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New Year’s Day will bring new year’s resolutions, new traditions, new beginnings, and for Michigan and Alabama, a closing statement for their 2019 season. While this game won’t get as much attention as the College Football Playoff games got yesterday, it will still be a huge game lots of people will be paying attention too.

Michigan and head coach Jim Harbaugh will be looking for a big win over Alabama and head coach Nick Saban as the Wolverines need to upset the Crimson Tide to get win number 10 on the season. There are many things to talk about heading into this game, players contemplating the NFL draft, which players could see playing time in the bowl game, coaches taking on their former team.

For me though, here are my main three things to watch this week against Alabama as the Wolverines look to shock the nation.

1. How will Michigan’s secondary deal with Alabama’s loaded wide receiver group?

Everyone including myself has talked about this time and time again. How can Michigan’s defense, mostly the secondary, deal with Alabama’s loaded wide receiver group? It’s not going to be easy and something will have to give if Michigan is going to have a chance at stopping any of them from playing well.

Comparing the two groups of top three wide receives, Alabama’s is another level over the Wolverines top receivers.

Alabama Top 3 WR Stats

• Devonta Smith – 65 catches, 1,200 yards, 13 touchdowns
• Jerry Jeudy – 71 catches, 959 yards, nine touchdowns
• Henry Ruggs III – 38 catches, 719 yards, seven touchdowns
• Total – 174 catches, 2,878 yards, 29 touchdowns

Michigan Top 3 WR Stats

• Ronnie Bell – 43 catches, 694 yards, one touchdown
• Nico Collins – 33 catches, 681 yards, seven touchdowns
• Donovan Peoples-Jones – 33 catches, 404 yards, six touchdowns
• Total – 109 catches, 1,779 yards, 14 touchdowns.

The difference between the two teams is 65 catches, 1,099 yards, and 15 touchdowns. That difference is huge and something Michigan will need to somehow contain or at least slowdown. It won’t be easy to do, but that is the key to Michigan winning this game is to limit the Alabama passing game.

Cornerbacks Lavert Hill, Ambry Thomas, and Vincent Gray will be tested from the first snap until the final whistle. If Hill has a great game, his NFL draft stock can improve, along with Thomas if he chooses to declare. Gray will be back at Michigan guaranteed next season, so a good performance can boost his confidence and help him for his possible NFL draft appearance in the future.

2. Can Josh Gattis’s knowledge of Alabama help Michigan?

Michigan has some extra knowledge about Alabama’s football team ahead of the matchup. That is all thanks to their offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. Gattis was the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Alabama last season and he could know what to do against Alabama’s defense. While things might not be the exact same, Gattis can help his players grasp how the Crimson Tide defense works in general.

That extra information about Alabama could help Michigan out in a big way. While Gattis will know about the Alabama defense in a way, he also could know about the offense that they run. While he won’t know the schemes and such, he knows most of the players and how they work and what works best for them. He can help defensive coordinator Don Brown in figuring out how to stop the offense as well as they can.

Gattis could be the Wolverines secret weapon. Alabama knows that Gattis will have an insight on how things work, so they will most likely shake things up to surprise Gattis and I’m sure Gattis knows that will be coming. Gattis could be a big help for the Wolverines as the team gets ready to try and take down the Crimson Tide.

3. Don Brown’s response to another blowout to Ohio State

Last year, Michigan lost to Ohio State 62-39 and their response game was against Florida in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. What happened in that game? Michigan got blown out again, losing 41-15. This year it’s a similar story as Michigan lost to Ohio State in another blowout 56-27. Will Michigan respond to getting blown out in their biggest rivalry game by getting blown out in the bowl game once again?

That would be a horrible way to end the 2019 season as it would be almost a carbon-copy of the 2018 season with just one less win. Brown will need to certainly get his players ready for this game against Alabama. Brown had some interesting words when talking about his team rebounding after losing to Ohio State this year.

“Yeah, we’ve moved on from that,” Brown said. “I mean, obviously, you can’t let a significant loss like that linger. If you let it linger, then one loss leads to two losses. And I think our guys have done a good job of just putting that behind us and focusing on what’s in front of us. We’ve got a great challenge coming up here next Wednesday and, you know, that’s our 100 percent focus.”

Brown will need his defense as ready as they’ve ever been as Alabama will be the toughest type of offense they’ve gone up against this year. While Ohio State was the better team overall, Alabama’s receiver core is the best in the country and one that Brown will somehow have to overcome. If Brown doesn’t want the same ending as he had in 2018, he’s got to do something different.