CBS predicts Michigan will hand unbeaten UCLA its first loss

Michigan football hasn’t exactly earned a lot of pundit confidence this season, even after the Week 2 win over Oklahoma.

The season started with a controversial win over MAC school Western Michigan, and Michigan never quite rebounded to the point where it was playing at the level of its talent. Turnovers and penalties added to the devolution, which led to losses to Iowa and Minnesota once Big Ten play started. Thus, no one really knows what the Wolverines will be this season, though they’ve only been consistent at being inconsistent.

However, CBS thinks that Michigan will get at least one big win this year, beyond that Oklahoma game.

Brad Crawford predicted when each of the currently unbeaten teams will lose their first game, and as of now, Michigan still has two unbeaten teams on the schedule — Indiana and UCLA. Crawford predicts the Hoosiers will go down the week before facing the Wolverines when they play Ohio State. Thus, the other one would be UCLA, which comes to Ann Arbor for the final home game of the season.

And despite the Bruins being seemingly very improved, Crawford believes that the Wolverines will take them down in Week 12.

A West Coast contender walking into Ann Arbor in late November with its playoff seeding hanging in the balance? If the weather turns ugly and Michigan makes it a street fight like Kyle Whittingham and the program’s physical mantra wants, UCLA could have a problem here. Coach Bob Chesney has earned a ton of national respect this season, parlaying last year’s success at JMU into immediate relevancy with the Bruins.

A West Coast contender walking into Ann Arbor in late November with its playoff seeding hanging in the balance? If the weather turns ugly and Michigan makes it a street fight like Kyle Whittingham and the program’s physical mantra wants, UCLA could have a problem here. Coach Bob Chesney has earned a ton of national respect this season, parlaying last year’s success at JMU into immediate relevancy with the Bruins.

The cross-country trip and the weather certainly can play a factor. Game time could also do so if TV decides to make it a noon game, and thus a 9 a.m. kickoff on the UCLA players’ body clocks. But given that they play in Pasadena, and the weekend before Thanksgiving has, at times, produced below-freezing temperatures, that could mess with even solid teams that aren’t as used to playing in the cold.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: CBS predicts Michigan will hand unbeaten UCLA its first loss