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CBS Sports reveals best case/worst case for Michigan football in 2025

Originally posted on Michigan Wolverines on SI
By Trent Knoop | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 7:41 AM ET

Michigan football has high expectations entering Year 2 under Sherrone Moore. The Wolverines might've won eight games last season, but big-time wins over Ohio State and Alabama, followed by massive recruiting wins -- like landing QB Bryce Underwood -- have people feeling Michigan. Most books have the Wolverines' win total at 9.5 entering 2025, but what are the best and worst-case scenarios for Michigan?

CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli says if all goes well, Michigan will go undefeated -- including a fifth-straight win over rival Ohio State. Underwood will play great, and the Wolverines will be right back in the College Football Playoff after missing last year.

Best Case 12-0: Bryce Underwood lives up to the hype (and the paycheck) to immediately reinvigorate the program. Nobody blinks when he throws four touchdowns in the opener against New Mexico, but after he throws for 300 and rushes for 100 against Oklahoma a week later, he becomes the story of college football. On the defensive side, the losses aren't felt for long as new studs emerge and the Wolverines roll through the regular season. After beating Ohio State for a fifth straight year, the NCAA issues a formal apology for all that hullabaloo about sign stealing.

While Michigan fans would love seeing Underwood live up to the hype, and then some, in Year 1, fans won't love Fornelli's worst-case scenario. For multiple reasons.

Fornelli has Michigan going 7-5, like last season. Losing to both rivals, Michigan State and Ohio State. However, that's not all. At the end of his column, he says as part of his worst case, the Wolverines are also hit with a two-year postseason ban stemming from the Connor Stalions' sign-stealing case.

Worst Case 7-5: It turns out Jim Harbaugh was important to the program. Underwood shows flashes but is a true freshman prone to making mistakes. The Wolverines are blown out by Oklahoma and then lose again at Nebraska while Sherrone Moore serves his suspension. More road losses follow against USC and rival Michigan State. Then the regular season ends with a blowout loss to Ohio State, in which the Buckeyes exorcise all the demons. The NCAA then hits the program with a two-year postseason ban.

Michigan will begin its quest for Fornelli's best-case scenario on August 30 at home against New Mexico.

This article first appeared on Michigan Wolverines on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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