STAFF PREDICTIONS
WolverinesWire staff writers Isaiah Hole and Trent Knoop will share their thoughts on the game, two soft predictions, one bold prediction and the final score.
Isaiah Hole:
The Wolverines scraped out a win over Maryland last week, and the test gets tougher this week with a trip to Iowa City. I remember going in 2016, and certainly, no one expected the unranked Hawkeyes to pull that one off. Especially when the maize and blue were up 10-0.
Last week, J.J. McCarthy had his worst performance to date, and it was still quite good, as he completed 69.2% of his passes and threw for 220 yards. Yards will come at a premium this week, but we’ve seen Michigan do work against Iowa — oh — six games ago.
For me, the big question is how healthy will Michigan be? Could the Wolverines get Donovan Edwards and Trevor Keegan back? The expectation is, yes, both could be back, and that could spell the difference between being in a dogfight and a big-time win. Iowa has nothing to write home about offensively, but its defense — make a mistake, and it’ll cost you. That’s why Michigan needs as much offensive firepower as it can get. Iowa can’t account for everybody. And if J.J. McCarthy can take what he learned from the Maryland game and apply it, things should go very well for the maize and blue. If he doesn’t, premature talk about a failure of a season will commence, despite many having Michigan losing this game in the preseason.
I expect Michigan to do like it did last year, and at least attempt to jump out to an early lead and force Iowa’s offense to come back.
-Soft predictions
- Iowa sells out and holds the run game to under 100 yards
- However, J.J. McCarthy gets over 250-yards passing
-Bold prediction
- Michigan holds Iowa’s offense to under 120 yards of offense
-Final score prediction
- Michigan 31, Iowa 10
Trent Knoop:
Obviously, Kinnick Stadium and the atmosphere is brutal for opposing teams to play at. That’s why the saying is ‘where top five teams go to die’. But I just don’t see it happening this time for a couple of reasons.
Michigan and Iowa aren’t drastically different teams from December of 2021 when the Wolverines throttled the Hawkeyes. Yeah, Michigan lost some major defensive players, but the Michigan offense is arguably better this year with J.J. McCarthy at the helm and the Wolverines’ defense has been really good to start 2022 — even against the Maryland potent passing attack.
The second reason is because the Iowa offense is really bad to put it simply. The Hawkeyes have struggled to score against lesser teams and Michigan is going to be the biggest challenge defensively that Iowa has seen all season to date. If Iowa has already struggled to score and gain yards, what makes anyone think it can do so against a top 15 defense that Michigan has?
To me, this game strictly comes down to Michigan playing smart. If the Wolverines go out there and play backyard football and turn the ball over then Iowa has a legit chance to win, but if the Wolverines can play turnover-free football and get points when they’re able to, then I don’t think Iowa has the firepower to win the game. This feels like a game where Michigan only needs 17 or more points to win.
-Soft predictions
- Michigan finally gets pressure on the quarterback and records four sacks.
- J.J. McCarthy throws for two touchdowns
-Bold prediction
- Because J.J. McCarthy is throwing the ball well, Blake Corum is able to rush for 150 yards.
Final score prediction
- Michigan 24, Iowa 9
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