Note for the other 8641 prediction threads before Sep

I predict there will be more than 8641 prediction threads before September.

MSU's "brutal" early schedule is made a lot easier by planning tSIO without Pryor and all his buddies.. 

All in all though, I agree that we should win the division and play tSIO twice in a row. I'm hoping for at least one win between those two games.

We would still have to beat the team coming out of "Leaders", if it's OSU that means twice in two weeks and if it isn't, it's the team that knocked off OSU which very well might mean a top-5 Wisconsin team that steamrolled us last year.

We should be better, but I don't think it gets much (if any) easier in 2011.

I - like everyone - had not thought of that.  Our division doesn't have a true "leader" this year.   Minnesota and Northwestern will almost certainly make up the bottom, leaving us fighting with Iowa, MSU and Nebraska for the top.  Even though MSU has a bye week leading into our game, I like our chances there.  Iowa should have some growing pains with their youth (we know how that works), so I like our chances there, as well. 

Assuming that we are in the thick of it, the divisional divide should provide for some very interesting rooting interests when, for example, Nebraska plays OSU.

And that last week's game between Iowa and Nebraska should be huge.

One concern - Iowa doesn't play OSU this year, which provides them with one less guaranteed conference loss.

This is a very interesting point. I had not thought about this.

No one can say that, with any certainty, Iowa and MSU will be a better team than us next year. Nebraska likely will be a better team than us, but they do play a very difficult trial by fire schedule next year. This thing truly is wide open. Really throws a new dynamic into this league. Exciting stuff.

I think this is all assuming that our talent and experience translates into everything we want it to next year. Michigan football is going to be very much a wild-card next year with a new system being learned not only on offense but on defense as well; even if whatever happens on defense can't be worse than last year that doesn't mean that Mattison can snap his fingers and make everything okay.

I want to be optimistic about 2011 but it's been hard the last 3 years. I'm excited and extremely interested to see what happens but I'm not ready to start talking about the B10 championship just yet. Let's see how we look once we get into B10 play becuase we've jumped the gun in September the last two years in a row, only to see that get thrown back in our face. Let's not jump the gun in February after getting a new coach and a new system, for better or worse.

Proceed with caution.

Before the current format, there were usually multiple champions, which means multiple banners each year.  With the Big Ten Championship Game format, similar to what they used to say on The Highlander, there can be only one.  

No matter who is in what division now, any team's path to the title has just gotten a lot harder.

I just want a defense that allows somewhere south of 300 points (25 ppg) and a break even turnover margin.  Michigan let up 404 points prior to the bowl game (a school record and 33.8 ppg).  That does include the Illinois game, but doesn't include Miss St, which I guess is about a wash.

They're so far from being merely average on defense that it's amazing.

Frankly, the whole big ten is a question mark next year except for OSU.  They only have the one conference game affected by the suspensions at this point.  It'll be an exciting year.  No one will know what to expect out of Michigan.  They could explode or implode or just hold steady.  It'll generate some excitement, particularly if we get through the first few weeks unscathed.  Heading into conference play with a 3-1 or 4-0 record will go a long way to building momentum.  At some point that momentum will be sustained for a solid conference run.  I am hoping it will be this year.

I think the kickers are Northwestern and Iowa. Can Northwestern pull off an upset against Nebraska, MSU, Iowa or us and can Iowa not fall apart like they did last year. Besides that, I think if we beat who we should, and then beat MSU we will be looking good going into the last 2 weeks against Nebraska and tOSU

As I live in "The 864," your thread title was confusing to me.

I think 8,641 is lowballing this blog a little bit. Undoubtedly, three or four users will account for about 75% of that estimate BY THEMSELVES. Factor in the random prediction threads and we're at 5 digits at least.