What they're saying, predicting ahead of Michigan's final non-conference game against UConn

Fourth-ranked Michigan Wolverines football is set to take on UConn Saturday afternoon at The Big House (noon ET on ABC). Here is a look around the internet at what they’re saying ahead of the Maize and Blue’s final non-conference game, as well as some score predictions from national and local media.

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Media predicts outcome of Michigan vs. UConn

Michigan is a 47.5-point favorite over UConn, with the total points over/under line set at 70.5. We’ve rounded up the predictions of 21 media members, 14 of whom have U-M covering and 13 of whom have the over hitting.

The Wolverine

Chris Balas: Michigan 45, UConn 10

John Borton: Michigan 52, UConn 10

Clayton Sayfie: Michigan 52, UConn 6

Anthony Broome: Michigan 63, UConn 13

Doug Karsch: Michigan 61, UConn 6

Doug Skene: Michigan 56, UConn 13

The Sporting News

Bill Bender: Michigan 52, UConn 6

Wolverines Wire

Isaiah Hole: Michigan 52, UConn 10

Trent Knoop: Michigan 56, UConn 7

MLive

Ryan Zuke: Michigan 56, UConn 7

Andrew Kahn: Michigan 56, UConn 6

Aaron McMann: Michigan 52, UConn 3

The Detroit News

Matt Charboneau: Michigan 56, UConn 7

Angelique S. Chengelis: Michigan 48, UConn 0

John Niyo: Michigan 59, UConn 10

Bob Wojnowski: Michigan 58, UConn 6

Detroit Free Press

Michael Cohen: Michigan 56, UConn 6

Carlos Monarrez: Michigan 44, UConn 13

Rainer Sabin: Michigan 52, UConn 6

Jeff Seidel: Michigan 56, UConn 7

Shawn Windsor: Michigan 49, UConn 10

Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: Five burning questions with Michigan set to finish non-conference slate against UConn

Will J.J. McCarthy continue his streak of ‘nearly flawless’ performances?

Through two games, Michigan sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy has been as good as it gets. He’s completed 15 of his 16 passes — with the one incompletion being a drop by graduate wideout Ronnie Bell — for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. He’s also rushed four times for 66 yards and a score.

McCarthy’s not going to complete 93.8 percent of his passes this season, due in large part to the fact that the schedule gets much tougher after this weekend. He’s been stellar so far, but there will be some turbulence ahead, which will give him a chance to improve and reach even another level.

We don’t expect UConn to be much of a hurdle, though. The Huskies have gotten pressure on just 28.4 percent of its opponent’s dropbacks, which ranks 82nd in the country, and that will give McCarthy (who wasn’t pressured even once last week) time to let routes develop down the field. He’s been great at going deep, completing all six of his passes that have traveled 20-plus yard in the air for 140 yards and two touchdowns.

So far through three contests, UConn has allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 7 of 10 throws for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns on passes that travel 20-plus air yards. The Huskies struggled to contain the legs of Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader, too, allowing him to rush for 69 yards (taking out sack yardage) and 2 touchdowns.

Those two things alone show that Michigan’s quarterback has a great chance to have another impressive performance.

The one thing McCarthy will have to be on the lookout for is blitzing. The Huskies bring more than four pass rushers on 40.2 percent of passing downs, so he’ll have to process things quickly and find his hot receiver.

Seth Walder, ESPN.com: What the numbers say about the College Football Playoff Big 3 and the race for fourth

Michigan Wolverines

Playoff chance: 26%

The second-most likely playoff combination features two SEC teams and two Big Ten teams (with Michigan joining the three favorites) — perhaps a preview of what college football soon would have looked like were playoff expansion not on the horizon.

Michigan could just win out and have a straight run to the playoff, of course. But a statistically more likely path to the playoff, per the Predictor, is finishing 11-1 with a loss to Ohio State and still getting into the playoff. If the first part happens — losing only to the Buckeyes and missing out on the Big Ten championship game — the model forecasts a 67% chance at the playoff for the Wolverines.

Eddie Timanus , USA Today: Alabama, Texas lead five biggest overreactions from Week 2 in college football

Michigan should be the favorite in the Big Ten

Part of this assessment stems from a reevaluation of Ohio State’s Week 1 victory against Notre Dame, which looks far less impressive given the Fighting Irish’s follow-up performance. The Buckeyes handled their own business in Week 2, of course, but the Wolverines – the defending conference champions remember – appear to have taken their own offense to another level with J.J. McCarthy set to take the quarterback reins.

Don’t get too carried away with Michigan, though. The Wolverines have piled up their lofty numbers against Colorado State and Hawaii, neither of whom has won a game. Next week’s meeting with Connecticut figures to be more of the same. There’s a long way to go before the Wolverines and Buckeyes settle matters on the field in Columbus.

