BTN analyst insists Michigan football has a ‘championship caliber team — again’
For a team that went to the College Football Playoff last year after winning the Big Ten, you will not hear many pick the Michigan Wolverines to repeat in 2022.
No, that honor has gone to the Ohio State Buckeyes, who are ranked No. 2 in the nation by both the AP Top 25 and the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. OSU also cleaned up in the annual Cleveland.com media poll, with the Buckeyes getting picked unanimously to win the conference.
But one prominent college football analyst who covers the Big Ten says ‘not so fast!’ (And, no, it wasn’t Lee Corso.)
The Big Ten Network made its way to Ann Arbor on Wednesday as part of its annual fall camp tour around the conference. With the whole gang in tow — Joshua Perry, Dave Revsine, Howard Griffith and Gerry DiNardo — the latter had some salient thoughts about the state of the team after having watched Michigan football practice.
BTN Bus Tour Stop 12 @UMichFootball Really impressive practice in every way. Coaching,tempo, talent and energy. Championship caliber team. Again.
— Gerry DiNardo (@gerrydinardo) August 17, 2022
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What’s more, DiNardo insists the days of Ohio State running roughshod over the Wolverines are over. For now, despite the perceived talent gap in Columbus, he thinks this will be a much more even matchup, as it was between Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes.
BTN Bus Tour Stop 12 @UMichFootball Really confident team,
talented young players helping with depth. Could be headed into another 10 Year War (1969-1978)type of competition with their rival. Don’t see either program dominating the series.— Gerry DiNardo (@gerrydinardo) August 17, 2022
Keeping in mind that DiNardo has seen Ohio State practice, albeit a week ago. Though there’s a lot of faith that the Buckeyes will dominate defensively with new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles leading the charge, when DiNardo saw them in action, he said it may take awhile for that to happen.
BTN Bus Tour Stop 7 @OhioStateFB New defensive schemes always take some time to get ready and this one won’t be any different.
— Gerry DiNardo (@gerrydinardo) August 11, 2022
Of course, Ohio State will have time to configure, considering The Game doesn’t take place until the last Saturday in November.
For now, fans can eagerly anticipate the other 11 games, with the 2022 season kicking off on Sept. 3 at The Big House as Michigan football hosts Colorado State.
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