The Wolverines opened as 21.5-point favorites and the line climbed to 24 points by Friday night.
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Unspoken is the added bonus a Big Ten Tournament championship would bring, especially with Rutgers being No. 3 in the NCAA’s latest RPI: A possible No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Or at least it doesn’t have to be.
Rutgers has four chances to get three wins, closing with Michigan (road), Nebraska (home), Army (road) and Maryland (home). The former Iowa starter turned in his best performance in a Michigan uniform after working through soreness that came when he was knocked out last week’s game with an injured shoulder and ribs.
REVENGE FACTOR: The Wolverines have plenty of reasons to be motivated to beat Rutgers, and one of them may be what happened in the last meeting. That type of Pop Warner play-calling didn’t work against Wisconsin and it won’t work against Michigan.
Rutgers lost its last two games to top-ranked Ohio State and at Wisconsin by a combined score of 97-17…. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:42 PM (EST) and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
The Michigan Wolverines are off and running at home against Rutgers.
Rutgers needs to spread the field and mix up its play calls. Check out the Rutgers vs. Michigan game preview and prediction. The Hoosiers drew up its go-to play off the penalty corner for the eighth time in the game.
Wisconsin’s football team will make its 19th appearance in a bowl game since 1996 this winter, and current projections from ESPN analysts have the Badgers playing Duke in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl on December 26 (ESPN’s Brett McMurphy) or UCLA in the National University Holiday Bowl on December 30 (ESPN’s Mark Schlabach).
Jake Rudock is expected to start at quarterback for Michigan and he should have little trouble directing the offense to a big day against Rutgers 111th ranked defense.
Rutgers has nothing to lose by taking a few shots downfield.
The Michigan Wolverines will try to avoid having their third straight game be decided with no time left on the clock this Saturday when they host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for the first time ever. Laviano was without top receiver Leonte Carroo, who did not dress Saturday because of an ankle injury. “They pressured really quick, and I think that we really handled it well, we were trying to get them to settle down and just take smarter free hits”.
With that, the rest of the offense has subsequently sputtered.
The health of Jake Rudock will determine a great deal for Michigan. Rudock has completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,443 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions this season.
Senior Erica Skroski, the Big Ten Defender of the Year, says this team’s consistent business-like approach to every regular season game will prove beneficial in the postseason. Not only is Rutgers lacking game-changing plays in the kicking game, special teams have become a liability.
While the Knights have remained confident and cool in the face of adversity with the focus on the next game up in front of a possible capacity crowd of 109,901 at Michigan Stadium, it’s hard not to overlook the overall magnitude of the visit to “The Big House”.
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“This is what they’ve set as a goal from day one and now they’re in this position”. The team will likely suffer a bit by graduating four key seniors but will return its top two goal scorers from this year among a plethora of young talent, including Rother, who was a rock for the Hoosiers all season in the cage.
