The #2 team in the county, the Michigan Wolverines, will be in action this week as they take on the East Carolina Pirates on Saturday afternoon.

The East Carolina Pirates finished last season with a record of 8-5 and a record of 4-4 in the AAC which led to a tie for 6^th place in the AAC and an appearance in the Birmingham Bowl in which the East Carolina Pirates defeated the Coast Carolina Chanticleers by a score of 53-29 in Mike Houston’s 4^th season as the head coach for the Pirates. Mike Houston has compiled a record of 22-24 at East Carolina as he enters his 5^th season as the head coach. 

The Pirates enter the season with an over/under win total of 5.5 wins which means they are projected to be a borderline bowl-eligible team this season and based on Vegas odds are projected to be the 7^th best team in the AAC behind the Tulane Green Wave, SMU Mustangs, Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners, Memphis Tigers, FAU Owls, and the North Texas Mean Green.

For the 2^nd year in a row, the Michigan Wolverines made it to the College Football Playoffs, however, the Wolverines were also eliminated in the National Championship Semifinal as they lost their first game of the season against the TCU Horned Frogs by a score of 45-51. The Michigan Wolverines are once again one of the favorites to win the National Championship as they enter the season with the 3^rd best odds to do so only behind the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. 

Michigan enters the season with an over/under win total of 10.5 wins with their two toughest games coming against the Penn State Nittany Lions on the road and their last game of the season at home against the Ohio State Buckeyes and based on Vegas odds are projected to be the 2^nd best team in the Big Ten only behind the Ohio State Buckeyes as they are +190 to win the Big Ten Championship while Ohio State is +170.

BookMaker has the Michigan Wolverines listed as 35.5-point favorites at home against the East Carolina Pirates on Saturday afternoon in week 1 of the college football season. This will be the first time that these two teams have played each other in college football. 

East Carolina finished with a record of 8-5 ATS overall, 3-2 ATS on the road, and 4-1 ATS as an underdog while Michigan finished 8-5-1 ATS overall, 4-3-1 ATS at home, and 7-5-1 ATS as a favorite.

Michigan is the more talented team and returns a lot of key players from last year’s team including J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards, and Cornelius Johnson on offense with the only key losses on offense being Ronnie Bell and Luke Schoonmaker. 

The Wolverines are still looking to get over the hump of making it past the College Football Playoff Semifinals, however, they have been one of the best regular season teams in college football over the past two seasons and will continue to be one of the best barring injury this season. 

I look for Michigan to have a dominating performance at home in their season opener which is why I will be buying the .5 point and taking the Michigan Wolverines -35 on BookMaker for this matchup on Saturday afternoon.