Michigan Wolverines at Utah Utes College Football Preview & Pick

College Football Preview: Michigan Wolverines at Utah Utes

Written By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)

When: 8:30 PM ET, Thursday, September 3, 2015
Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah
Televised: Fox Sports 1

Odds:  The line opened as Utah favored at -3. It has now been bet up to Utah -5.5. The OU line currently sits at 46.

Jim Harbaugh takes over at team that has 15 starters and 50 lettermen back from last year. This is an experienced team and Harbaugh is a very good coach, which is a good combination. The big question is at QB, where it looks as if Jake Ruddock will be given a shot, after transferring from Iowa. Last year at Iowa he threw for 2436 yards, with 16 TDs and just 5 INts. The Wolverines do have their top 3 RBs and 4 of their top 5 pass catchers back from last year, plus a very solid offensive line, so Jake may do just fine. The defense was solid and with 7 starters back they should be even better this year. The defense is a loaded one that has 9 starters back that were rated 37th or better coming out of HS at their respective positions, including Jabrill Peppers, who was the top rated DB coming out of HS 2 years ago. This should again be a very good defense.

The Utah Utes went a solid 9-4 last year, which ended with a 45-10 trouncing of Colorado State in the Las Vegas Bowl. This is a team that should have another solid season as they have back 14 starters and 61 lettermen from last year’s very good team. The Offense is led by QB Travis Wilson, who threw for 2170 yards with 18 TDs and 5 INTs last year. The running game should be exception as Devontae Booker returns after rumbling for 1512 yards and 1o TDs last year, but the Utes have some rebuilding to do in the WR corps as they lost 3 of their top 4 from last year. The OL is not spectacular, but is very good. Over on the defensive side the Utes have 15 of their top 20 tacklers back from last year and come into this year with the top DL in the Pac-12 and the 12th best I the nation. The rest of the defense is very strong as well as the LB corps and secondary both rate as 4th best in the league. This team is no pushover, especially on the defensive side and their running game should be one of the vest in the league. Utah will flirt with 10 wins again this year.

Michigan will be a team that should struggle offensively this year, especially in the early going. They won’t have much of a passing game while their running game will be very average. They will look to run more than throw which will help keep that clock a churning. Utah will also be mostly a ground based offense, especially since they lost so much talent at the WR position. Defense will be the strength of both of these teams this year, especially from the Utah side, while Michigan’s defense will be one of the better in the league. A lot of running and defense should keep this game from going over the total.

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