Matt Leinart offers perspective for Michigan following loss to Michigan State

A former blue blood quarterback offered words of encouragement to a fellow blue blood that suffered a crushing loss on Saturday. 

Michigan’s undefeated season came to end at the hands of their in-state rival, as Michigan State topped the Wolverines 37-33 in East Lansing.

Despite the loss, Fox analyst and former USC quarterback Matt Leinart believes there are still good things ahead for Michigan.

“Tough loss for [Michigan football] but still everything in front of them,” Leinart tweeted Saturday. “The B10 East will continue to have shakeups.  Have to bounce back which I think they will. That’s a very good football team.”

Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara had his best game of the season on Saturday. He was 28-for-44 with 383 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Unfortunately, the interception sealed the loss for the Wolverines. Backup quarterback J.J. McCarthy came in for a few plays and threw a touchdown pass, but he also struggled to take care of the ball. He fumbled twice, although he only lost one of them.

Freshman receiver Andrel Anderson, a native of East Lansing, started the game with zero career receptions. He subsequently caught three passes, two of which were touchdowns. He finished with six receptions.

The Spartans entered the game with the worst pass defense in the Big Ten, so Michigan’s ability to rack up passing yards is not too surprising. The more shocking element of Saturday’s game was the Spartans’ ability to largely bottle up arguably the best running back duo in the country, Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum. They combined for 27 carries for 104 yards, just 3.8 yards per carry. Neither running back scored.

On the defensive side, Michigan was unable to stop running back Kenneth Walker III. The back posted 197 yards and five touchdowns, the most ever scored against Michigan by a Spartan.

Playoff hopes are not dead for Wolverines

With just one loss on the season, the Wolverines are certainly not eliminated from College Football Playoff contention. However, they do have games against Penn State and Ohio State remaining on their schedule. They would also need Michigan State to lose twice, since the Spartans hold the tiebreaker between the teams. 

One-loss teams have made the playoff on 17 occasions, including five times out of the Big Ten (four Ohio State, one Michigan State). The only Big Ten team to make the CFP without a conference title was 2016 Ohio State.

Michigan hosts Indiana next weekend, and they should be a big favorite. The Hoosiers are 2-6 and barely averaging 20 points per game.