UW opens as 4pt Favorite over Michigan.

I foresee no problems with Michigan going on the road to a hostile stadium and winning a game where it hasn't won in what, 20 years?

Uuuhhhh. Wait....

Also as a thought experiment I would like to have seen this board after '97 ND or especially at halftime of '97 Iowa.

It's why I can't take any of you seriously.

I'm not sure what happened to Cade, maybe it was the targeting, maybe he just got out of rhythm, regardless Wiscy will be more stout on defense than Rutgers.  Rutgers has a bunch of 4th, 5th, and even 6th year guys.  They have like 10 starters who are seniors or super seniors.  I think all of them took the extra Covid year.  They are a solid team, but they aren't a top 20 type team.  Despite Wiscy's struggles, they are a better defensive team than Rutgers. 

ND only had 3 rushing yards against Wiscy, but did have 239 passing yards.  ND forced 4 INTs, which lead to the big win, but they didn't win because they ran the ball on Wiscy.  UM won't be able to run down Wiscy's throat.  They either need to force Mertz to make mistakes, score points on special teams, or win through the air.  What they did today won't be enough to beat Wiscy.  Cade, the WRs, and the o-line will need to do more to beat Wiscy and they will need to throw more than 20 times and find balance on offense.  I really hope they go back to testing the edges, screens, end arounds, slants, RPOs with some keepers, maybe even get JJ in there for those, throw on first down some, and still stay with the run but with more of a 50/50 run/throw split.  If not, UM is going to be on the bad end of an ugly game with very little offense,

Wisconsin is great at stopping the run. We’re 100% losing if we go into that game with “run between the tackles” being 96% of our running plays and only testing the edge one time.

Wow. Does not bold well. 

Hammer the shit out of Wisconsin. Yesterday was our 2013 game against uconn. Sure we technically got the win and you can find some silver linings, but every flag is there that this is just a 7-5 team. I might be the one person on this board whose expectations are down from Pre season. I thought we were 8-4 or 9-3 with the offense looking pretty good. Given what we saw yesterday is more 7-5 to 8-4.

I will not be surprised if this game is a Harbaugh double-down...to show us that you can win today with straight power football. Something like-Villari starts with 6 OLs, 2 TEs, Haskins and Cornelius. 

An interesting stat; Since Mertz started that game against Illinois last year where he threw 5 touchdowns (and half of MGoBlog was drooling over him for some reason) he's now thrown a combined 5 touchdowns and 11 interceptions ever since.

They also lose fumbles, even when they're in scoring position like that time they muffed a handoff against Penn State.  

On the flip side, you have Michigan, who's opponents rarely if ever fumble.  And don't be fooled by that game ending fumble at the big house yesterday.  That hardly ever happens.  I can probably count on one hand the number of times opponents lose fumbles against us the last two years, since the end of the Army game.  

Even though Wisconsin is insanely mistake prone, I just don't expect it to happen against us.  Dierdorf was right on the radio yesterday.  They're going to stack the box and force us to throw on every play, all day.  

What time is the game is what I want to know...

The only slots left look like Big Noon Kickoff on FOX or the night game slot on FS1.

It's clearly going to be our game getting one slot and OSU/Rutgers gets the other. 

Hoping like hell we get the Big Noon Kickoff...but they just did Wisconsin and ND. 

I feel like we're going to get stuck in Camp Randall for a night game.

I do not feel confident about this game. Offense is going to have to step up if we want any chance. Aka throw the ball and run the ball like an elite team. 

This will come down to 2.5 pretty fast. 

Wow a top 25 team favored at home over another top 25 team

i am absolutely shocked

We tend to play better as a dawg so alrighty then.  

Maybe we can win a game as an underdog on the road. 

Totally fine with this - I do think we'll see some positive adjustments to the run/pass ratio and which downs are used for which plays. I also believe that Cade was probably either foggy or scared after that hit and, yes, JJ would have been a great change to have one that final goal line drive before half. He could have faked to Hasan and taken it around the end for a score. 

Anyway, if we are pissed and depressed after 4-0, how about UW fans? They had a very favorable schedule with PSU and UM and Iowa at home and probably expected to be 12-0. 

If we win (I think we will), JH will have his 1st road win as an underdog. 

Rutgers scored 13 pts and the main reason was Ross being out.  So hope he comes back healthy.  

The good news is Mertz is a fucking statue and rutgers qb was running literally every play which aided their scoring drives 

Don't feel even remotely confident about this game. Not anymore. 

The blueprint to beat Michigan is right there. Stack the box, dare McNamara to beat you through the air, which he may have the capability to do, but if he's only being allowed to throw 10-15 times a game then the odds heavily go into Wisconsin's favor with that gameplan. 

Rutgers supposedly had little to no means to be able to move the ball effectively, but in the second half they seemed to be able to move the ball at will, and the lack of DT depth got exposed big time. Wisconsin's offense may not be as potent as it normally is, but running down your throat in the I formation is their bread and butter, and they're going to pound Michigan up in the middle next Saturday until Michigan proves it can be stopped. They just don't have the bodies to do that for a full sixty minutes. 

I think this will be a close, ugly game in the first half, and then not unlike the 2017 edition of this game, Wisconsin will start to pull away in the second half. Something to the effect of 30-13 in a big "get right" game for them. 

If Michigan can get to at least +2 in the turnover margin, and if AJ Henning can rip off some big punt returns and set Michigan up with a short field, then they'll have a shot. But otherwise, they're probably toast, if yesterday is any indication. I don't doubt Rutgers is improved, but they shouldn't have been that improved. 

Take the points. Their passing game has been off the charts horrible.

Seems about right.  I don't trust Mertz and their defense didn't look that good against ND.  It'll give UM fits and we'll see if UM can break out of their tendencies but I rewatched that second half and there were a couple of runs that were an ankle tackle away of breaking loose.  It'll be a close game but I feel more confident about this game than I did a couple of weeks ago.

If you want to double your money from taking Rutgers yesterday, lay the points.