JT's Keys: Northwestern vs. Michigan

Jared Thomas, a former Northwestern All-Big Ten center and captain, analyzes Wildcat football for WildcatReport.

Ask Jared Thomas about his memories of playing Michigan during his career and he sounds like Dennis Green. He vividly remembers the 2018 game in Evanston, when the Wildcats jumped out to a 17-0 lead over the No. 14 Wolverines, but eventually squandered it in a 20-17 loss.

"We let them off the hook," he said in disgust. "We started to play not to lose instead of to win and it got us in trouble."

At least that loss turned out to be a turning point for the Wildcats. Coming on the heels of an ugly home loss to Akron and then a bye, the Michigan defeat dropped them to 1-3. But it turned out to be their last Big Ten loss until the conference championship game.

Northwestern ripped off seven straight Big Ten wins -- sandwiched around a November non-conference loss to No. 3 Notre Dame -- to claim the West division crown and a berth in the program's first Big Ten title game. The Wildcats lost that one to No. 6 Ohio State, but bounced back to surprise No. 20 Utah, 31-20, in the Holiday Bowl.

Thomas sees a lot of similarities between that Michigan team and this one. The No. 6 Wolverines Northwestern faces on Saturday is also loaded with talent; but he isn't sure how good they really are quite yet.

"There's always a lot of hype and noise around that program," he said, noting that the Wolverines often don't live up to their reputation.

What will it take for Northwestern to knock off 6-0 Michigan, a 23.5-point favorite on Saturday in Ann Arbor? Here are JT's keys to the game.