"Insight" into UM bowl possibility
Because it's never too early to S.W.A.G. about bowl matchups...... http://www.offtackleempire.com/2011/5/11/2163556/2011-bowl-projections-post-spring
Obvious troll is obvious.
Hasn't ND been picked to be in a BCS bowl game the last 5+ years? I mean it has to happen eventually.... right.....
USF- 8-5 in 2010, IIRC loses someone big.
Michigan- Should be a toss up
MSU- Supposed to take a big step back this year, needed a fake punt last year.
Pitt- Sadly going through a transition and loses Baldwin and Lewis.
Purdue- lol.
Air Force- 9-5, maybe they'll be good, I don't know.
USC- They won last year so who knows.
Navy- Loses Ricky Dobbs, so if Kelly can figure out that they run the triple option, they should be able to win.
Wake Forest/ Maryland/ BC- None should put up too much of a fight.
Stanford- Should be a loss, Andrew Luck and all.
10-2 doesn't seem like that much of a stretch. Then again, it is ND.
WoW their schedule is kind of a joke.... I still don' t think they make the BCS games though. It's hard for me to put them anywhere above 8-9 wins though. I obviously see USF, Pitt, Purdue, Navy, Wake, and BC.
I see BIg BLUE, MSU, Air Force, Maryland, USC and Stanford toss up games with them losing 3 maybe 4 of those.
WHY?!?! Why does everyone call us Big Blue? 'Blue', guys. 'Go Blue', not 'Go Big Blue'
We should get Brandon to send an email banning the use of that term for all Michigan fans. Punishable by a public flogging. Or being forced to become a MSU fan.
call Michigan big blue, I remember a couple doing it from the 80's on some big ten Michigan special....
I see and hear people complain about 'Big Blue' a lot. I've heard it enough that I can accept it as another way to refer to U-M sports. It is used often enough that people know who is being talked about, at least in the context of football. It's a losing battle and too insignificant to fight against. There are a lot of teams wearing blue out there, attaching big to the color is actually meant as a compliment. Not to get OSU like because they call themselve THE, but since 'Big Blue' is mostly used by outsiders it is a little like saying THE blue. Let's embrace it.
Big Blue is IBM. Michigan is the Maize and Blue. The former players from the 80s, and anyone else who uses "Big Blue" for Michigan, should be informed.
On a tangential point, The Big House was a casual reference to the Stadium by Keith Jackson (frequently repeated by him) about 20 years ago. It never was the Big House before that. The Hole that Yost Dug, yes, but not a nickname that means penitentiary. I know this name has now become ingrained with everyone under 35 so we will have to let it go, but let's not make the same mistake with Big Blue. Sheez.
You go ahead and inform the former players that they are incorrect in using the term Big Blue. I dont particularly care for the term but if people who actually played football and won games for the University want to use it then by all means go ahead.
A lot of people call tomatoes vegetables and strawberries fruit, but that doesn't make it correct.
Lived in TN for 4 years...Kentucky is "Big Blue" down here. Just a generic nickname I suppose, not a big deal IMO.
I really hate that ND gets a BCS bowl with like, what 9 wins or a top 8 ranking, contractually. When they renew, they need to put some clause about strength of schedule in there.
I don't actually see that as an overly favorable schedule. If you think about it, most big teams have some easy games and some cupcakes.
Michigan, Stanford, USC, Air Force, USF, even Little Brother are REAL games. One could argue that despite the transition, Pitt will be reasonably solid. Wake, Maryland and BC are sort of an Illinois/Minnesota/Northwestern-type deal. Purdue is Purdue.
It seems to me like a pretty reasonable schedule. ND's hardest? Probably not, but still...
I see it as short on cupcakes but also short on "real" competition. It looks like two guaranteed losses (Stanford and then either us or USC) and then a lot of 60/40 70/30 odds on ND to win games. Honestly, it looks a lot like our 2011 schedule that everyone talks about as being so favorable.
I think they will get to a BCS game. Brian Kelly will survive the fallout over the Sullivan tragedy, and his team will improve a lot on offense this year. Their schedule is typical ND: tough for a mediocre team, but easy for an elite one. They are playing a bunch of mediocre teams, and the tough teams they play are all in a transition of some sort.
Michigan won't beat ND this year, and Sparty is due for regression to the mean. That means the two toughest games for ND this year are USC and Stanford. USC isn't quite "USC" right now, and Stanford is in transition.
A 2-loss ND team will make a BCS bowl becuase they "travel" well. ND may be a sleeping giant, but they are still a giant, and we will very soon be in a position to complain about them being overrated again. They will be the dominant midwest team again within two years, and we will be pissed.
And there really isn't anything we can do about it.
I really doubt that Texas gets in to a BCS bowl. I know they're a big time program and what not but seriously? Teams dont normally go from not making a bowl to being in a BCS game...
Teams also don't often go from making a BCS title game to not reaching a bowl. It comes down to which season was the outlier?
I'd give that berth to Michigan. Michigan v/s Gators.
I like the MSU vs. SMU prediction.
I was reading the comments and there were some pretty good MSU one liners including this picture I hadn't seen before.
Hilarious!
Seriously?
Is there anything sillier than Bowl projections before the season has even freaking started? That would be as ridiculous as trying to "project" a field of 64 for basketball right now.
Oh wait.......
It's no less legitimate than picking a pre-season top 25. I don't have much problem with it, take it less as a projection, and more as a prediction.
there are a ton of question marks ( as there should be ) in may for a michigan team that was not solid in all areas of the game last year and with a new head coach