ESPN Week 7 Bowl Projections has Michigan going to the Rose Bowl

What? Really? Not Purdue?

... But.. but... Herbstreit said so!

/s

Really, I think it's a little premature, but if MSU or Nebraska can rack up one more loss, then I think we have a very good chance of making it to Pasadena.

While I think Michigan is a better overall team than Michigan State, everyone knows they'll play the game of their lives against Michigan.  It has been and always will be their super bowl. So while I think Michigan wins, I'm not 100% positive.  It'll be a close game.  

going to the Rose Bowl too.

Michigan is beginning to look like possibly the only team in the Legends Division with both a quality offensive line and a competent defense.  And none of the eligible teams out of the Leaders Division impress me.  So, I like our chances.  That said, getting a W in Lincoln is never an easy thing to do, no matter what kind of problems the Huskers seem to be having.

If we end up in the Rose, I hope Oregon wins out and we play Stanford.  I'm sick of playing USC.

long way to go.

I'm gaining more confidence that we will end up with a 10-2 record. Hopefully the running game will improve through the season, so at least one or two of the RB can carry half the load from Robinson. The defense will be stellar by the end of the season.

I think you may be either underestimating our opponents or over estimating our team.



We COULD be 10-2, but we could also be 8-4 at the end of the season. Why?



Northwestern, little bro, Nebraska and OSU Are all game that we can lose. Not saying that we will, but assuming a loss to osu, is it that unfathomable that we lose one game to either MSU, northwestern or Nebraska?

I expect that we're going to drop a game in Big 10 play.  I just hope it's not to the 'Huskers or the Spartans (or if it must be one of them that it's the one that loses to the other and thus has at least two big ten loses).  I kinda suspect that it won't be one we're expecting though.  Northwestern seems like the biggest "trap" game left...  Both Ohio and Nebraska will be tough in their home stadiums.  I suspect that we'll escape Lincoln with a shootout win, so that pretty much leaves winning in the 'Shoe.

I think we're going to get after Sparty, but I don't think it'll be a blowout so much as a defensive slugfest.  I forsee us effectively shutting down their run game and their passing game pretty much limits itself.  Similarly I expect that they'll give Denard fits, as they usually do, but that we'll still gind out a couple good drives:  17-6 W.

But yeah...  The Rose Bowl seems totally doable for us this year.  We look like the most complete squad in the Big Ten, let alone our division.  All the love the media types are giving Ohio State seems unwarrented to me.  I suspect they'd be 3-2 or even 2-3 if they'd had our schedule...  We're just discovering the team we've got right now because Alabama was impossible to measure up to, Air Force is an oddball and we litterally threw the game away at ND.

As for our opponent, I suspect that it'll be USC, though Stanford is certainly possible, and college football is an unpredicable beast.  I see Oregon going the distance and getting to the NC game.

I just took a look at Minnesota's schedule and i fully expect them only to win one more game against Illinois.  

Michigan to the Rose Bowl seems like a very likely outcome this season.  Like others, i expect we will lose one more game, one we should win but of course we blow it.  State we should win just by getting pressure up the center and making Maxwell scramble and throw.  Nebraska will be predictable as hell by the time we play them.  I think ohio will be over confident going into The Game and we will squeeze out a very narrow victory.

I'm terrified of what will happen at osu. I'd consider msu the toss up and maybe Nebraska looking better now but those could be real tough.

As much as I'd like it to be, the State game will not be a blowout. MSU will bring their A-game, especially if they lose next week. Their Rose Bowl hopes are on life-support.



That having been said, I hope we pummel them into submission by halftime.

ESPN's Big Ten stuff. Bennett and Rittenburg are usually very level-headed IMO and they seem to have a handle on things a lot more than other national media pundits.

MSU's 2nd half adjustments shut down Indiana, and Ohio is looking better every week. 

I expect that Maxwell-to-Burbridge will be a lethal combination by the time we face Sparty, especially in play action. AB had some very nice catches on Saturday, and he has a size advantage over just about everyone. The last two years, Sparty's defense has created real problems for Denard, and I suspect that their defensive scheme will mirror ND's closely. While Denard punished Purdue, their defense really has only two playmakers. Sparty has a few more than that. This game is no 'gimme'. 