Austin Meek, The Athletic: Jim Harbaugh looks to Michigan’s Matt Weiss for innovation, sharp eye on offense

Before joining Jim Harbaugh’s staff last year, Weiss developed a reputation in Baltimore as something of a savant with numbers, tendencies and patterns. Originally an assistant to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Weiss was the person to call if anyone on staff had questions about data or analytics, [Chuck] Pagano said.

When Pagano became Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, Weiss helped him sift through enormous quantities of data and assemble a call sheet with opponents’ tendencies. Not all of them were strongly predictive, but once in a while Weiss would find a tell: the alignment of a particular tight end, an offensive lineman’s hand placement, some little giveaway that helped the Ravens anticipate the play.

“He just got football,” Pagano said. “However he saw it, it just made sense. It would take me hours and hours and hours, and it just came really easily to him.”

Ari Wasserman, The Athletic: If stars matter, how did Appalachian State beat Texas A&M? Recruiting mailbag

Bigger deal for a coach’s ability to show the world they can develop QBs and increase their brand: Jim Harbaugh with J.J. McCarthy or Billy Napier with Anthony Richardson? — Jeremy G.

Though it would be tempting to go with Napier given he’s coming right out of the gate in his Florida tenure and Richardson possesses as much raw physical ability as anyone who has played quarterback in recent memory, it’s impossible not to go with Harbaugh here.

Harbaugh came to Michigan known as a quarterback whisperer, mainly because of what he was able to do with Andrew Luck at Stanford. But he also did great things with Colin Kaepernick while the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Those two almost won a Super Bowl together. Oh, and we can’t forget that Harbaugh himself was a very accomplished quarterback who had a long career as an NFL starter.

But when you look at his tenure at Michigan, he hasn’t turned a quarterback into a star. Even worse, it wasn’t until Cade McNamara last season — which was Year 7 of Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan — that the Wolverines had a transcendently successful season behind a quarterback Harbaugh recruited out of high school. And McNamara has now lost his job to McCarthy.

Now you have McCarthy — a former five-star prospect — and there is a golden opportunity to show you can still develop a hand-picked quarterback. This is increasingly important after Michigan lost out on five-star Dante Moore of Detroit Martin Luther King in the 2023 recruiting class and high-end four-star CJ Carr of Saline (Mich.) High in 2024.

You could make the case that a large part of the reason it took Michigan until Year 7 of the Harbaugh era to win the Big Ten is because the team lacked elite quarterback play. You can even make the case that Michigan didn’t have elite quarterback last year yet still won the Big Ten. Heck, Harbaugh is kind of making that case by benching McNamara for McCarthy. If McCarthy goes on to be a star, which is possible since he oozes with talent, that would be a huge statement for Michigan.

And Michigan can use a statement, especially as it goes all-in on five-star quarterback Jadyn Davis of Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day School in the 2024 cycle.

Derick Hutchinson, Click On Detroit: What have we actually learned about Michigan football after 2 blowout wins?

Michigan seems different

There’s nothing new about Michigan getting off to a hot start in September. In fact, Harbaugh has never lost a non-conference home game at Michigan. But coming off a Big Ten championship, there’s a different feel surrounding this year’s team.

Michigan has a quiet confidence, a businesslike approach to these early games. It’s similar to last year, except now it’s permeated throughout the fan base because of the credibility the Wolverines earned in 2021.

Nobody is waiting for the other shoe to drop or worrying about upcoming matchups. Unlike in past seasons, these Wolverines have already proved themselves, so they’re content to show up and pound the opponents put in front of them.

Adversity will surely come knocking at some point, but for now, Michigan feels like as sure a bet as any team not named Alabama, Georgia, or Ohio State.

Bill Bender, The Sporting News: College football picks, predictions against the spread for Week 3 Top 25 games

UConn at No. 4 Michigan (-47) (12 p.m., (ABC)

The Wolverines get another giant spread against the Huskies. Michigan is averaging 53.5 points per game and J.J. McCarthy has won the starting job, but they have allowed a fourth-quarter TD each of the past two weeks. The Huskies have eight turnovers in three games. This will be right on the line, but that’s a lot of points.

Pick: Michigan wins 52-6 but FAILS TO COVER the spread.

CBS Sports Staff, CBSSports.com: Michigan vs. UConn odds, prediction, line, spread: 2022 Week 3 college football picks from model on 50-41 run

Why Michigan can cover

Michigan is dominating opponents in 2022, winning its two games by [90] combined points and operating as one of only three FBS teams to score at least 50 points in each game. The Wolverines are on a 16-game winning streak against unranked non-conference opponents, and their rushing offense is lighting it up this season. The Wolverines are averaging 251 rushing yards per game, including a 266-yard, five-touchdown effort against Hawaii. Michigan leads the Big Ten with 6.9 yards per carry in 2022, and are also averaging 10.5 yards per pass attempt while connecting on 70% of passes. That leads to Jim Harbaugh’s team averaging 514 total yards per game.