What they're saying: Michigan's most likely final record, predictions, more

No. 24 Michigan Wolverines football will take on No. 22 Illinois Saturday afternoon in Champaign. Here’s a look around the internet at what they’re saying this week.

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Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News: Wojo’s Pigskin Picks: Can a QB, any QB, save the Wolverines or Spartans?

Clearly, the Wolverines are exhausted. After three years of demolishing opponents, stacking up championships, defending their honor, filing court orders, redacting documents, deleting texts and answering annoying questions from NCAA dorks with bad breath, they needed a break.

So they spent the first half of the season laying low, trying not to draw attention to themselves with the type of unprecedented success that inevitably gets the lawyers and Big Ten commissioner involved. Just like the Wolverines, I took the past few weeks off from college football to shepherd our local professional baseball team through their wacky playoff run.

Now, I’m back to survey the wreckage, and so is UM. While I was busy trying to tell the difference between Hanifee, Hurter, Guenther, Holton, Vest, Foley and Brieske, the Wolverines were busy sorting through their own bullpen arms. During their bye week, they held on-campus auditions for quarterbacks and apparently settled on a 39-year-old associate professor of biophysics.

His name is [graduate] Jack Tuttle and he’s played some form of college football for seven years. To be fair, he’s only in his mid-30s. OK, 25 actually, and his teammates call him “Uncle Jack,” which is less deferential than “Father Jack.” He’s been entrusted with restoring order and completing two passes per quarter.

Austin Meek, The Athletic: Previewing Michigan at Illinois: What to watch in an overlooked Big Ten Top 25 matchup

Entering Michigan’s off week, The Athletic’s Austin Mock projected Michigan’s most likely outcomes as follows:

• 5-7: 4 percent
• 6-6: 19 percent
• 7-5: 36 percent
• 8-4: 30 percent
• 9-3: 9 percent
• 10-2: < 1 percent
Michigan is playing for bowl positioning at this point. The Athletic’s midseason projections had the Wolverines in the ReliaQuest Bowl, which would be quite a comedown after three consecutive trips to the CFP. It’s hard to find eight wins on Michigan’s schedule without Illinois being one of them, and with a loss, Michigan would need to beat Michigan State the following week to feel good about its chances for bowl eligibility.

For Illinois, a 10-win season could be on the table with a win against the Wolverines. The Illini play at Oregon the following week but close the season with home games against Minnesota and Michigan State and road trips to Rutgers and Northwestern.

Bill Connelly, ESPN.com: College football Week 8 preview: Showdown Saturday in SEC

No. 24 Michigan at No. 22 Illinois (3:30 p.m., CBS). The last time Illinois beat Michigan, it was Ron Zook‘s Illini walloping Rich Rodriguez‘s Wolverines in 2009. This feels like an awfully promising opportunity to end that streak. After all, Illinois is the only one of these two teams that can properly operate the forward pass. With upcoming games against Oregon, Indiana and Ohio State, Michigan’s CFP hopes are just about dead, and they could be all the way dead by Saturday evening.

Current line: Michigan -3.5 (up from -1) | SP+ projection: Michigan by 4.9 | FPI projection: Michigan by 3.6

Cameron Teague Robinson, The Athletic: Grading every Big Ten football team at midseason: From A-plus (Oregon) to F (Purdue)

Michigan: D
Listen, I know Michigan’s grade is lower than USC’s and it beat the Trojans, but that’s because this has been a more disappointing year for the Wolverines. Michigan’s College Football Playoff hopes are over in October (I didn’t see that coming). Michigan got blown out by Texas, which isn’t a huge strike on the resume, but losing to Washington is a bad loss. The Wolverines have no passing attack, and the defense hasn’t been as good as some thought in the preseason. They sit at 56th in scoring defense and 44th in total defense in the FBS, both below Michigan State, which played Oregon and Ohio State already.

Max Olson, ESPN.com: How Indiana and 13 other schools built rosters in Year 1

Portal minimalists
Three Year 1 programs whose head coaches took over under unusual circumstances that didn’t call for a transfer-heavy approach.

Michigan (4-2)
Transfers: 9
Starts by transfers: 15
Snaps by transfers: 1,067

It’s easy to look back with the benefit of hindsight and second guess why [head coach] Sherrone Moore didn’t go get a proven portal QB or an impact wide receiver or more help for his offensive line. It’s also fair to point out that by the time Jim Harbaugh decided to take the Los Angeles Chargers job on Jan. 24, the best of the best at those premium positions were off the market. The two transfers Michigan did land in December — offensive lineman Josh Priebe (Northwestern) and linebacker Jaishawn Barham (Maryland) — have started every game this season and weren’t misses. Among the post-spring pickups, receiver C.J. Charleston and cornerback Aamir Hall have earned starts and kicker Dominic Zvada is 8-for-8 on field-goal attempts. But time will tell whether this Michigan team would’ve seriously benefited from investing in many more transfers.

David Cobb, CBS Sports: Michigan vs. Illinois prediction, pick, spread, football game odds, where to watch, TV channel, live stream

Michigan is giving Tuttle his first start of the season at quarterback, but the Wolverines are still a one-dimensional team. Illinois knows the Wolverines are going to rely on the run, and  the Illini should be able to load the box defensively. [Luke] Altmyer is playing as well as any quarterback in the Big Ten and is capable of leading a few scoring drives, even against this defense. Look for the betting underdog Illini to scrape out their first win over Michigan since 2009. Pick: Illinois +3.5

Bill Bender, Sporting News: Remembering Red Grange, the ‘Galloping Ghost’ who made a Caitlin Clark-like impact on football in 1924

No. 22 Illinois will turn back the clock against No. 24 Michigan on Saturday for the 100th anniversary of the Oct. 18, 1924, dedication of Memorial Stadium. [Red] Grange ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, scored four rushing TDs, threw a TD pass and added two interceptions in a 39-14 victory against the Wolverines — a performance that immortalized the legend of the “Galloping Ghost.” 

Grange’s presence will be everywhere at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. Grange’s statue greets incoming fans on the west side of the stadium. The “77 Club” — a tribute to Grange’s numbers — offers a luxury stadium experience. “Grange Grove” is one of the best tailgates. 

Illinois will wear throwback uniforms with a sleek look that pays tribute to the 1924 team, complete with the appearance of a leather helmet. 

Author Doug Villhard wrote “The Golden Age of Red: A Novel of Red Grange, The Galloping Ghost.” The novel is a biographical historical fiction piece that looks into the life of Grange from his time at Illinois from 1923-25 and his role in helping establish the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Villhard also leans into the comparison to Clark.

“A lot of people in the sports world know Red Grange, but he came to fame before television so he’s not fresh in our mind as more recent stars,” Villhard told SN. “I think of Red like Caitlin Clark, incredibly famous while still in college like Caitlin was at the University of Iowa, and then she went pro. In my opinion, she really put her league on the map with selling out games.

“The same is true of Red,” he said. “College football was packing stadiums with 60,000 to 85,000 fans even 100 years ago. Pro football was barely drawing 3,000 fans at the time.”