247Sports came out with their summer edition bowl projections for the 2023-24 college football season.
When it comes to Michigan and predictions, analysts are all pretty high on the Wolverines. The maize and blue return most of their playmakers from a season ago and the defense shouldn’t skip a beat with defensive coordinator Jesse Minter coming back for a second season.
Which is why it’s no surprise that Brad Crawford, with 247Sports, predicted Michigan to make it back to the College Football Playoff. Crawford has the Wolverines as the No. 4 seed taking on No. 1 seed Georgia.
This again? The Bulldogs and Wolverines played two years ago down in Miami and Georgia steamrolled Jim Harbaugh’s team. This marks Michigan’s third-straight trip to the playoff and the Wolverines have not won a game yet. Georgia goes for a three-peat, unprecedented in the modern era. The more things change, the more they stay the same and we’re expecting the Bulldogs to get back to the final four as the top seed once again. Have you looked at their regular-season slate?
But for the third-straight year, the Wolverines lose in the semifinal, according to these predictions.
In the other semifinal game, he has Ohio State as the No. 2 seed defeating No. 3 seed, Texas. That would mean that Georgia and the Buckeyes would meet in the national championship.
What the seeds mean?
It comes as no shock that Crawford would predict the Bulldogs to be the best team in college football again — they have won the whole thing two seasons in a row.
But with the Wolverines coming in as the fourth seed and OSU being put as No. 2, that could only mean Ohio State beats Michigan.
Let’s not forget Michigan has dominated Ohio State the past two seasons and especially in the trenches. The Wolverines did lose two offensive linemen to the NFL, but Jim Harbaugh brought in three high-level transfers to compete on the line and Michigan has a chance to be in the running for the Joe Moore Award for the third year in a row.
The Wolverines have Ohio State at home this season and the Buckeyes are breaking in a new quarterback. While Kyle McCord or Devin Brown will more than likely be good, we do not know that yet. As much talent as OSU has on the team, it’s hard to predict Ohio State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor — right now.
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