I hope that
@I'mWithDan or other Michigan fans can come in here and give their assessment. I've watched them some and read some stuff and looked at some stats and here's what I came up with.
Their defense is obviously good. They're 7th in ppg and passing ypa, and t27th is rushing ypa, and 60th in turnovers. Adrian Martinez threw for over 10 ypa, and he's the only QB over 8 ypa vs them, and Nebraska was ok in the run game, too. Graham Mertz of Wisconsin and Dylan Morris of Washington had over 7 ypa, but both teams got nothing on the ground. The only other team that really did anything offensively was MSU, and that was mostly because Kenneth Walker ran for 8.6 ypa (Peyton Thorne was 6.5 ypa, which is solidly below average).
The best offense they've played is probably MSU. At the very least MSU at that point season was better than Wisconsin back when they didn't know Braelon Allen was a thing. OSU is by far the best offense they've played. Michigan is the best defense OSU has played, but I do think Penn State isn't terribly far off.
Michigan's 2 best players are DEs Aiden Hutchinson and David Ojabo. Both have over 10 sacks are likely 1st round picks. S Dax Hill is really good, but I can't say I know a whole lot about the rest of their personnel on defense. The best thing Michigan's defense might have going for it is that Don Brown is no longer their DC. Brown had a lot of success, but he relied way too much on man coverage, and no secondary in America is good enough to cover these receivers like that for a full game. Harbaugh brought in Mike Macdonald from his brother's staff, and it seems to be going well.
Michigan's offense seems very old school. They are 17th in the country in rushing attempts per game and 94th in pass attempts. They are efficient when they throw: Cade McNamara averages 8.1 ypa and JJ Mcarthey, who's played meaningful snaps in most games, averages 9.2. However, it's often very low volume, and usually a lot less efficient on high volumes. They threw 30 times vs Wisconsin (McNamara was only at 7 ypa on 28 attempts but McAthey completed his only pass for 56 yards), 39 times vs Nebraska (6.7 ypa), 32 times vs NW (5.1 ypa), and 29 times vs PSU for 7.5. The 2 best throwing performances, by a wide margin, were 8.5 on 48 attempts vs MSU and 8 ypa on 28 attempts vs Indiana. Understandably, none of their pass catchers stand out statisitcally, with Cornelius Johnson leading the team with 35 catches, 546 yards and 3 tds.
Michigan has used 2 backs for most of the year. Hassan Haskins is over 1000 yards at 4.9 ypc. Blake Corum is at 778 yards at 6 ypc, but he's missed the last 2 games and his status for Saturday is unknown. Frosh 5* Donovan Edwards has 149 yards on the year, but managed 10 catches for 170 yards last week (had 2 catches before that).
It seems obvious Michigan can't win a shootout, and probably can't even keep it close in that setting. However, they are more than capable of limiting OSU's offense and dominating TOP with the running game. They'll likely need to do obvious things like win the turnover battle (or at least don't lose it) and be better in the redzone than OSU.
OSU is the favorite. To me, the key for Michigan to win is for Hutchinson and Ojabo to really affect Stroud. If they can do that, they can definitely win this game. But OSU neutralizes them without having to spend a ton of resources on it, OSU could pull away.