Joel Klatt buying stock in Michigan for 2025, expects Wolverines to be drastically better

Michigan took a step back last season in 2024 in year one under Sherrone Moore after winning the national title in 2023 in their final year under Jim Harbaugh. Now, Joel Klatt expects the maize & blue to be back this fall with how he projects them in 2025.

Klatt bought and sold five teams apiece for this upcoming season on his show on Monday. The Wolverines were among his purchases based on how they closed last season with a big finish at 3-0, a victory at Northwestern and two of those being top-dozen wins at No. 2 Ohio State and over No. 11 Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl, following a 5-5 start.

“Michigan went 8-5 a year ago, several close games coming off that national championship run the year before,” noted Klatt.

Think about the way that they ended their season, though. You could make an argument, outside of Ohio State winning the national championship, in this day and age where most teams are going to lose their last game? It’s not like it used to be in college football when most teams could win a bowl game and be like, ‘Yeah! Here we go!’. Now, if you’re not in the playoff, it’s hard to even win a bowl game and feel great about yourself because you’re not in the top-twelve in the country,” said Klatt. “However, of the teams not in the playoff…Michigan had the best, easily, last month of the season of anybody in the country.”

Most of this buy was based on the Wolverines’ defense last year, especially late. Michigan allowed 19.9 points, which was Top-20 in the country, and 307 total yards of offense per game, including 9.7 points and 213 yards of offense over their win streak to close. Klatt thinks that’ll continue on for them coming into this season in year two of this defensive staff as he has them among the very top units on the side of the ball in the sport.

“They were unbelievable on defense. They gets wins against Ohio State and against Alabama despite scoring only 32 total points in those games. Their defense was number one in the country in scoring defense and total defense over their last four. And, by the way, in those last four, not a cupcake schedule. They played three teams that were in the Top-15 – Indiana, Ohio State, and Alabama. They gave up two total touchdowns over the last three and a half games. So, something happened with ‘Wink’ Martindale.”

“Defense should be excellent. I think Clemson and Michigan could have the two best defenses in the country. ‘Wink’ Martindale figured it out along the road during the year last year. They turned in one of the better defenses in the country.”

However, on the other side, Michigan will need to be better offensively than they were a year ago. They scored just 22 points, which was 113th nationally, while posting 286.2 yards per game themselves as a unit. That’s mainly on the pass game, and the offensive line based on this analysis, to now produce better.

“If they get any offensive contribution, from Bryce Underwood or whoever plays quarterback, this team should be drastically better,” said Klatt. “This was an eight-win team with an offense that couldn’t throw the ball at all. In fact, the only teams in the country that they were better than throwing the ball were academies. That’s a problem, okay.”

“Mikey Keene comes in…He could be a possible replacement at quarterback. Bryce Underwood? He could be a possible replacement at quarterback,” Klatt continued. “I think that they’re going to want to run the football again. They’ve got Jordan Marshall, a guy that they really like when talking to them. They also brought in Justice Haynes from Alabama…I’ve got a bit of a question about the offensive line. Is it as good as those offensive lines late in Harbaugh’s era that they could just lean on and just play bully ball?”

Klatt is also in on Michigan because of what little that he sees on their schedule for ’25. A week two test on the road in the SEC will be a challenge but, beyond that, he doesn’t see much in conference play in the Big Ten that could be too much for the Wolverines, even in the season finale with The Game as they’ve won four straight in all the meetings in the 2020s.

“Then you’ve got the schedule in the Big Ten. They’ve got the benefit of actually a decent schedule,” said Klatt. “They don’t have to play Penn State, they don’t have to play Oregon, they don’t have to play Illinois, they don’t have to play Indiana, and they don’t have to play Iowa.”

“So, what do they have? Well, a huge game week two against Oklahoma. That’s on the road. If – and I know that’s a big if because Norman is not an easy place to play. If they were to beat Oklahoma, nothing looks daunting on the schedule,” Klatt said. “They would have games at Nebraska, at USC, Washington before the huge game against Ohio State at the end of the year.”

Michigan isn’t far removed from three-straight appearances in the four-team field, one leading to a national championship, of the College Football Playoff. Klatt now thinks they could be back closer at that level in this season to come.

“I think this is a bounce back year for Michigan,” Klatt stated.

“Watch out for Michigan. I think that’s a bounce back,” said Klatt. “I believe that’s a buy for next year. Michigan is a buy.”