Braxton Miller is looking downright scary now. I'm not in full-on freak-out mode over him like some on this board (see: http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/football-speed-braxton-faster-denard). And Ohio's defense seems a little shaky. Still, The Game is in Columbus, it's Urban's Ohio debut against U-M, it'll be their bowl game, and they could be the spoiler for our potential Rose Bowl berth. Plenty for them to play for.

The other games are entirely winnable, unless Borges puts another play-calling turd in the punchbowl like he did against Iowa last year. After Saturday, Nebraska doesn't scare me as much as they otherwise might have. Northwestern might be a trap game, but I have to believe we're better than Penn State, so we should be in good shape there, too.

project us to either Rose or Capital One http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls/projections

I definately think Michigan is in the hunt for the conference championship and there's lots to be optimistic about, but all we've really proven so far is that the pre-game hype on Purdue was grossly overblown.  The Big 10 is definately down this year, but we're just as flawed a team as every one of our opponents.  I'd feel a lot better about our chances if the OL showed an ability to run block better than it has.  We need teams to resepct Toussaint as a running threat more, otherwise they'll stack up against Denard and make him beat folks with this arm and this is usually a recipe for losing.

Everyone overlooking northwestern?

As I recall, many people here - including me - projected 9-3 as a record this year, but having seen this tidbit from ESPN, I went back through our records in the last dozen seasons which were capped with a Michigan appearance in the Rose Bowl. It turns out that the average number of wins for us in that span in a Rose Bowl year is 9.5, so I could see a 9-3 record getting us to Pasadena assuming a win in the BTCG as well (after all, an 8-3-0 record got us there once). If the defense in particular can continue to keep us in games as they have, then it is definitely plausible, I would say.

As for the OP's point about the MSU game, a small point to consider is that State's rushing defense in particular is pretty good statistically and will probably show up for the game. Teams are averaging only 3.0 yards per carry against them with only 2 rushing TDs, so we do have to be concerned about the ground game. I say that because we're an excellent rushing team this year, and really, I think the more balanced team overall (consider also that we have a better pass defense statistically than they do and more weapons on offense overall), but I don't see a blowout necessarily and we should still be wary. It is definitely winnable - the Spartans are a very vulnerable team.

Every game I've watched, including Indiana and EMU at times got pressure up the middle, even without blitzing.  I don't think I've ever seen an Indiana team get so much pressure just by rushing four. 

I still say we bitch-slap MSU by two TDs or more. 

I know it will not happen but I would love a BCS rematch with ND in Pasadena.. make the lucky irish 0-10 in Bcs games

I wish that we were suddenly some invincible scoring machine, but the win over Purdue doesn't change the fact that our team has some serious deficiencies.  We still can't throw the football, our 4-man pass rush is just okay, and we haven't produced any yardage from the RB position.

I'd love to say we're going to win out, but I think we are a team that could lose to Nebraska, MSU, Ohio, or even Northwestern.  We are not the type of team that you can just stamp "W" next to any of those games.

That said, I do like our chances to win the B1G, and believe that we will beat MSU in a close game, but I also think we lose at least one more game.

So Ohio has really helped us by giving our 2 major competitiors for the division each a loss. Many thanks Ohio!

Now just take care of our own business.

I said after the game Sat agasint Purdue that the only team that scares me is Neb. Then after watching Neb Ohio game at night I couldn't decide whether both O's were that good or both D's were that bad. I'm leaning towards D's that bad, which is encouraging. 

Our D is good and only getting better. 

The entire season comes down to Denard not making mind-blowingly head-asplode decisions - specifically in the MSU and Neb games. 

can keep playing like they have been and Denard and Borges do what they did Saturday I can go with this predicition.  Run Denard and Fitz first, pass second and good things happen.

The D has been getting better and better and that just hammers in the fact that we have amazing coaches.....like we didnt already know this :-)

Very good Monday

Weren't half of their talking heads just calling for us to lose to Purdue? Idiots

Anyone else notice that someone went through and set "Offtopic" flags on every post in this thread? 

Mods: Can you track what MGoUser goes through forums and just labels any comment "Offtopic"? It is very annoying when they do that. I upvoted almost half the comments so they weren't neg-bombed, and they were not offtopic.