ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Michigan football season is officially entering its third month, but everybody knew it wouldn’t really start until this week.
Michigan has been more dominant than even the most optimistic fans could have expected, blowing out each of its first nine opponents by an average of 34 points. Nobody has managed to stay within three touchdowns of the Wolverines, and only Minnesota scored more than seven points against the first-string defense.
The dominance has been so overwhelming that Saturday night’s 41-13 win over Purdue in a Big Ten Championship Game rematch felt disappointing. Michigan punted four times and allowed Purdue to gain 269 yards -- how could they!?
But the second chapter of the season is about to begin, as Michigan heads to Happy Valley for a matchup with No. 11 Penn State, a team that has only lost one close game to Ohio State in Columbus.
There’s no question this will be the most competitive game Michigan has experienced since the loss to TCU in last year’s College Football Playoff. Penn State boasts perhaps the best defense in the country, and first-year quarterback Drew Allar has thrown for 20 touchdowns to just one interception.
For the first time this year, Michigan is facing a game it could actually lose. We’ve been waiting more than two months to see how the Wolverines will respond to this stage.
Since last season ended, the goal for Michigan has been to get back to a third-straight playoff and compete for a national championship. Saturday’s game at Penn State will put all those goals on the line.
It doesn’t look like the Big Ten will be able to land two teams in the playoff this year, as all five power conferences have worthy representatives. A theoretical tiebreaker between Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State also took a turn for the worse this weekend when Minnesota lost to Illinois.
Long story short: Michigan has to go undefeated to get back to the playoff. That means this will have to be the best game the team has played all season.
Penn State is coming off one of its most impressive performances of the year -- a 51-15 beatdown of Maryland on the road. The Nittany Lions defense forced four turnovers and held the Terrapins to just 234 total yards.
Throw in the painful memory of Michigan’s 41-17 blowout of Penn State last year, and you can bet the Wolverines are going to get Penn State’s best shot.
Most of the playoff contenders around the country have already been tested, and now, it’s finally Michigan’s turn. The warmup games are over -- time to see what this team is made of.
