<p>So what are you guys expecting or hoping next year?</p>
<p>i want to be optimistic, but I don't think we'll be that good. we've lost too much on defense. I'm gonna go with a 10 win season, losing to wisconsin and penn state.</p>
<p>Led by seniors Hart and Henne and boasting of a dynamite WR in Manningham, Michigan is the favorite to win the Big 10, at least on paper. The defense, which loses several key starters, will have two games to find their rhythm before Notre Dame rolls into Ann Arbor. </p>
<p>When all is said and done, I see Michigan finishing 11-1. I see that one loss coming against one of Notre Dame, Wisconsin, or Illinois (no hometown bias here). </p>
<p>Notre Dame - 3rd game of the season, will the defense be ready?</p>
<p>Wisconsin - The Badgers return many of its starters from a surprisingly stong '06 team. </p>
<p>Illinois - One of Michigan's few away games against a program that is on the rise. (Remember Illinois held Ohio State scoreless in the 2nd half last year and the '07 recruiting class had 3 top 30 players)</p>
<p>Ohio State is not on this list because, I refuse to believe Michigan will lose 4 straight years to the buckeye$, additionally the '07 home game will be the last for the seniors.</p>
<p>i've lost all hope after last season's loss to ohio state.</p>
<p>Notre Dame's offense will sputter with the loss of Brady Quinn, Jeff Smardjia, Darius Walker, and Rhema Mcknight. I don't give ND much of a chance because I don't think Clausen is that good.
Yes, Illinois is improving under Zook, but I give them as much of a chance as Indiana. Juice Williams is too inconsistent to beat a team like UM.<br>
Penn St. we do have to worry about. Anthony Morelli has one of, if not the strongest arm in the country. There are 4 solid WRs (Butler, King, Norwood, and Williams), and it is time for Williams to prove why he was the #1 recruit in the country. Throw in a good running back in Austin Scott, and the best linebacking in the country, I think PSU is the one team which has the best shot. And it's about time that PSU beats UM.
Wisconsin has PJ Hill. Enough said. We're playing at Camp Randall, where the students are much drunker and louder than we'll ever be.</p>
<p>HAHA yeah right, illinois could never beat michigan.</p>
<p>Does FB mean Football?</p>
<p>yeah american football - i really have to learn this game before getting to UM.</p>
<p>milki, did you just seriously ask that?</p>
<p>lmfao at "does FB mean football". please don't tell me you're going to michigan. or are you from abroad-then it's understandable...maybe.</p>
<p>no, she's from maryland, or that's what it says. there's no excuse.</p>
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milki, did you just seriously ask that?
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<p>Yes!!!</p>
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no, she's from maryland, or that's what it says. there's no excuse.
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<p>Well I'm Asian and don't care really care much about Base/Basket/Football.</p>
<p>Yeah milki, that was me going into freshman year..but you'll get pulled into the craze and learn to love michigan football, just as we all do :)</p>
<p>Off topic, but kinda funny there is no Bball Season thoughts thread, lol. </p>
<p>Honestly, what percent of the michigan student community cares about the bball team, especially after Amaker era? When was the last time Michigan even made the tourney?</p>
<p>After the departure of Daniel Horton, there's not one real star on the team, please don't say Dion Harris.</p>
<p>Maybe coach Beilein can turn things around.</p>
<p>umm, at least we beat Illinois last season.</p>
<p>And, we beat Michigan at our home, so?</p>
<p>Away wins in the Big 10 were rare last year (unless you're name happens to be O$U).</p>
<p>I will obviously be rooting for both Michigan and the Illini in basketball, though neither has a legit shot to win the Big 10 nor make a deep tourney run (assuming Michigan finally makes the tourney, sorry couldn't resist). </p>
<p>04-05 was the Illini's season and they failed to capitalize. Since then, our program has been on a downswing, there's no denying this.</p>
<p>Back to Football. </p>
<p>Michigan will have no problems on offense, especially if MM is back to 100%. The QB, RB, WRs and OL are all very solid. </p>
<p>On Defense, people underestimate the returning talent, particularly at DL and LB. Yes, we are young in those positions, but we have more talent and experience than most of us realize.</p>
<p>As far as I am concerned, Michigan's season will depend on 2 things:</p>
<p>1) Health of our players.</p>
<p>2) Development of our Defensive Secondary.</p>
<p>If both pen out, I think Michigan could be looking at a solid 11-1 or at worst 10-2 regular season. If things break down, Michigan could finish with a poor 9-3 record heading into its 32nd consecutive bowl game. Our toughest games next season will be the road games to Madison and East Lansing and the home games vs Notre Dame and OSU. There are potential pittfalls vs Oregon and Penn State and Minnesota usually plays Michigan pretty hard. Illinois could have been challenging, but Ron Zook game Michigan some very serious incentive last year when he decided to pick Florida over Michigan in the BCS poll. I think Michigan is going to be too motivated to let that one slip.</p>
<p>I agree, our secondary last year was a joke. The rose bowl was just embarrassing. We have plenty of seniors coming back to play and it would be a shame if we didn't capitalize on this season. Hopefully our OL can protect Henne, i'm sick and tired of him getting sacked by players half his size.</p>
<p>If we lose to OSU again... btw, who's winning in overall head-to-head record?
With regards to milki's earlier post, does anyone here follow the English Premiership?</p>
<p>From wiki: Michigan leads the series all time 57-40-6. We were a very well established program before OSU joined out conference, so I'm guessing a lot of the margin comes from the earlier years.</p>
<p>Bonus fact: The rotunda at one of the entrances to the Horseshoe has maize and gold flowers on it because we won the dedication game for their stadium (<a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ekdilks/horseshoe.jpg)%5B/url%5D">http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kdilks/horseshoe.jpg)</a>.</p>
%5B/url%5D%22>http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ekdilks/horseshoe.jpg)</a>.</p){kind=link}