In its first true test of the college football season, the Texas Longhorns head to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the national champion Michigan Wolverines.
Both teams are extremely talented on both sides of the ball. 2025 draft projections have up to six first-rounders between the two teams alone, and one could easily project five or more All-Americans from the two schools.
The two teams will meet on the gridiron in the largest stadium in North America, Michigan Stadium or ‘The Big House’, where nearly 108 thousand fans will be screaming with expectations of a historic matchup between two of the winningest teams in CFB history. Both teams think they’re winning this game, and both fanbases will do their best to populate the stands with Maize and Blue, or Burnt Orange for the visitors.
FanDuel Sportsbook currently has the visiting Longhorns as a 7.5-point favorite, a surprising line given the atmosphere of a Michigan home game, and a testament to the strength of the Longhorns team. But games aren’t decided by betting lines. They are won in a few distinct ways, where each team’s strengths battle to overtake the others.
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Given the greatness of this matchup, each team will need to be on their A-game. Here are the keys to the game for both Texas and Michigan.
Aug 31, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian sings the alma matter with his players after defeating the Colorado State Rams at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Meullion-Imagn Images / Aaron Meullion-Imagn Images
Texas Wins If…
…. the running game can stay solid
The win conditions of these two powerhouses are clear: Michigan wants to control the tempo, while Texas wants to bring the pace.
The easiest way for each team to do that is by establishing the run game, and it feels like Texas’ running game versus Michigan’s run stuff will be the key matchup of the game.
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Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian’s pro-style offense succeeds in multiple ways, but many of them come back to the establishment of the run game. Texas utilizes the run-pass option and play action as well as any team in the nation, but these plays can’t be effectively set up without the run game working.
If Michigan’s run defense can hold Texas’ backs to three or fewer yards per carry in the early going, the Wolverines will be able to sit farther back in coverage, daring the Longhorns to throw on top cornerback Will Johnson. If Texas wants to succeed, the Longhorns will need to force Michigan defensive backs closer to the line, which can only be done with the threat of the run.
This comes down to three key elements: the ability of running back Jaydon Blue, the strength of the offensive line, and the creativity of Sarkisian’s playcalling. If Blue is able to step into the lead back role that guys like Brooks and Robinson have done so well in the past, or if the Texas offensive line can push players like Mason Graham forward, or even if Sarkisian is just the right amount of creative to get players into advantageous positions, the Longhorns should be able to score enough to outlast a weaker Michigan offense.
Michigan Wins If…
…They control the clock
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Though head coach Jim Harbaugh is no longer with the team, the identity of the Wolverines will likely stay the same. Control the clock with the run game, dominate the trenches, and make big plays on defense. This matchup will be the epitome of the SEC vs Big Ten identities.
Texas, with its talented roster and high-powered offense. Michigan, with its older team built in the trenches. Both playstyles can work, Michigan proved that last year, but will that success continue against the Longhorns?
Michigan no longer has star quarterback J.J. McCarthy, one of the few quarterbacks in recent history capable of moving the ball downfield. New quarterback Davis Warren is much more of a game manager, which emphasizes the Wolverines’ need for the ground game. Returning running backsDonovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings will combine for most of the Wolverines touches, with a chance of seeing backup quarterback Alex Orji subbed in for option plays
Michigan will try to control the clock and keep the score minimal. They won’t win a shootout against Ewers and Sarkisian, but if the game comes down to three final possessions, the Wolverines will do their best to have two of them. The Wolverines were fifth among power-five teams in time of possession last year and second the year before that. Its identity revolves around winning the line of scrimmage, and with question marks on the Texas d-line it’s possible Edwards and Mullings combine to be too much for the Texas front.
A 58-year-old woman is accused of driving a vehicle at the bottom of a ski hill near skiers and snowboarders in White Lake Township, Michigan, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said Saturday.
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Prosecutors allege the Bingham Farms, Michigan, woman drove near guests of Alpine Valley Ski Area, including children, on Tuesday.
According to the prosecutor’s office, witnesses said they saw the woman smoking what appeared to be marijuana before the incident and wearing ski boots while driving. Officers attempting to perform sobriety tests reported that she “exhibited poor balance, slurred speech, and open hostility.”
Online court records show the woman is charged with operating while impaired for the third time. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $5,000 and “mandatory vehicle immobilization” for one to three years, the prosecutor’s office said.
“This defendant endangered children with her irresponsible actions,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a written statement. “There is no excuse to drive impaired, even once. If you’ve had too much to drink or are under the influence of marijuana or other drugs, call a friend, call an Uber, just don’t drive.”
The woman is scheduled to appear at a probable cause conference on March 12.
A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.
The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.
Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.
Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.
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With that, the film is over.
It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.
We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.
But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.
Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.
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McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.
“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”
Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.
The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.
Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.
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The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.
Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.
Kylan Boswell (4) scored 15 points for the Illini but Yaxel Lendeborg (23) scored 16 in Michigan’s win. Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images
Michigan has left no doubt about Big Ten superiority — the No. 3 Wolverines’ 84-70 romp Friday at No. 10 Illinois gives them an outright conference championship with two regular-season games remaining.
The win gives Michigan its first outright title since 2021, and it’s another top-shelf win that gives Michigan (27-2, 17-1 Big Ten) a boost in its pursuit of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. This matters for the Wolverines because they would be lined up for a potential Final Four matchup with the No. 4 seed rather than either of the two teams that are also in contention for No. 1 — Duke, which beat Michigan last week to gain the inside track, and Arizona.
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Friday’s lone meeting of the regular season between two purported national contenders left Michigan looking much the part, and Illinois looking a tier lower. This was domination, a comfortable second half for a Michigan team that led by as many as 21.
Michigan sophomore big man Morez Johnson Jr., who transferred from Illinois in the offseason, heard a lot of jeers from fans at State Farm Center and responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Big man Aday Mara also scored 19. Yaxel Lendeborg, the star of Michigan’s jumbo frontcourt, had 16 points and seven rebounds.
That interior helped the Wolverines to a 42-32 edge in points in the paint and 22 second-chance points. Keaton Wagler had 23 points to lead Illinois (22-7, 13-5), which projected as a No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s Bracket Watch but has lost two straight games and four of six. The Illini are trending in the wrong direction and potentially heading to the three-line.
The No. 1 seed also gets to choose its tournament path, and Michigan has requested Philadelphia as its first-weekend site. Otherwise, the Wolverines will likely be placed in Buffalo, which is closer to Ann Arbor.
