Pat Forde's College Football Primer
Pat Forde released his annual 40 observations and declarations for the upcoming season. Link? LINK
Michigan/Big-10 Hits:
2. If Ohio State isn’t 12-0 headed to the Big Ten championship game, something went wrong. The Buckeyes play just five FBS teams that had winning records last year, avoid Nebraska and Michigan State in inter-divisional play, and draw Wisconsin and Penn State in Columbus. Take care of business in Evanston on Oct. 5 and Ann Arbor on Nov. 30, and the Buckeyes will quite likely be both undefeated and overrated.
11. Michigan State and Purdue are looking at diametrically opposite schedules over the first two-thirds of the season. The Spartans only play one FBS team in the first eight games that had a winning record in 2012 (at Notre Dame on Sept. 21). The Boilermakers only play one team in the first eight games that didn’t go to a bowl game in 2012 (Indiana State on Sept. 7). Advantage, Sparty.
22. Speaking of that Wisconsin-Arizona State game: It’s the second straight season the Badgers have traveled to Pac-12 territory. Last year it didn’t work out so well, with Oregon State scoring a 10-7 upset that set the tone for both teams’ seasons. This year it will be the first big test for new Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen.
23. Athletic director Tom Osborne’s lovely parting gift for Bo Pelini at Nebraska: four non-conference home games to start the year. The Big Ten added a fifth straight against Illinois. The Cornhuskers do not play a road game against a team that finished 2012 with a winning record until Nov. 9, at Michigan.
35. Penn State’s only true road game in the first half of the season is at Indiana, which is as false as true road games get. There will be plenty of seats available for Nittany Lions fans willing to make the trip to Bloomington.
There were a few types here blathering not long ago about how Sparty's schedule wasn't actually that easy, but this just shows you what hogwash that is. The last four games not mentioned include Michigan, but also three teams that are not Ohio State.
We're set up for success in 2013, but Sparty could be a pile of crap and still manage a 9-win season. I have zero sympathy for their placement in the divisional realignment.
I would have to think that the numbers would possibly agree with this assessment.
If you were to measure the strength of schedule based on the 2012 records of Michigan State's 2013 opponents, then it wouldn't be impressive at all. That cumulative record would be 76-74, so there is that as well. I don't have my math in front of me, but Michigan's opponents went 85-65, so it is noticeably better and probably top quartile as Division I schedules go.
Actually, and perhaps strangely, I believe that the only Big Ten teams with tougher schedules, if we use cumulative record in 2012 as an indicator, would be Illinois and Purdue.
I think it could be a good thing that State has an easy schedule. They will definitely be ranked if they are undefeated when they play us and it can only make us look good if we beat a ranked team on the road.
What is this word "if" you speak of?
Ohio state has to play at Purdue. If there was ever a more hysterical achilles heel for a team. Lost 3 of the last 4 in west lafayette IIRC.
I can't wait to send OSU home crying with their tails between their legs on Nov. 30th, knowing that we just ruined their chances at a national championship.
cemented our place in Indianapolis and Pasadena(for one of the games played there-one can dream as to which one).
But it would probably just lead to a rematch a week later. And it'd be tough to beat a good team two weeks in a row. (That's why 2006 was so painful; UM would have stood a good chance with a rematch on a neutral field.) If both divisions are settled going into The Game, it will make for an interesting — and weird — end of the season.
I like it. Very much so.
But, I truly believe the national media is completely whiffing on M Football this year. I'm always a pretty positive fan, however I think our team is going to be MUCH better this year. Devin is going to be fantastic, our D is going to be fantastic.....the only question mark for me is how our OL meshes. We may be losing experience on the line, but we are replacing them with BIGGER, faster and stronger athletes. And I LOVE our schedule!
I sooooooooo agree.....We are gonna be really good this year and beyond. The coaches we have are some of the best in all of college football and we are finally getting the players too.
I agree with you, but it's better this way. Hype doesn't win football games.
...but being ranked high early in the season AND winning games has more rewards than not. It's a lot easier to get to the top 4 if you're already hovering around that area than if you need to claw (and luck) your way through the top 25.
Besides, Michigan is Michigan. We're always going to have lofy expectations and a target on our back regardless of our record or rank. Might as well get a nice ranking to go with it.
If you're Kansas St. or Northwestern (not a traditional power), a low early rank might slow your ascent in the polls. But I'd expect an 8-0 or a 9-1 Michigan team to get up there regardless of where it starts the season for the same reason that you point out it has a target on its back — by dint of reputation.
Agreed. Michigan started 1997 ranked 14th in the AP. Just win games on that schedule and we'll ascend accordingly.
They kinda forgot about us in 2006 as well. I'm feeling like this is our toughest defense since then, regardless of whether or not the D finishes better than it did the last 2 years. Lots of talent, lots of depth, lots of leadership. This M team is going to surprise!
The national media is busy (lazy?). If we start winning big games, then they'll notice. We'll get to have a say.
coming into Ann Arbor! Then Michigan can destroy them in front of a nationally televised audience and send them back home! Only to play them again in a few weeks in the B1G championship game. It would be great to beat them twice in one year!
Let's hope that is true for the first 11 games for ohio... Memories of John Cooper...
Could run for 313 yds ala Timmy B as we return to manball!
Let's not go crazy, here...
The insinuation by Forde that OSU losing to UM in Ann Arbor would be so off-kilter that something must have "gone wrong" is both ridiculous and insulting.
Especially after calling them overrated. He's basically saying we're so bad that we have no chance to beat an ohio team that has no business being highly ranked. ohio fans can talk about beating us all day - they think they were the best team in the country last year, so it's no wonder they're confident. But how bad does he think we are if he doesn't like them and doesn't give us a shot even at home?
One more at #20:
20. There hasn’t been a lot of interest in Connecticut football under Paul Pasqualoni, but the school gave fans some compelling reasons to buy season tickets this year. First is the Edsall Bowl, as former coach Randy Edsall brings Maryland in to face his old team Sept. 14. A week later Michigan visits for what surely is the biggest game in the august history of Rentschler Field. And then a potentially undefeated Louisville arrives for a Friday night game Nov. 8.
I saw that, but made the executive decision to exclude it because:
1. It's UCONN
2. It was just a sentence, and I felt my post was getting too long.
But thank you for posting it.
All that we get are a few mentions that other teams play us? Is something wrong or are we that delusional?
That "cat" photo is so funny. I went into hysterics when I saw it the first time. I think it's a Google Streetview shot that got really messed up.
With that offense, I think they could "upset" one or more of these teams: Penn State, Minnesota, Illinois, Purdon't.
just might be not taking Sonny Dykes seriously enough for a West Coast night game.
That aTm vs. La Tech game was not a little bit entertaining.
It occurs to me that the current roster of PAC-12 coaching personalities has to be one of the weirdest ever assembled in that conference's football history, and perhaps in all of college football right now. And they just lost Chip Kelly to attrition:
Rich Rodriguez, Todd Graham, Sonny Dykes, Mike Leach, Lane Kiffin.