games (Notre Dame, Connecticut, Penn State, Michigan State, and Northwestern), and 2 that they will be lucky to win (Nebraska and Ohio State). I’ve got them winning all 5 “toss up” games (10-2), but if they only win 3 of the 5 “toss up” games, they’ll be 8-4, which is just OK.