Will Johnson, Colston Loveland injury updates: Final decision made on status vs. Ohio State

Michigan will be without two of its biggest stars against Ohio State: CB Will Johnson and TE Colston Loveland. Already a massive underdog, the Wolverines will be undermanned against their rival on the road.

Loveland left at halftime of Michigan’s 50-6 win over Northwestern last week with an undisclosed injury. Johnson’s missed the last five games for the Wolverines due to turf toe.

Michigan is only 6-5 this season and fighting for a better bowl game. An upset would be monumental in an already emotional game.

“I don’t know about an emotional tax,” head coach Sherrone Moore said previewing The Game. “It’s fun. It’s everything you want to be when you grow up as a kid, whether you want to be a coach, whether you want to be a player, this is what you want to do, you want to be in these types of games, so it’s awesome to be a part of. It’s a lot of work. It’s something you think about all year and it’s an exciting time for us.”

Obviously Michigan has had struggles with the QB position this season. Now, they face one of the best defenses in the country.

Michigan undermanned vs. Ohio State

“They’re as good as any defense in the country,” Moore said. “Complete defense, got great skill, got great talent, do a good job with the scheme, something we’re familiar with, we study, we watch, and they’re a really good team. So we have to go execute at a high level to go win.”

Michigan’s had the advantage of two of its last three wins over Ohio State coming in Ann Arbor. But now, it’s back to Columbus.

“Obviously crowd noise and practice and doing those things and I think our guys love those environments,” Moore said. “So we will definitely increase the crowd noise and you put it in the indoor, it gets pretty loud, but we’ll definitely have to (understand) the elements and create some noise and distraction … to make sure we understand what it was going to be like.”