Former Heisman Winner Picks Michigan, Not His Own School, To Win National Title

Michigan is a well-oiled machine right now and everyone seems to know it.

Former Alabama running back and Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram is a legend in Tuscaloosa and obviously a staunch supporter of the Crimson Tide. But the Flint native is not picking his alma mater to win it all this year. Instead, he's going with the hometown Wolverines as his favorite to win the whole thing.

Ingram, who is one of the newest members of Fox's Big Noon Kickoff analyst team, recently spoke with Yahoo Sports about this year's contenders in college football and had great things to say about the maize and blue.

"You got Michigan, returning a quarterback, a double-headed monster at running back, 14 starters on offense and defense. So are they the early season favorite? Go Blue? Jim Harbaugh and those boys up there? I think so. I kind of like returning starters...and Michigan, right now, I think is the early favorite," Ingram said.

He does make some good points. As we've outlined several times, Michigan is returning 81% of its overall production from a year ago. That's tops in the Big Ten and No. 5 overall nationally. And perhaps most notably, Michigan does return a stud quarterback in JJ McCarthy, which is something Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State cannot say.

"You got Georgia trying to break in a new quarterback. You got Alabama breaking in a new quarterback. You got Ohio State, Ryan Day, Marvin Harrison Jr., they're breaking in a new quarterback," Ingram explained.

Is Michigan the favorite to win the National Championship this season?

New @CFBONFOX analyst @markingramII has Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines as the team to beat 👀 pic.twitter.com/e9zU7Lxdxq

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 22, 2023

Per FanDuel, Georgia is the favorite to win it all at +220, followed by Alabama at +600, then Ohio State at +700 and then Michigan at +850. How Ohio State comes in ahead of Michigan is a mystery.