I like the way our schedule lays out from here. . .

I don't know, I think Darryle Clark and Evan Royster are one of the best backfields in the country

We will be anywhere from 5-2 to 7-0. I'd say 6-1 is most likely. We should be able to do 8-4 or 9-3.

I just want the team to take things week by week, which it seems like they're doing so far. If you can get your players to work week-by-week, you won't suffer losses after really big games (Beating ND then losing to EMU).

PSU looks like the toughest test on the remaining schedule, followed closely by osu.

I started the season thinking losses to OSU & PSU, plus one or two of v. ND, @ Iowa, @ Wisconsin and @ Illinois. Obviously we've been ND, so that leaves one or two in three road games. After watching Iowa and Illinois, I'm really thinking that we can take both. Which leaves a very gritty Wisconsin team that we play in week 11, by which time our offense should be fully rolling, especially given all of the extra time Denard will have to get familiar with the offense in what should be blow outs v. Indiana, EMU and Deleware State. That puts us at 9 or 10 wins. And I'm really, really trying to remain grounded here, but after reading Doc Saturday's article on OSU's poor game plan v. USC, this might be the year that their streak v. us comes to an end...

I don't take any game (yes, I even mean EMU & Indiana) for granted. Remember, this is the same program that lost a home opener to Div I-AA App State and then lost a supposed "rebound game" to Oregon at home. Both while we were supposed to be competing for the national championship with USC.

I think, or hope, that RichRod's teams will be hungry and ready to go EVERY WEEK. They will not take any team lightly.

I also think that this is an advantage to having youth and newcomers at many spots on the roster - the players will be hungry for PT every week and ready to prove themselves, which could prevent upsets by the likes of EMU and IU.

We have a young team... there are going to be stumbles. You have to figure we lose 1 (at least), 2 (probable) or 3 (lets hope not) that our talent and system say we should win, simply due to inexperience and youthful miscues.

I actually don't like the way out schedule lines up the rest of the way.

We have home field advantage with 2 teams that it may not matter. Penn St and OSU may just be too strong for us regardless. Its wasted on games we may not have a chance at.

Then the second tier of the big 10 that we play, Ill-MSU-Iowa and for fun lets throw in Wisconsin, we play away. Those are games we could win/lose and could really use the home field advantage.

We play the lowest tier of the B10 at home. Purdue and Indiana. Those are games we should win regardless of where we play.

So, IMO, the 4 games we need home field the most we don't have it. 2 games we should win regardless, we have it. 2 games we should lose regardless, we have it. It'd take our B10 schedule the rest of the way flipped any day. That would give us the best shot at 6-2 in the B10. 6-2 in the B10 probably means we are looking at a 10-2 season since we got past ND. Not too shabby. But with the schedule as it is, we could easily be looking at a .500 or sub .500 B10 record. OSU/PSU losses, only takes one slip up at any of the following away games: Mich St, Iowa, Wisc, Ill...

Though it will be nice having a shot at PSU and OSU at home =) Anyway, its late, i ramble, GO BLUE!

Oklahoma State looked like a pretty unimpressive #5. . .

call me crazy, but I think I might call Michigan, circa 2007, as the most unimpressive #5 team in the country, ever. What with that Horror thing, and all.

13-0, Zoltan wins the Heisman, please stop trying to fight reality with your stupid "logic" and "reason"

I may be hopelessly optimistic, but I think 6-2 or 5-3 in the Big Ten is what we're looking at. I'd say we take one of Penn State or Ohio State (God, I hope it's Ohio State), and then drop one or two of the road games.

But, really, after these first two weeks I am looking forward to everything with a big shit eating grin.

I don't think Michigan wins in back-to-back weeks at Michigan State and Iowa. I've cooled on Iowa after their near-loss to Northern Iowa, but I still don't like a young Michigan team playing a nighttime game at Kinnick Stadium the week after an emotional rivalry game that was also on the road. There are a lot of reasons to think that we lose that game.

I do like our chances to win one out of Penn State and Ohio State. We have looked really good at home, and I don't feel that either of those teams are particularly great this year

By the time our game with them rolls around, they should be almost completely healthy. Also, last time I checked, they have a mobile QB. Our new defense has yet to play anyone with a non-statue QB, and although we are clearly faster than last season, we have yet to ever really contain a competent mobile QB. Until we do that, I am chalking this one as an upset loss.

It seems trendy to bash PSU as overrated this year, but I think they have a great chance at making it to the NC game this year, because the Big Ten is the path of least resistance. There are pretenders, but the conference is rapidly returning to "Big Three and little eight" status. That really leaves only two tough games for a championship-caliber Big Three team.

I think OSU is going to be mediocre with Pryor, and UM is still a year away from beating PSU. If PSU has their one brain cramp game early enough and finishes 11-1, that should be enough to get them to the big game.

And I still say 9-3 for UM and a tossup in the bowl.

I would like it better if we had beaten OSU in game one and ND in game two.

I dont mean to sound too optimistic here but i think we have a real good chance of going 11-1. With our only loss coming from Penn State. If we were to play Penn State this week we would have a chance of beating them but just because we play them pretty late in the season they will get their act together and play some real football. Sure we have alot of young guys but from what I saw in the the Notre Dame game I was really impressed just like everyone else. Sure some people said Notre Dame was overrated but I think otherwise. They outplayed us. They have the best receiving combo in the country at least I think so. Armando was great. Their offensive line was huge and they could of beat us if Fat Weis didnt hand us the game at the end. We saw what happend when Forcier threw that interception. He came back and made up for it. The interception wasnt even his fault. Imagine if he makes a mistake on his own bad call, he will be even more motivated to make up for it. With that being said I think we have a really good shot at 11-1. I just see Forcier and the rest of the team being extremely motivated this year. My perfect end to this season is playing Barkley's USC for a battle of the Freshmen at the Rose Bowl