Kyle Whittingham and the Michigan Wolverines are going through offseason workouts as we speak before spring practices start up next month. While the coaches and players are hard at work preparing for the 2026 season,
CBS Sports’ Cody Nagel recently published an article with bold predictions for each of their way-too-early top-25 teams in college football, and their bold prediction for the Wolverines is pretty damn bold — Whittingham will beat Ryan Day in his debut in The Game.
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Here is what Nagel had to say about that:
Just when it looked like Ryan Day had finally gotten the Michigan monkey off his back by ending a four-game losing streak to the Wolverines, the rivalry takes another turn. Longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who like Day once served as an assistant under Urban Meyer, left Salt Lake City on his own terms but still had plenty left in the tank to take over in Ann Arbor. Ohio State has lost the last two meetings with Michigan in Columbus, with its last win coming in 2018, when Day was acting head coach in a 62-39 rout. There expects to be postseason implications attached when Whittingham makes his debut in “The Game” come late November.
It’s hard enough to beat Ohio State on the first try, let alone in Columbus. Of course, “he who must not be named” was able to accomplish that in 2024, as did Gary Moeller in 1990. Brady Hoke also beat the Buckeyes at the Big House in his The Game debut back in 2011. Lloyd Carr also beat them in his first game against them in 1995, but that game was also in Ann Arbor. And of course, the Wolverines pulled off a massive upset over the Buckeyes in Bo Schembechler’s first year in 1969.
Needless to say, first-year Michigan head coaches do pretty damn well against the Buckeyes. In fact, the only head coaches to not beat Ohio State on their first try over the last 100 years of Michigan football are Harry Kipke (1929), Rich Rodriguez (2008) and Jim Harbaugh (2015).
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And just in case you’re curious, CBS Sports’ bold prediction for Ohio State is it will lose three games in 2026. And not that anybody asked, but their bold prediction for Oregon is that the Ducks win the national championship.
What do you think of this bold prediction? Do you think the Wolverines will beat Ohio State on the road for the third straight time? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
