Four Months From Today

Michigan-31 Western- 17

Way too close for comfort, but first opening weekend win since '06. Forcier will be 10/17 for 148 yds, 1 TD, 2 Picks, 10 rush for 39 yds & 1 TD; Minor 22 rushes for 106 yds, 1 TD (1 fumble); Gibbons is 1/2 on FG (39 yd) and Zoltan averages 82 net yds/punt. *edit* Punt returners will only fumble 3 of the 7 punts they field.

We need to be ever so careful the "We got dis" attitude. WMU is an excellent team and has unseated better opponents than us. I think it will be a battle for our season opener - but I think we will win. The only thing that will get us a loss here is overconfidence. Look what happened to Illinois last year with them? And Minnesota with us? I hope you are right though. It would be a great start.

We will throw 42 on them. I know, I know, but this team is built and building to score a lot of points. If 1/2 of the incomplete passes of last year are completed, we score many more times. UofM- 42 WMU- 24

I think Michigan will score 59 points. Western, however, will score 49 points because we will be playing very 'vanilla' on defense so we don't give up any secrets for the ND game. Then we unleash the DEATHBACKER, pick off JIMMAH! 4 times, sack him 9 times and cruuuuush ND on our way to the big ten title. and yes, I drank one Gallon, plus two pints of Kool Aid about 10 minutes ago.

This game will be probably 41-35 to Michigan. Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown will each run for 150 yards, Grady will have two short touchdown runs. Odoms will return a punt for a TD. Justin Turner will have an INT. Stevie Brown will give up a 80-yard pass. Brandon Graham will have 4 sacks. TATE OWN SHIT will "manage the offense."

Neither will we. 26-13.

Western 28 UM 17 Tate throws a pic six in his first series and gets rattled. RR leaves him him so he can gain confidence. Doesn't work. Some idiot fumbles. the Broncos, with momentum on their side, score easily. RR finally inserts Denard after members of the WLA commandeer the scoreboard with threatening type threats. Denard leads the team down to the 1 yard line and then punches it in himself. Western answers with a sustained drive. End of the half. A bunch of other shit happens. Denard tries some convoluted end around slot draw statue of liberty play that ends in a thirty yard loss. Zolton, with the wind at his back, kicks a 75 yard punt, which Western returns for a td. enter Nick Sheridan who leads the Wolverines to a td and a field goal, but in the ensuing celebration, re-breaks his leg. Tate re-enters the game, gets concussed. Denard re-enters the game and drives the team 60 yards before flinging a wicked interception and breaking his wrist attempting to tackle the interceptor. At the presser RR shakes his head. Blows a bunch of sunshine up our asses. Mgoblog explodes with commenters comments. Charlie Weiss licks his greasy fingers and chuckles.

Western - 23, Michigan - 28

Western - 23, Michigan - 28

Prediction: Steve Brown is responsible for exactly one WMU touchdown. No more, no less. Forcier makes a handful of "freshman mistakes." No fumbles on punt returns. UM outgained by ~100 yards, but controls possession and limits turnover by running on 75% of the plays, and running fairly effectively. UM wins 28-23.

Western Michigan-27 Michigan -35 Tate Forcier-16-28 195 yds 2 Td's Passing -10 carries for 43 yds Rushing Brandon Minor-22 carries for 127 yds and 2 Td's D.Stonum 6 catches for 96 yds and 1 TD Please Win!! Go Blue!!

38-13 Blue, going away. In the end a couple picks by Forcier keep the score down. Defense looks adequate, not exactly solid. Bend but not break, and a couple timely picks by JT and Booboo. Martin and Graham are Gods, keeping a weak and thin LB corps propped up. We run the living fucking piss out of the ball to the tune of 300 yards, Minor with a big chunk of that. Time of possession is 2-1 in our favor. Forcier's like 8-18 for 180 yards in his debut, 1 td to Koger on a pretty 25 yard rollout, then the aforementioned 2 picks. I leave drunk, happy and sunburned, then nail the neighbor's dog in the starhole.

Taken from team report on April 28:

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: Hiller had ACL surgery in January. He competed in 7-on-7 passing drills in spring practice and is expected to be ready to play in the fall. He has to be healthy. With him at the top of his game, the Broncos could have the best offense in the MAC. Without him, the quarterback position will be handled by an inexperienced player, which is never a great situation.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: The Broncos had great individual talent on defense last season (three defensive back starters are NFL draft hopefuls) but that didn't translate into a strong defense. Coach Bill Cubit changed five starters on defense late in the season. The linebackers, led by All-MAC first-teamer Austin Pritchard and Mitch Zajac, have to become strong leaders of the defense.

SCOUTING THE SPECIAL TEAMS: P Ben Armer and PK John Potter both return after some inconsistency in 2008. Clearly, they have to become better at their crafts. Armer has the necessary leg strength to be a solid punter but lacked consistency last season. Potter was more accurate on kicks over 30 yards than under 30 yards last season.

So, looks like they could have a good offense, but that defense is a major concern for them.

Tate plays like crap. Minor, Brown, and the offensive line do not. Defense looks ok, leaving us all wildly anticipating week 2 against Notre Dame to see what kind of team we really have. Michigan 24 Western Michigan 13

Game starts, Michigan kicks to Western. Mike Martin sacks whatshisface on the first play. WMU goes 3 and out. Tay "stonehands" Odoms fumbles punt return. WMU takes the momentum and scores on Steve Brown's head (like so many have in the past.) Michigan gets a good return to the 40. Tate drives the offense all the way and scores on a pretty pass to Roy Roundtree in the corner of the endzone. The Crowd is cautiously optimistic. Defense stops 'em again (Turner in for Brown). Tate scrambles for 30, throws for 30, and Kevin Grady finishes the drive off with TD #2. From here on out the game gets ugly, and UM makes a big statement about where they will be going this year. Tate throws for over 70% for 250 yards, and runs for 84 as well. Brown and Minor combine for 185 yards. Graham gets 2 sacks, one forced fumble, and 3 TFL's. The defense figures out how to stop the deep middle pass, and keeps the QB running for his life. Mesko only gets on the field one time, and booms one for 58 yards. UM - 45 WMU - 10 ---Michigan waits to pound Cox down their opponents throat until the ND game. They are the real choke artists, and "The Immaculate Front Butt" (Weiss) is the master of the gag reflex. Go Blue!