MetroBet takes a over – under glance at a pair of college football teams for the 2019 season.
Michigan Over 10 wins (-118)
The Michigan Wolverines needed to shake things up on offense after ranking 50th in yards per game a year ago and getting trounced in the Peach Bowl 41-15 by Florida. Enter Josh Gattis, a highly-respected wide receivers coach who’s groomed the likes of 2011 consensus All-American Jordan White (Western Michigan), two-time first-team All-SEC wide-out Jordan Matthews (Vanderbilt), and 2018 Biletnikoff Award winner Jerry Jeudy (Alabama). He’ll be introducing the spread, among other things, to the Shea Patterson-led attack.
“It’s really a mutt of an offense,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “One that has a wide range of things that we do. We are a spread offense, but…we run pro-style run schemes and…RPOs.”
The greatest source of strength for Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines might be their offensive line, which returns four of five starters from a year ago. That will be a tremendous boon to whichever running back takes the reins from departing starter Karan Higdon. Christian Turner and Tru Wilson are the frontrunners for the position. Michigan has a solid corps of wide receivers, led by Donovan Peoples-Jones.
Michigan had the best defense in the country last year at 263 yards allowed per game and returns eight starters. Don Brown’s crew should be just as stingy in 2019.
The Wolverines drew a highly-favorable schedule with just one tough road game, at Penn State, who might be in store for a down year after losing quarterback Trace McSorley. Michigan gets arch-rivals Notre Dame and Ohio State at home this season. Harbaugh’s team probably won’t run the table in the highly-competitive Big Ten, but a one-loss season and potential CFP berth is a distinct possibility.
Washington Under 9.5 wins (-121)
Expectations for the Washington Huskies are not nearly as high in 2019 as they were a year ago when they opened the season at No. 6 overall and lost to No. 9 Auburn. Georgia transfer Jacob Eason might be an upgrade at quarterback over Jake Browning, but there’s a dearth of weapons around him.
The Huskies’ all-time leading rusher, Myles Gaskin, has graduated, giving junior Salvon Ahmed big shoes to fill. Senior Aaron Fuller and junior Ty Jones, who combined for a modest 89 receptions and 10 TDs a year ago, are Eason’s top two targets out wide.
Washington returns just two starters from a defense that ranked 12th nationally in 2018 at 302 yards allowed per game. Plenty of young players will undergo trial by fire.
The make-or-break portion of the Huskies’ season is a four-game stretch between Oct. 5 and Nov. 2, with road games against Stanford and Arizona before home dates with the highly-touted tandem of Oregon and Utah.
