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2013 University of Michigan Football Season Predictions

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.

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2013 Michigan Wolverines Football Schedule

Next Game Saturday November 2 East Lansing
Michigan State 3:30 p.m. ET TV B10
Discussion
Date Opponent TV Locatiion Time
Sat., Aug. 31 Michigan 59 CMU 9 B10  Michigan Stadium 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Sep. 7 Michigan 41 Notre Dame 30 ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 Michigan Stadium 8:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Sep. 14 Michigan 28 Akron 24 B10  Michigan Stadium Noon ET
Sat., Sep. 21 Michigan 24 UConn 21  TBA East Hartford, Conn. 8:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Oct. 5 Michigan 42 Minnesota 13 ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 Michigan Stadium 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Oct. 12 Penn State 43  Michigan40  4OT ESPN or ESPN2 State College, Pa. 5:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Oct. 19 Michigan 63 Indiana 47 B10  Michigan Stadium 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 2 at Michigan State  ABC East Lansing, Mich. 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 9 vs. Nebraska  TBA Michigan Stadium 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 16 at Northwestern  TBA Evanston, Ill. TBA
Sat., Nov. 23 at Iowa  TBA Iowa City, Iowa TBA
Sat., Nov. 30 vs. Ohio State  TBA Michigan Stadium TBA
Sat., Dec. 7 B10 Championship Game Fox Sports Indianapolis, Ind. TBA