2. Washington – AWAY – Sept. 5
(Admittedly arbitrary) Chances of winning
51%
What poses difficulty
Playing on the road on the West Coast to open the season — yeah, that’s not ideal. Not to mention that Michigan will be arriving with new starters at key positions, namely at quarterback.
What should help is that Washington has a new head coach in Jimmy Lake, and it went 8-5 in an easier Power Five conference in Chris Petersen’s final year in Seattle. Michigan should be more talented, but that hasn’t always equaled wins. The Wolverines should benefit from not having any kind of a schematic overhaul this year, one where football activities were canceled due to coronavirus. But Washington, even with a new head coach, didn’t change much on the staff. So it’s not like those who have already been on campus will have great unfamiliarity with the systems, most likely.
One other piece of good news? Washington was better on the road than at home last year, going 4-3 in friendly confines in 2019.
How Michigan wins
A lot has to go right.
The defense has to play at a high-level, even though it’ll be going up against a new starting quarterback. They say defense travels, but Michigan hasn’t been so lucky on the road, pre-dating the Jim Harbaugh era.
The bigger challenge will be on the offensive side of the ball, where Michigan will be breaking in four new full-time starters on the offensive line and a new starting quarterback. The Wolverines have depth across the board offensively, and consistency in coaching for the first time since 2016, but going against the team that was No. 19 in the country in turnover margin in 2019 to open the season, and with the game being on the road, it’ll take some mistake-free football to overcome the Huskies in Seattle.
We anticipate that will be the case, but it’s easier said than done.
Your Turn
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