Michigan football has won the last two Big Ten Championships, even though the Wolverines weren’t expected by any outside of Ann Arbor to do so either year. That’s in large part due to rival Ohio State‘s dominance stretching back decades while returning a Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback.
However, the maize and blue didn’t just dominate the Buckeyes in 2021, but they ran them off of their own field in 2022 — the first win in Columbus in 20 years.
Now Michigan returns the bulk of its team from a year ago, while OSU has a lot of talent to replace, including QB C.J. Stroud. Penn State hopes that Drew Allar is an upgrade on former QB Sean Clifford, while some others — Wisconsin, Iowa, perhaps even Maryland — are looking to make waves in the conference.
CBS Sports ranked last year’s conference champions in terms of the likelihood that they may repeat in 2023, and the Michigan Wolverines are ranked third behind Georgia and Clemson.
3. Michigan
Outside of Georgia, the Wolverines have been arguably the most dominant team in college football over the past two seasons with a 25-3 record plus consecutive Big Ten championships and CFP berths, ranking as high as No. 2. The 2023 iteration might be the best of the bunch with running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards pacing what could be the most dynamic rushing attack in college football. The only roadblock on Michigan’s schedule is Ohio State, another College Football Playoff team in 2022 that will have a target right on UM’s back all season long after dropping two straight to its rival. But if the Wolverines can win three consecutive versions of The Game for the first time since 1997 – a national championship season – Michigan will win the Big Ten.
That’s likely a fair ranking, as Michigan has to contend with OSU, whereas Georgia may not even have to see Alabama in the SEC Championship game if the Crimson Tide falter en route to that game, as they did last year. Clemson doesn’t exactly play in a dominant conference, so it also makes sense that the Tigers would be a shoo-in to win the ACC.
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