Where Michigan football ranks in ESPN’s post-spring SP+

The 2024 Michigan football season will be one of the most interesting in the history of the program. Sherrone Moore is taking over as the head coach for Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines will embark on the season as defending national champions.

There is plenty of pressure that comes along with that. Yet, it’s going to be a different team in many ways. The Wolverines bring back just 36 percent of their starters and most of them are on defense.

Michigan football returns just one starter on offense — Colston Loveland. Technically, Donovan Edwards, one of the cover guys for EA Sports College Football 25, was a backup last season. He did score two rushing touchdowns in the national championship game though and has proven to be one of the most dynamic home-run threats in college football.

Edwards didn’t have the best season in 2023. But he’ll rebound in 2024. He’s going to smash the Michigan record for receiving yards by a running back and I believe he’ll rush for over 1,000 yards.

If Edwards delivers on his potential this season, the Michigan offense should be just fine. The quarterback is a question mark but an elite running game, plus an elite defense can win a lot of games.

ESPN SP+ rankings view Michigan football as a contender

The updated spring SP+ rankings by Bill Connelly of ESPN have the Wolverines ranked sixth coming out of spring ball. The offense is projected to be the 32nd best in college football, which is the second worst of any top-25 team.

Yet, the Wolverines are projected to have the third-best defense behind Ohio State and Iowa. The SP+ also gives Michigan football a 57 percent chance of going 10-2. That would easily put the Wolverines in the playoff. If they finished 9-3, they would still have a case for an at-large berth with their schedule.

Plenty of people are counting Michigan out this season. Yet, the experts who really know the game, still see the Wolverines are a top-10 team going into the 2024 season and we’ll see if U-M delivers on that promise.

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