Preview Northwestern

Time: 12:00 

Location: Wrigley Field 

Weather: 64 Partly Sunny 

TV: Fox 

Line: Michigan -11.5

This is a weird game in a historic location.  Never thought I would type Wrigley Field into the location spot in a game day preview post.  This is not your father's Northwestern team and they play fundamental football.  A team like that is one you might suspect could give the young Wolverines trouble.   Mostly if those young Wolverines are still injured coming off a bye week. 

Dear Sherrone,

You have 3 games left in this season to cement the legacy of the 2025 Wolverines.  2 road games and then hosting THE GAME.  The team has won the games they should've this season but at times they look like a young team trying to find its footing. 

You clearly have an injury problem.  Your best player on offense is out with foot surgery after coming back from a rib injury.  Your WR's and TE's are banged up and your offensive line has had guys in and out all year.   That is just one side of the ball.  

On defense you have room full of LB's out with injuries and the hope is the bye week allowed them to return this week.   Nobody knows what your secondary is going to look like week to week.  This is not a game you can over look.  Northwestern wants to go to a Bowl Game and they are playing in Chicago's most iconic stadium.  They would love nothing better then beating a ranked Michigan team in Wrigley.  

My hope is Wink has been spending two weeks designing a defense to stop Northwestern and Chip is finding ways to open the offense for the 18 year-old 5 star QB we have.  I'm worried that your going to run the wheels off of Jordan Marshall in the run game.   The best way to not do that is find a passing game that gets first downs on early downs.  Throw to the TE's! 

I don't know what the hell has happened to your Special Teams.  That needs to be better in all areas and I hope you worked on that during the past 2 weeks.  

Northwestern is not going to beat themselves, so play smart tough football.  Open the offense enough to score 24-30 points and let Wink stop the Wildcats offense.   This should be a "clean" football game on both sides and if Wink doesn't blitz too much, Michigan has a great chance to leave the Windy City with a Win.  Some young guys might feel like tourists in such a historic building, keep the team focused that this is a business trip and they will need to play hard to win the game.   There will be plenty time for photos after the game. 

Michigan 28 Northwestern 17