Michigan is entering its first season under new head coach Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines are also coming off their first national championship in 26 years.
Moore played an integral role in winning that title, serving as the team’s offensive coordinator and also replacing a suspended Jim Harbaugh as head coach for four games.
Now, it’s Moore’s turn to run the show, and expectations remain high, though Wolverine fans may want to temper them slightly, argues ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
On Get Up Tuesday, Dinich says she still foresees plenty of wins for the Maize and Blue this fall, but also three regular season losses for the first time since 2020.
“Well, let’s be clear here, Michigan is not going to fall off of a cliff because Jim Harbaugh left, right,” Dinich said, via On3 . “But to be fair, this is real. They return 23% of their offensive production from last year. That’s 123rd in the FBS. So there are a lot of new faces and new places, particularly a quarterback. When I look at this team, I see three losses Greeny: at home against Texas, at home against Oregon, and as we just talked about against the Buckeyes.
“That doesn’t mean they’re out of the College Football Playoff. We don’t know if a three-loss team can get into the CFP, but it will be a lot more difficult. That’s for sure.”
With the playoff expanded to 12 teams, it seems plausible that a team with three losses, probably out of the Big Ten or SEC, could sneak into the field.
Of course, Michigan fans would rather their team just avoid dropping that many games and qualify for the playoffs with room to spare.
It won’t be easy to do that in the bigger and better Big Ten, but it must be noted that two of those three games Dinich has the Wolverines losing will be played in Ann Arbor, as will another premier matchup, against USC.
Related: Sherrone Moore Asked If He’ll Call Plays This Season