The college football season opens Saturday for many teams around the country. The Central Michigan Chippewas travel to take on the 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines in one of those contest. The game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Currently the odds for the game have Michigan heavily favored to win.

Michigan is expected to be one of the better teams in the Big Ten this fall, moving on from the Denard Robinson days. Head coach Brady Hoke and the gang enter the season ranked 17th overall and they'll open their season today against fellow in-state school Central Michigan.

The Wolverines do have Notre Dame coming in next week, so don't expect them to look for a blowout win in this one. Michigan's key personnel will work on their schemes and probably score quite a few points, but this is the type of game where the Wolverines probably won't throw the football in the second half. That is, unless Central can come in and play consistently and put up some points.

Devin Gardner is the man in charge now in Ann Arbor and he's a much better overall quarterback than Robsinson. Look for Michigan to be a much more pro-style oriented club. In the last two times these schools have met on the field, Michigan has won by an average of 31 points. Thus the point spread, which has the Wolverines favored by 31.

Central Michigan will certainly come into this game looking to play well and see what they can do. But in the end, Michigan will make all the necessary plays and make sure they get out of the opening week of the season without any major flaws or holes. Sure, Michigan is much more talented than the Chippewas are, but the Chips will try to make an impact.

In the end we like Michigan's defense, which was much improved last season and has gotten physical and fast under Greg Mattison, to make the difference in this one. Michigan should cruise offensively and we like them to win comfortably, but this shouldn't be a 35-point win.

Free Pick: Michigan 35, Central Michigan 10

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