Michigan Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Wisconsin in Week 4

1. Wisconsin blows Michigan out

This wouldn’t be too fun for anybody besides Wisconsin fans, but I actually think there’s something to this.

First, Shea Patterson has not only looked less than spectacular but Michigan hasn’t taken care of the ball very well. Week one against Middle Tennessee State the Wolverines gave up two sacks and fumbled twice. Against Army two weeks ago the Wolverines gave up four sacks and fumbled four times. Michigan is expected to have offensive lineman Jon Runyan back this week from injury, which could seriously help the Wolverines.

If the offense is at all similarly sloppy against Wisconsin, it could get ugly. The Badgers specialize in dominating time of possession with their running game and have an opportune defense that will seek to create as many chances for its offense as possible.

The other area of concern for Michigan is that it gave up multiple short-yardage run conversions to Army last week late in the game. It’s almost painful how obvious it is that a triple-option team like Army is going to run in those spots, and yet Michigan couldn’t stop them. Wisconsin is a better, albeit different, running team than Army and will certainly be running in obvious running downs. It will be up to Michigan to prove it can stop the run, which it failed to do against Army in key moments.

The recipe for a Wisconsin blowout is rather simple. A couple of turnovers and a dominating run game that eats up the clock will get it done. It’s just a matter of how many extra possessions the Michigan offense will grant the Wisconsin offense, and then how well Coan plays in comparison to Patterson.

If Michigan wins the turnover battle and holds Jonathan Taylor in check, then this obviously doesn’t happen. But we haven’t seen anything to suggest the Wolverines can do those two things this year.