What they're saying, predicting ahead of Michigan football vs. Rutgers

Michigan Wolverines football opens the Big Ten season with a matchup against Rutgers Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor (noon ET on Big Ten Network). Here’s a look around the internet at what the media is saying before kickoff.

RELATED
• INSIDE THE FORT: Michigan football intel vs. Rutgers, hoops notes, more 
• Three things we think: J.J. McCarthy is just fine, play-action is a weapon and takeaways from Michigan basketball schedule release

Media predicts outcome of Michigan vs. Rutgers

TheWolverine.com
Chris Balas: U-M 30, Rutgers 13
John Borton: U-M 34, Rutgers 13
Clayton Sayfie: U-M 35, Rutgers 10
Anthony Broome: U-M 41, Rutgers 14
Doug Skene: U-M 28, Rutgers 14

MLive
Ryan Zuke: U-M 31, Rutgers 13
Andrew Kahn: U-M 28, Rutgers 13
Aaron McMann: U-M 31, Rutgers 13

Detroit Free Press
Tony Garcia: U-M 30, Rutgers 9
Carlos Monarrez: U-M 28, Rutgers 12
Rainer Sabin: U-M 20, Rutgers 10
Jeff Seidel: U-M 24, Rutgers 14
Shawn Windsor: U-M 26, Rutgers 20

The Detroit News
Angelique S. Chengelis: U-M 31, Rutgers 17
John Niyo: U-M 34, Rutgers 17
Tony Paul: U-M 42, Rutgers 10
Bob Wojnowski: U-M 38, Rutgers 13

Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News: Wojo’s Pigskin Picks: As Wolverines return to the ground, Spartans get buried

Well, this has taken a peculiar turn. As one suspended coach returns, another departs, and we’re left to wonder when we can safely watch Michigan and Michigan State without hearing about “Level One violations” or “moral turpitude.”

Some fans in Ann Arbor are nervous after the Wolverines, slender 40-point favorites, led Bowling Green only 7-6 late in the first half last week. An anxious Jim Harbaugh was spotted on surveillance cameras climbing through a Schembechler Hall window Saturday at 10:57 p.m., approximately 90 seconds after the game ended.

Of course, the situation is much, much, much, much, much, much worse in East Lansing, where the #Choppin’ is #Stoppin’. Following the lead of disgraced head coach Mel “Just Mel, please” Tucker, the Spartans phoned in their effort in a 41-7 loss to Washington. 

MSU may or may not have hired dozens of temporary workers to scrub the campus clean of all references to Tucker, who is being told to go away and take his slogans with him. #Tuckcomin’ is being sandblasted off walls, and his pictures have been replaced with faded portraits of Mark Dee’ant’on’i. The monikers #DeepEnd and #Woodshed have been restored to their original name — #HalfEmptySpartanStadium.

Bruce Feldman, The Athletic: College football picks against the spread: Bruce Feldman’s Week 4 picks

Greg Schiano’s team has given Michigan some problems since he returned to RU. The score was within seven points in 2020 and 2021, and last year Rutgers led in the third quarter before getting blown out. This is probably Schiano’s best team in his second act there, and I think the Knights hang around for a while again.
Michigan 38, Rutgers 17
The Pick: Rutgers +24

Bill Connelly, ESPN.com: What we know and don’t know one quarter into the 2023 college football season

Aside from Georgia and Ohio State trading places atop the SP+ rankings, the top three teams are almost exactly where they were three weeks ago. Michigan has looked far less convincing against its early season cupcakes than in previous years. The Wolverines outscored East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green by a combined 96-16, which sounds fine but is 46.2 points under what SP+ projected the combined margin to be. It also pales in comparison to the domination of the past couple of College Football Playoff years: They outscored three similar opponents 166-17 in 2022, and in 2021 they obliterated two of the MAC’s better teams (WMU and NIU) and Washington by a combined 141-34.

The bar’s high for proving you’re at a playoff standard, and Michigan hasn’t cleared it yet. Of course, none of this will matter if it pummels Rutgers on Saturday and starts looking the part.

Austin Meek, The Athletic: Jim Harbaugh returns to Michigan from a somber goodbye and ‘a place I’ve never been’

Harbaugh’s return comes at a pivotal time for the Wolverines, who are 3-0 but haven’t played their best football so far this season. Players didn’t pin the slow start on Harbaugh’s absence or the revolving door of stand-in head coaches, but there’s no denying it was a disruption from the norm. Instead of shifting in and out of different roles, Michigan’s assistant coaches will be able to focus on their individual responsibilities and leave the head coaching duties to Harbaugh.

“I think our team feeds off of his leadership,” said defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who filled in for Harbaugh in Michigan’s first game. “He breathes his confidence into our players. I expect the guys to be pretty excited to run out of the tunnel with him this week.”

No one will be more excited than Harbaugh. The time away wasn’t all bad: Harbaugh said he learned things about himself and his team while watching from afar, insights that wouldn’t have occurred to him in the heat of the moment. He watched his son play football and paid his respects to one of his first Stanford recruits. For three weekends, he saw how the rest of us live.

“I went to a place I’ve never been, which wasn’t on the sideline,” Harbaugh said.

Now that he’s back, the rest will have to wait. His Saturdays are spoken for again.

Tom VanHaaren, ESPN.com: College football’s 2023 all-transfer team through Week 3

Drake Nugent, Michigan Wolverines
Nugent was an important transfer for the Wolverines, who were looking to replace Olu Oluwatimi, who won the Rimington Award for the nation’s top center in the 2022 season. Nugent had 24 starts at center for Stanford and is now the starting center for Michigan. He has shared Offensive Player of the Week honors twice this season for the Wolverines and has received plenty of praise from his coaches. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said on his radio show that Nugent has likely played the best of all the offensive linemen on the team.

“He’s just been awesome from the day he stepped on campus. He’s been a grinder. When he couldn’t practice in the spring, when he was recovering from something, and the end of fall camp, he’s just taken full advantage of the opportunity,” Michigan offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore said. “The guy, I just looked upstairs and he was upstairs watching film. He doesn’t stop. … We love him and we’re glad we’ve got him.”

Dean Straka, CBSSports.com: Michigan vs. Rutgers live stream, watch online, TV channel, kickoff time, football game odds, predictions

There’s a reason why Michigan has won eight consecutive meetings with Rutgers, and unless the Wolverines beat themselves, nothing has changed enough to suggest that streak will end for a team that hasn’t lost a home game since 2020. It wouldn’t be a stunner if the Scarlet Knights keep things close for a generous portion of the first half based on how the past two meetings have gone, but Michigan has all the talent needed on both sides of the ball for them to pull away after enough blows have been exchanged. Not to mention, the Wolverines may have a little extra motivation to prove something this weekend after Bowling Green hung around longer than expected in Week 3. That’s potentially bad news for Rutgers coach Greg Schiano and company.
Prediction: Michigan -24