Michigan comes into a historic 2024 football season as defending national champions for the first time since 1997, but the Wolverines will embark on their title defense a very different team after undergoing changes across the roster and the coaching staff.
With the Big Ten expanding to 18 members and the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, there’s plenty more room for competition for Michigan and everyone else. Using the ESPN power index analytics model as our guide, let’s make some early predictions for the Wolverines this fall.
While the Wolverines are listed as early 21-point favorites, the Bulldogs won nine games a year ago and return their starting quarterback and the bulk of a decent offense, but Michigan should have the edge going against Fresno’s front seven alignment.
The Red Wolves ranked a paltry 107th nationally in scoring defense a year ago, allowing more than 31 points per game on average, and surrendered 70 points in their one Power Five game last season, on the road against Oklahoma.
A good sign for the Wolverines to get this number against the Big Ten newcomer Trojans, in addition to Michigan being a 9.5-point favorite on the books in this home tilt. But if USC does finally make those long-awaited defensive improvements, this game could go either way.
There’s a new regime on defense for the Gophers, who are also making an important change at quarterback in the hopes of reviving an offense that posted all of 19 points per game last fall.
