You'd never know from fan base vibe that these teams are tied for 4th place in the division, and it's Michigan who at least has a bowl bid basically locked up, while Rutgers remains a longshot. But obviously expectations matter. The difference is Michigan is behind schedule in Harbaugh Year 3, and Rutgers, may somehow be ahead of schedule in Ash Year 2, if we believe that Ash Year 1 was the starting point, and not Ash Year 0. Last year Rutgers was 49-0 worse than the 2nd worst team in the conference. They weren't even close. A couple weeks ago, after a 56-0 loss to Ohio State, following a home loss to Eastern Michigan, it appeared nothing had changed. Then Rutgers went and did something they hadn't been doing in over two years, they won a Big Ten game. That was written off as beating an Illinois team that might be nearly as bad, and had seemingly given up. But they followed that by beating a Purdue team with all kinds of positive vibes, and feeling like their bowl drought was ending. Can they up the ante again? No. I'd be shocked to see anything close to what we saw last year, but while Michigan still struggles schmatically when they play equivalent or better teams, they still have way more power in the trenches than any lower tier team they are going to face. The one thing Rutgers will do to help neutralize Michigan's defensive line, is get the ball out quickly. The Scarlet Knights have only been sacked 3 times in 4 Big Ten games. Chris Ash saw Don Brown's unwillingness to come out of his base defense last week against Penn State, and will probably try and do the same. The one weapon on Rutgers' offense that is of Michigan's caliber is Janarion Grant. Ash is going to see if Michigan tries to cover him in the slot with a linebacker or a safety. He has been a shell of his pre injury self, but he's still shown a couple flashes. The difference is, while Trace McSorley was able to pick apart the matchup mismatches, I'm not sure the other Rutgers skill position players present any sort of mismatch, even against Mike McCray, and when they do, I'm not sure I trust Giovanni Rescigno to recognize it. Even in their win last week, Rutgers was outgained by 260 yards by Purdue, and had 17 fewer first downs. I'm not sure the Michigan offense has enough to blow anyone out of the water, but I don't expect Rutgers to pose any sort of threat.
MICHIGAN 34, RUTGERS 12
