The Wolverines are heading into a season full of unknowns — Jim Harbaugh, JJ McCarthy, and many other players and coaches are leaving, leaving Sherrone Moore and his staff with a lot of work to do between now and September. Add on the fact that Michigan football has arguably the hardest schedule in all of college football, and the 2024 season appears quite daunting for the Maize and Blue. Still, FanDuel has the Wolverines’ win total among some of the top teams in the Big Ten.
Michigan football projected among top Big Ten teams
The Big Ten is expanding to 18 teams in a few months, with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington all making the transition from the PAC-12. On top of that, the transfer portal and NIL run college football right now, and the CFP will expand from four teams to 12 teams for the 2024 season. If that was not enough to make 2024 interesting for Michigan football, Jim Harbaugh left — and took a lot of coaches with him — as well as several of Michigan’s top players (Blake Corum, JJ McCarthy, and more) heading to the NFL Draft this spring.
Another storyline to watch for the Wolverines this year will be what the NCAA does regarding its two active investigations into the Michigan football program. First, the “Burgergate” investigation is still under review, as well as the infamous Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal that took the college football world by storm last fall. While NCAA President Charlie Baker said that Michigan won its title fair and square, there is still no official resolution on the table between the NCAA and the University of Michigan.
Michigan pinned as top-3 team in the conference, tied with Penn State, per FanDuel
Now, despite all of this going on, Michigan football is projected to be the third-best team (tied) in the Big Ten this fall, coming in behind Oregon (T-1) and Ohio State (T-1) — both the Ducks and Buckeyes are projected at 10.5 wins for the coming season, per FanDuel. Below those two are Michigan football and Penn State, which both have a win total of 9.5 for the coming season; of course, the Wolverines and Nittany Lions play different calibers of schedules, which exclude each other. Michigan and Penn State will not meet again until the 2026 season.
Below Michigan football and Penn State is a five-way tie for fifth place — USC, Washington, Maryland, Iowa, and Nebraska all have a projected win total of 7.5 heading into the year, per FanDuel.
For those wondering, Michigan State sits in a tie for second-to-last place right now, boasting a projected win total of 5.5 heading into its first season under new head coach Jonathan Smith, who replaces ex-Spartan coach Mel Tucker for the 2024 season.
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