MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SKATING ONTO THIN ICE

The Michigan Football team schedule has always been "back-loaded", with more of the tougher challenges at the end of the season. This is not a new pattern; it's been this way for the past several years. It's this aspect of their program, more than any other, that leads to the fast-starts (and "September Heismans") and choppy finishes. We've seen it just about every year for the past decade.

But this pre-ordained fact has not stopped any of the wild enthusiasm that has been heaped on the first-year squad of Jim Harbaugh. As soon as UM beat Oregon State and UNLV, championship t-shirts went into production around Ann Arbor, as fans began to decide that it was only a matter of time before the Wolverines started a 100-game win-streak.

The 7-2 start is pretty good, but there were few reasons to expect much less than six wins in their first nine games. So it's not "that good", just pretty good. But now the road starts to get bumpy for the blue-and-yellows.

The three remaining games are arguably the toughest three-game stretch of the season for Michigan, with two road games and a home date with Ohio STATE. To be specific, these three games include:

• The toughest home game - Ohio STATE
• The second toughest road game - Penn State
• The third toughest road game - Indiana

The two UM losses this year came in its second-toughest home game (versus Michigan State) and its toughest road game (versus Utah). These three games round out the five games Michigan was most unlikely to win heading into this season.

If you add-in the upcoming bowl game, the final four games for Harbaugh definitely represents the hardest row to hoe, almost like a different season altogether compared to the warm-up act that preceded them.

Here's  why UM MAY LOSE ALL THREE REMAINING GAMES:

INDIANA:  Nate Sudfield is ranked #33 in the NCAA in QB-rating, which is second in the B1G after Connor Cook. While the Hoosiers don't have much defense, the Wolverines don't have much offense, either. So it may come down to a passing clinic by Sudfield, who does not appear to have a "favorite receiver" for Jourdan Lewis to wrap his arms around. The ball could go anywhere on the field on every play, with a no-huddle series on every possession. This will be SENIOR DAY in Bloomington.

Michigan is favored in this game, +11, take the points.

PENN STATE:  Christian Hackenberg is the most prolific passer in Nittany Lion history, which may or may not be saying much. But he's no Jake Rudock, if you catch my drift. (You know how Connor Cook has 21 TD passes to only 3 INTs? Hackenberg has 13 TDs to only 3 INTs as well.) PSU has also selected UM for its famous "White-Out" game, so you can expect very little yellow and blue in the stands that day. This will be SENIOR DAY in Happy Valley.

If Michigan is favored in this game, take the points.

OHIO STATE:  The Buckeyes are better than the Wolverines by every measurement. It's an ongoing UM fantasy to dream about upsetting the defending national champion, for no other reason than they have "played them close" in recent years. What the Michigan Faithful cannot understand is that Urban Meyer was playing cat-and-mouse with That Team Up North in order to keep Brady Hoke clapping his hands on the sideline. Now that there is no reason for Urban to not blast his main rival, he will simply blast his main rival.

 If Michigan is favored in this game, take OSU.

If Ohio STATE is favored, give up to eight points.

To summarize: Michigan must play back-to-back road games for the first time in the Harbaugh Era, both against teams with dominant Senior Quarterbacks playing on Senior Day, before hosting the defending national champion team on a possible 26-game winning streak. I would say that's tough, how about you?

---------

Tweet ****** Click on NO COMMENTS (or # comments) below to enter and view reader comments.   ----- Remember to check Spartan Headline links, updated real time, in the left column of SpartanResource.com (Web version only). *****Note: If you are receiving this post via automated email, you need to go to the site to view headline links and embedded videos in this post: http://spartanresource.com/ (Web version only). SIGN UP TO RECEIVE POSTS VIA EMAIL, TWITTER OR FACEBOOK IN THE RIGHT COLUMN.*****