Colin Cowherd predicts Michigan will be 'in trouble' within five years among Big Ten schools

Although Michigan finished last season with back-to-back wins against Ohio State and Alabama, it struggled at times with new head coach Sherrone Moore. On a recent episode of his podcast, Colin Cowherd explained why he doesn’t believe the future is bright for Michigan football.

“One of the advantages the SEC has, like, culturally, they really don’t care about the swim team. There are certain universities — the West Coast really cares about it. There’s some ACC schools that do. Michigan has always looked at Ohio State as like, well, ‘Academically, they’re our junior college. We wouldn’t do what they would do,'” Cowherd said.

“My take is Oregon just entered the conference. Oregon has no effect on Ohio State, neither does USC or Washington. But I think Oregon, Washington and USC can beat Michigan regularly. I don’t think they can beat Ohio State regularly.”

Michigan certainly took its lumps last season. The Wolverines went 5-4 in conference play, suffering losses against Washington and Oregon. They defeated USC, but only by three points.

In fairness, Michigan has looked much improved this season with freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood leading the offense. Quarterback was the Wolverines’ weakness last season. The team averaged the fifth-least passing yards per game in the country.

Alas, Cowherd doesn’t foresee new roster pieces being able to help Michigan prosper in the long run. In fact, Cowherd believes Michigan’s attention to its academics and success away from the gridiron will ultimately lead to the program’s demise.

“When the Pac-12 came to the Big Ten, there was this sense that, ‘Oh, those West Coast schools. It’s big-boy football,” Cowherd said. “Michigan in five years, we’re going to look up and go, they’re the school in trouble. USC is humming. Oregon’s going to hum. Washington whenever they get the right coach is a top-10 program. Let’s be honest, James Franklin is one of the top five recruiters in the sport, they’re going to be fine. I mean, they have dudes.

“I know everybody loves Underwood, myself included, but I look at it and I think hired within, conference is much stronger, they care about stuff that a lot of football powers don’t — I have a weird vibe about Michigan. And Ohio State now is playing. I mean, they are rolling. Right now, they feel like Georgia four years ago.”

Michigan will have no choice but to try to prove Cowherd wrong one game at a time. On Saturday, the Wolverines will square off against Nebraska at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on CBS.