Michigan football may look much different in 2024, and has a lot of questions, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, but CBS Sports is still confident that there will be little fall off from 2023.
The Wolverines won the national championship last year, but then lost their head coach in Jim Harbaugh, as well as a ton of star players — including quarterback J.J. McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, nickel back Mike Sainristil, the entire starting offensive line, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, linebacker Junior Colson, and more. So, there are a ton of questions the maize and blue will be facing in 2024.
Still, with the expanded playoff coming this upcoming season with a 5+7 format, CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson expects Michigan to make it in at-large.
7. Michigan (at-large): Sherrone Moore’s imprint on Michigan football will begin with his SMASH theme, something he’s brought from the offensive line room and now extended to the entire program. The Wolverines should still be able to win with physicality at the line of scrimmage again, and running back Donovan Edwards gets his time in the spotlight as the team’s lead back. With Michigan’s success in the player development department over the last couple of years, the Wolverines seem to be a high-floor proposition in the Big Ten this year.
With his prediction of the Wolverines at No. 7, he has Michigan hosting No. 10 Notre Dame at The Big House with the winner set to take on No. 2 Ohio State in the next round. If that were to happen, it would be a rematch from the Nov. 30 game in Columbus.
Patterson has three of Michigan’s 2024 regular season opponents ranked ahead of it: OSU at 2, Oregon at No. 5, and Texas at No. 6.
