CBS Sports presents Michigan football best case, worst case scenarios

It's difficult to know with any kind of certainty what Michigan football will be this upcoming season. While coaching changes oftentimes take some time to take hold, with Kyle Whittingham taking charge of the Wolverines, expectations are sky high that he will maximize the talent in Ann Arbor right out of the gates.

But even if he does, the schedule this season is an absolute bear.

The Wolverines have games against Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State, with the latter two being on the road. So even if Michigan takes a massive step forward, the win-loss record at the end of the year might not bear huge results.

CBS Sports' Brad Crawford put forth the best and worst case scenarios for each expected top team in college football, and his best case for Michigan would be excellent, whereas his worst-case scenario examines the toughness that will be the impending schedule.

Best-case scenario: 11-1, 8-1. Jason Beck is tasked with unlocking Bryce Underwood as the conference's next superstar at quarterback, and first-year Wolverines coach Kyle Whittingham is confident his former OC at Utah can make it happen. Michigan has a top-15 signing class and several immediate-impact transfers that should help the program rebound from last season's somewhat disappointing finish.

Worst-case scenario: 7-5, 5-4. The schedule includes Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State and Indiana at home before road battles at Oregon and Ohio State in the final three weeks of the season. Realistically, going .500 against those six opponents could feel like a mini-win for Whittingham and staff.

Both estimations are honestly fair. And the truth likely will be somewhere in the middle.

Last year, the Wolverines went 9-3 in the regular season, but if that were to happen this year, it would require something of a herculean effort. In 2025, the losses came at Oklahoma, at USC, and at home against Ohio State. While there were an inordinate amount of road games a year ago, the opponents (Nebraska, Northwestern, Maryland, and Michigan State) weren't exactly a murderer's row (Nebraska was solid at the time). This year, at least on paper in spring, looks different.

However, if Whittingham is capable of pulling everything together -- namely, quarterback play and line play -- then everything could be on the table. In terms of travel, the schedule is more amenable, as the Wolverines only venture from The Big House four times, with games at the aforementioned two, along with at Rutgers and at Minnesota. If Michigan beats all the teams it should, then the inflection games are the six we mentioned earlier, which could lead to a 9-3 or 8-4 season -- 7-5 if everything goes horribly wrong.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: CBS Sports: Michigan football best and worst-case scenarios for 2026