The college football season is under two months away with the first games happening on August 24th. The first night will have four games highlighted by Florida State taking on Georgia Tech. Michigan will hit the field seven days later when they host Fresno State in their first game of the season. It will be their first season under Sherrone Moore after Jim Harbaugh left to coach the Los Angeles Chargers.
Moore was the acting head coach for four games last year due to the suspensions of Harbaugh and led the Wolverines to wins over Bowling Green, Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State. He is now the one in complete control of the program as they look to build off their National Championship run last season. He will have to break in a new quarterback and replace a ton of talent, but the Wolverines are still a very good team and are once again a favorite in the new revamped Big Ten.
The Wolverine faithful are excited for the new season, but before we gear up for their game with the Bulldogs we take a look at the worst-case scenario for Michigan this season.
Worst Case Scenario for the 2024 Wolverines
Michigan opens its season with a good Fresno State Bulldogs team and struggles to score points as Alex Orji or Jack Tuttle have trouble in their first career start in the Big House. The Wolverines get the win, but it is close and they head into their huge matchup with Texas as a big underdog.
ESPN Gameday comes to Ann Arbor and they talk about how shaky the Wolverines looked in the first game despite the win and all pick the Longhorns to beat to win in the biggest week two matchup of the season. Donovan Edwards has trouble finding holes in the Longhorns’ defense and the Wolverines’ offense struggles to move the ball. The defense holds down the Longhorns for the first half, but the second half is different and they fall 31-10.
In their third game, the Wolverines bounce back against Arkansas State, but they still don’t look great on offense. The defense carries them again and they get the win over the Red Wolves.
Big Ten play starts in Week 4 against USC and the Wolverines finally look better on offense and take down a Trojans team that is dealing with their own quarterback troubles. They get a win, but it is a low-scoring hard-fought game.
The next week the Wolverines get another home win to retain the Little Brown Jug against Minnesota. Again, it is a tough game for the Wolverines as the Golden Gophers give Michigan all they can handle, but they escape and are now 2-0 in the Big Ten.
The Wolverines hit the road for the first time on October 5th for a National Championship rematch with Washington. The Wolverines are still a favorite despite being on the road as the Huskies are also struggling to replace a big chunk of their team. Despite being a favorite the Wolverines have trouble with the noise in their first road game and fall to the Huskies 17-14. The offense just can’t move the ball enough and Edwards continues to struggle in the lead role.
The next week, the Wolverines hit the road again to take on Illinois for the first time since 2019. The Wolverines get down early just like hey did in 2022 when they had to come back to beat the Fighting Illini. They fight back again, get their first road win of the season, and move to 5-2 on the season.
They return back home for their rivalry game with Michigan State. The Spartans are looking for revenge after their worst home loss ever last year to the Wolverines 49-0. They put up a good fight, but they just don’t have enough firepower and the Wolverines are able to get another win against the Spartans to move to 6-2.
The next week Oregon comes to the Big House for a huge Big Ten game. The Wolverines are once again a home underdog as the Ducks come into the game undefeated. The Wolverines can’t find a way to stop quarterback Dillon Gabriel and they lose at home for a second time this season. Again it isn’t particularly close as the Ducks come away with a 35-17 win.
The next two weeks the Wolverines go to Indiana and host Northwestern. The Hoosiers don’t have close to enough to hang with the Wolverines and Michigan gets a big road win 42-14. The next week, though, the Wildcats are pesky and the Wolverines struggle to put them away. They have a field goal attempt at the end of the game to win, but miss and the Wildcats pick up a huge road upset.
The Wolverines head to Columbus for the last regular season game 7-4 and out of the running for the Big Ten Championship game. They still can spoil Ohio State’s chances at a perfect season and win against the Buckeyes for a fourth straight year. The Buckeyes are 11-0 coming into the game and ranked No. 1 in the country and the Wolverines are just trying to improve their bowl standing.
The Wolverines have no chance to make the playoffs, but beating the Buckeyes would be a nice consolation prize. It isn’t going to happen, though. The Buckeyes are loaded and the Wolverines can’t keep up. They do keep it close for the first half, but the Buckeyes pull away in the second half and win 42-20. The Wolverines finish the season 7-5 and head to the Alamo Bowl. It is a disappointing first season under Sherrone Moore and has the Wolverine fans on edge for next season.
Main Image: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
Not happening… Not even worse case scenario
… Go Blue