College Football 2008 Preview: Michigan Wolverines

When it comes to contenders and pretenders in the Big Ten, You always have to cont on Michigan in the contenders column. After they lost their first two games last year to Appalachian State and Oregon, the Wolverines won eight in a row before finishing out the season with two losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State. They then upset Florida in the Capital One Bowl and sent Lloyd Carr out as a winner in his final game.

Enter new coach Rich Rodriguez. He comes from West Virginia. Along with him comes the spread offense that he likes to employ. Michigan could be looking at starting a Freshman at Quarterback. 6-5 Steven Threet is from Adrian, Michigan. He will be backed up by Junior Nick Sheridan. The projected running backs are Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor. Minor had 385 yards last year in limited playing time. At the Wide receiver position is Greg Mathews, Toney Clemons, and Junior Hemingway. Carson Butler returns as the Tight End. Last season he had 19 catches for 166 yards.

The defensive side of the ball should be Michigan's strong part of their team. They have six returning Seniors that should start. Defensive Ends Tim Jamison, and Linemen Will Johnson, Terrance Taylor, and Austin Parker bring solid strength to the D-line.

Coach Rodriguez and the Wolverines open their season August 30th against Utah. Michigan has 6 of their first 8 games at home. After Utah they play Miami (Ohio) on September 6. On September 13 they play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in South Bend. They return home on September 27th to play Wisconsin. October 4th has Illinois coming to town. Then on October 11th, Toledo finishes out the three game home stand.

October 18th has Michigan traveling to Happy Valley to play Penn State. November starts off with Michigan at Purdue on the 1st. They then travel to Minnesota on November 8th. Northwestern comes to Ann Arbor on November 15th.

Then comes the biggie with Big Ten conference rival Ohio State at Ohio Stadium. Last year, OSU won 14-3. So the Wolverines will be looking for payback on November 22nd.

With 6 of their first 8 games at home, Michigan, despite being young on offense, hopes to do well. With new players on offense, Coach Rodriguez hopes to get them to adjust to the new spread offense rather quickly.

Michigan, which can seat over 107,000 in their stadium, hopes to have the fans rocking once again. They lost some great athletes last year in the likes of Quarterback Chad Henne and Running back Mike Hart. Players like that are always tough to replace. Still hopes and expectations are high for the Wolverines in the Fall of 2008.

This year Michigan has three games on national television. NBC will carry the game against Notre Dame and ABC will carry the Illinois and Ohio State games this season.

When it comes to football in the Big Ten conference, you can always count on Michigan being in the thick of the race for the title. Regardless of the changes in coaching and the offense, the tradition at Michigan usually follows through. The fans are expecting that again this year as well.