Northwestern prediction

Northwestern has shown it can be beat on the groud. They have two excellent DBs and their pass defense is good but they were gashed by Duke and Ball State. they did respond nicely against Minn last week. weather man predicts an afternoon full of thunder and lightning (Smith/Johnson).

northwestern likes to spread the field and play at a fast pace. I read that the MICHIGAN D has seen an average of 59 plays per game but NW averages 80. That worries me.

NW RB Justin Jackon leads the nation in rush attempts (138 or 27.6 per game). IMO he is the main cog in their offense. shut him down and MICHIGAN goes home with the W. Is new starting BUCK LB RJS up to the task if Jackson gets past the line?


it's a broken record but MICHIGAN has to cut down on the TOs. NW is way up in the TO margin. They thrive on it. hold the ball, control the clock, blah blah blah.


I mentiond earlier that NW has two very nice DBs but I say go at them. keep the LBs and safeties honest. They have a good corp of LBs. We don't need them locking on to our RBs all game. Our O line isn't that great yet.

I believe the over/under is 35.5 (someone correct me if I'm wrong). MICHIGAN is 9-1 strait up in the last ten games but NW is 7-3 against the spread. I predict a MICHIGAN win with a final score of 27 - 10 and MICHIGAN covers the spread for good measure. Sadly MICHIGAN loses the TO battle.... again.

sandyeggo_blue wrote:

shut him down and MICHIGAN goes home with the W.

The game is at Michigan. Hard to go home with the victory when you already are home.

UM 20 NU 14

M 23 NU 13

I'm lousy at predicting Mich games. I just don't have the objectivity. All I know is that I am nervous and excited and that the game is very meaningful to the BT race and I haven't been in a position to have that feeling for awhile.

This is 1 game I have no feel for, 1st this offense will spread you out a lot like Utah, did. nd they don't respect the pass it could be a long day. If Michigan can run it will be a good day, I just don't know..

gotta be able to run the ball effectively .... need to see Butt get the ball often .... big test for our secondary with the spread formations .... they need to be helped by constant pressure from the Dline ... still a scary game for me ... Meechigan 17 - Nwestern 10

BOLEACH7 wrote:

gotta be able to run the ball effectively .... need to see Butt get the ball often .... big test for our secondary with the spread formations .... they need to be helped by constant pressure from the Dline ... still a scary game for me ... Meechigan 17 - Nwestern 10

looking back at their games thus far they really only spread out so their RB can have room to run. it's all bluff IMO. I haven't seen anything that makes me feel like they are a true spread team. just look how much of the offensive plays the RB gets and it kind of makes my point.

Sandy- guess I'm not sure how you're defining a spread, but I think they are very much a spread team utilizing zone blocking schemes and misdirection as opposed to power, pulling guards, tackles etc.

wshoes wrote:

Sandy- guess I'm not sure how you're defining a spread, but I think they are very much a spread team utilizing zone blocking schemes and misdirection as opposed to power, pulling guards, tackles etc.

whoops my fault. I didn't mean to type "spread out" just spread. what I meant in my earlier post was that the highlight clips I saw show their RB getting all of the plays. there wasn't any quick passing to their scheme which I thought was a normal component of the spread. the receivers split wide or went down field to try and draw the the LBs out but they were never thrown to. all plays went to the RB and because the LBs were drawn out, he had some room to maneuver once he got passed the line.sorry for that confusion.

Northwestern covers in the under.

But MEEEECHIGAN wins the game, 19-12.