College Football Playoff: Which Top 25 teams are contenders, pretenders?
After losing 20 starters to the NFL following the 2016 season, the Michigan Wolverines haven’t missed a beat in 2017.
While Jim Harbaugh‘s offense couldn’t find consistency behind the arm of junior quarterback Wilton Speight, the team will be without its starting quarterback for at least a week after he sustained a an injury in the team’s Week 4 game against Purdue.
Typically, losing a starting quarterback breeds disaster for a team, but for Michigan it may actually be a blessing in disguise.
Backup quarterback John O’Korn played surprisingly well in limited action.
In only 27 passing attempts this season, the Houston-transfer has thrown for 307 yards on 19 completions and a touchdown. If he can bring consistency to Michigan’s offense it will go a long way building a balanced team for the Wolverines.
On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan has continued the pace they set in 2016, having only allowed 54 points in four games behind the No. 1-ranked defense in the nation.
However, of the three teams currently vying for a spot atop the Big Ten East, Michigan has by far the toughest schedule.
Over the final six games of the season, Michigan will face off against three top 25 opponents including a Week 8 game against No. 4 Penn State, and back-to-back games against No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 11 Ohio State to close out the season.
Even though Jim Harbaugh’s squad has proven themselves resilient in the face of an extreme roster turnaround, it may have to wait until 2018 and the emergence of freshman quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, the brother of Stanford star Christian and NFL player Max, to finally make a play at the Big Ten East.