Phil Steele predicts Michigan, Ohio State will tie atop Big Ten East in 2023
Michigan Wolverines football checks in No. 3 behind No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Clemson in Phil Steele’s 2023 preseason top 40. Those rankings, Steele notes, take into account schedule strength, foes’ schedules, experience edges at the start of the season and so on. The Maize and Blue are No. 3 behind No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Ohio State in Steele’s power ratings, however.
Ohio State has a tougher schedule — ranking as the 27th-most challenging in the nation compared to Michigan, which slots 67th — and the Wolverines will host the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor to cap off the regular season. Those facts play into why Steele expects Michigan to finish higher nationally (and, presumably, as the East Division’s representative in Indianapolis and conference champion). He has Ohio State No. 5.
“My power poll has the Wolverines No. 2 in the Big Ten in talent, but it’s close, and they have a much better schedule,” Steele wrote in his college football preview magazine. “[Michigan head coach] Jim Harbaugh is 2-1 against [Ohio State’s] Ryan Day and the Wolverines get ‘The Game’ at home in The Big House.
“Michigan should be favored in every game, with the road trip to Happy Valley [Nov. 11 at Penn State] a toss up. They are the only prime contender with a veteran quarterback, and not only do all eight groups rank in my top units, but five of them are top seven in the country. The Wolverines are No. 7 on my experience chart. The question is, will this be the year they win a playoff game?”
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In his Big Ten preview, Steele predicted that Michigan and Ohio State will share the Big Ten East title. The two teams have done so twice since 2018. That season, the Buckeyes beat Michigan and earned their spot in the Big Ten championship game. In 2021, though, it was the Maize and Blue that advanced to Indianapolis, with it coming down to the tiebreaker in both scenarios.
Despite finishing second in the division last season, Ohio State still made the College Football Playoff, where it lost to Georgia in the semifinal at the Peach Bowl. There’s a chance the Big Ten could get a pair of teams in the four-team playoff once again this fall, with Michigan and Ohio State being the most likely contenders.
Steele has Penn State finishing third in the East Division, followed by Maryland, Michigan State, Rutgers and Indiana. In the West, Steele predicts that Wisconsin will win its first division title since 2019 under first-year head coach Luke Fickell, who was hired from Cincinnati, where he took the Bearcats, then an AAC member, to the CFP in 2021. He has Iowa finishing second, followed by Illinois and Minnesota (tied third), Nebraska and Northwestern and Purdue (tied sixth).
