It's UConn

If you could make some Henri t-shirts, that would be terrific. I'd buy one.

Now that we have one of them basketball programs for the first time in a decade, UConn could be a fun rivalry school. I do wish they could play in a bigger stadium, there is more than enough east coast alum to fill one up with room to spare.

Webb was careful to say he hasn't been able to absolutely confirm it, but he said on the radio this am that he's been told we tried to arrange games with Pitt and VA but they both turned us down.

I did a little digging into the skeds of a few of the powers such as OSU, USC, FLA, and GA for opening day in 2010, and none that I looked at have a game with anybody more noteworthy than UConn. If that's the case overall, then the opener against UConn won't be overshadowed by any other matchup.

If we don't bring the "woof woof" back to the Dawg Pound, back to the Big House then it looks like the UConn Huskies will.

Edit: Whoever negged me must not get that a Husky is a dog and barks or woofs.

Edit Edit: The woof woof part is from ESPN's stupid woman reporter. Also, this can be found in one of Brians posts.

I think the real problem here is that Michigan does not make its schedule far enough in advance. If they did this then they could schedule better teams before they fill out there OOC teams. UCONN is one of example of this and Deleware St. is an example of that this year.

The Big East the last couple of years have been playing some of their higher profile games on Thursday nights on ESPN with a national audience. Since we agreed to a return game there could be some positives if the game was played on a Thursday night.

1. Recruiting- National televised game, which you know the world wide leader would hype all week. Plus with the new SEC/ESPN contract we might get into recruits homes that now wont see our games on Saturdays. Also the game could open us up to highschool teams in the area that only see Big East games.

2. Respect- most would agree the national perseption on UM and the B10 in general are down. If this game was played on Saturday it could possibly get lost on the national level. However if its the only game on Thursday night and millions are watching it couldnt hurt our image and the B10's for us to go out and put a ass kicking down for everyone to see(not assuming we would)

3. Image- To fans outside the B10 were a slow and out dated conference. A big win on national TV when its the only game on would do wonders. Showcase the new UM with RR's spread and all the speed weve been recruitng the past couple of seasons. A big win could really help the B10 perception come bowl season.

this is by far the most depressing and miserable thread i have ever read here. i am now dumber for reading it.

...Michigan spent 230 million to basically rebuild the stadium, trumps up the fact they are going to do a home and home with a big school to christen said stadium, and the team to do this is UConn?

Comerica Park holds more people than UConn's stadium does. This is kind of silly.

Didn't we really resist playing a game out in Eugene because we wouldn't earn enough revenue from a trip to Autzen? Isn't UConn's stadium even smaller? And will we catch the eye of a single recruit from making the trip?

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

Let's play the game!

If that happens, Bill Martin will have to go into hiding in an undisclosed location.

Henri, The Otter of Ennui, is bemused by this brouhaha

BOOO Bill Marin, BOOOO

Oregon in 2007 was a "return" game. Michigan played out in Eugene in 2003. You might remember it for Lloyd Carr's "drive by handshake" after the game. They were supposed to play in A2 the following year but Michigan pulled the plug and pushed the game to 2007.

You guys are the most delusional fans I think I have ever seen in my life. You base how good you are on your history. Michigan is one of the worst teams in the BCS! 3-9 is a terrible record, and I could bet you Michigan would fall in the bottom tier of the Big East if they played in it (They would beat Syracuse and maybe Louisville)

If UConn doesn't win by 2 or more scores next year, I would be absolutely shocked.

Good luck, and I look forward to making the trip to Ann Arbor to watch my Huskies kick your historic dynasty's butt.

Has anyone taken a close look at the Husky graphic and the otter picture under the headline up top?
Go ahead, scroll up and take a good look I'll wait.
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That dog is really 'jonesin for that otter.
I'm not sure if he wants to fight him or hump him but I find it most disturbing.

It's the same look Big Boutros gives me.

FWIW, he predicts they'll have a losing season and end up sixth in the Big East. I don't think he's quite as good at predictions as he says he is, and I hope he's wrong in this case.

Interesting that Edsall is a Syracuse alum... wonder if he was offered that job, or an interview for it.

I was eagerly awaiting your next horribly sarcastic and cutting comment.

Whether fans on this board like it or not, Notre Dame is a fairly permanent fixture on Michigan's non-conference schedule. Past history over the last two decades shows there have been two 2-year breaks (1995/6, 2000/1) and it would be reasonable to expect the occasional break in the future.

I also think its fair to assume Michigan will never have less than seven home games on the schedule for the near future. Another assumption is that at least two games will be against teams who don't require a return game (those would typically be MAC teams) and usually one of them will be CMU, EMU or WMU.

If Bill Martin embarks on a practice of scheduling a second home-and-home series in the non-conference schedule (besides Notre Dame), what program would you elect? Assume the Notre Dame game is never the opener (it will be played in Week 2 or 3)--also assume UM would want to open up with a "beatable" opponent (set aside the Appalachian State and Utah jokes for a moment, please). Also keep in mind that Michigan has BCS championship/bowl game/conference championship goals, so you have to schedule smart. But you want the opponent to be interesting to the fans (and the networks), help recruiting, beat near UM fans can see them, etc.

I'd like to see Michigan play an opponent in that Top 25 to Top 50 range. In that respect, you're talking about Brigham Young or Clemson or Auburn or Arizona State or Boston College, etc. How would a non-conference schedule that included Notre Dame and Arkansas (along with two MAC teams) look? Or what about Notre Dame and Texas A&M as a possible combination?

It's simple. Both teams need to win in 09.That will take care of the ratings. Go Husky's Go Blue!

UConn has only been in D1 for a few years, bear that in mind. I've always thought the Big East was shielded from criticism simply because they don't play anyone in the bowls. IMO, they are by far the weakest BCS conference in the country. UConn is a prototypical example. They have just enough to have some winning seasons but never enough to compete nationally or be ranked.

It should be an easy win.

was Appy State interesting?

Many will remember/rue these comments when a lame UConn team (the retarded pawns put forth by a not-good-enough-for-M program) has M fans shitting themselves because said piss-poor team had the audacity to disrespect 100+ years of football dominance by leading 17-14 at the half.

UConn? A BCS school I thought I heard? We are not amused! I hope UM won't lose to them. I don't think they will. UConn? If this were basketball I'd say, Cool! UConn? I guess it is better than a MAC school. UConn? Way too much hype about this. Get 'em Wolverines Woof Woof!?

Michigan signed that long extension to that contract to play ND and doesn't really do anything for Michigan. ND has been basically irrelevant for 5+ years and they play one or two significant games other than Michigan each year. ND needs us a lot more than we need them.

Michigan should be using that week to rotate some home and homes with the SEC and the B12. You want a benchmark for how good this program is, play LSU, Oklahoma or Georgia. Those schools are relevant and would bring more TV dollars than ND. If we dropped ND, the BCS would think about dropping them because they would only have two or three games a year that count toward the BCS.

I'd be really interested to see what the contract is. Perhaps Michigan was thinking of scheduling any home and home game, with plans to back out of the 2nd part and just pay the $500k penalty for backing out.

If Michigan is not going to get much out of going to UConn, it would be logical to break it off and earn 20 million for a home game.

Why can't college sports schedule cross-sports home and home series? Uconn should be privileged to play in front of 100k people for the first time in school history, and we can send our men and women basketball team to Uconn.