mrandyk

After last season which Blackshirt deserves to be preseason all-conference? I wouldn't pick any of them. As a fan who follows the team closely I can tell you who I think is going to have a big year and maybe get all-conference honors at season's end, but can you blame them for not picking any in the preseason?

God dammit the season needs to start.

Hotels around Michigan Ave, and anywhere downtown, are expensive as all hell. I suggest the Trump Tower.

Blanket statements like this confuse me. Hoke's teams struggle on the road? He's had ONE TEAM! Have you considered that Hoke has had other teams outside of Michigan? Only two, and they don't count.

Martinez was 70th for passing yards last year. That is why I don't respect the argument that he is going to hold the school records.

I don't know what to expect. I could see us cruising to a division title, or losing 4 games in conference play. Far too many questions for me.

I still don't think the Big 10 is all that good of a football conference, aside from Wisconsin lately. I think our team last year was just that bad, and may be worse this year.

They have 3 legitimate Conference Championships since 1985. Also have an Orange Bowl win, along with two Outback Bowls, one Capital One Bowl over LSU on a Hail Mary, one losing season over the last 12 and an average of 8 wins a season and 4 top-10 finishes in the same amount of time. I would not call sharing with 3 other teams in 1990, avoiding OSU and getting horribly embarrassed twice in 2002, and losing to the team you tied with in 2004 legitimate titles. The only one you can make a case for is 02, and even then they would have gotten destroyed if they had to play OSU. Also, their Orange Bowl? Not a big accomplishment. They fluked their way through the year to get an at large bid and then drew a very easy match. ACC is 2-13 all time in BCS bowls and Georgia Tech has lost its last 7 bowl games, it would have been embarrassing had they lost.

If UCLA could have gotten that elusive 7th win against Oregon last year they would have been in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin is going to have to fall drastically short of expectations this year for a team to make it to the title game at 4-4 though. What four losses do you see on our schedule? I said for a 4-4 team to make the title game Wisconsin is going to have to fall drastically short of expectations. I don't see four losses there.

He should be off the team. I hope some Penn State style sanctions come down on Michigan for letting him play. Winning at all costs is not to be tolerated, the NCAA just made that very clear.

We are losing players to Georgia State..........? Thats my exact thought. Well...maybe he figured that he would never play much for us?

Eh, if not for the joke that the Big 12 turned into the last couple years I'd prefer it. I'd much rather be in the stronger conference and the Big 10 has been damn weak for a while, also beating the piss out of Kansas St. every year pleased me a lot for some reason.

BC is already in the ACC. Interesting article though. I suppose if it's all true, someday someone like the Big East coming in on the short end will haul them into court in an anti-trust suit. Or some school president will get their senator to haul ESPN before congress. Oh god...I can't believe I forgot that they've been in the ACC for a while now already.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/story/2011-10-27/is-espn-the-force-behind-college-conference-realignment/51019966/1 The Boston College AD said that ESPN is who caused the ACC expansion. He quickly took it back, probably because he has to be dying to get his school into the ACC, but ESPN is no doubt playing a much larger role in this than a TV network should be.

If UCLA could have gotten that elusive 7th win against Oregon last year they would have been in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin is going to have to fall drastically short of expectations this year for a team to make it to the title game at 4-4 though.

Iowa hasn't had an at all legitimate conference title since 1985, they've only had one somewhat notable bowl win since the 50s, and their claimed national championship is a joke. They have nothing resembling a winning culture and have very little to be proud of. Why their heads are so large over so little, I don't know. I'm just glad that we finally get to start putting them in their god damn place every single year now instead of just having to listen to the crap they spew. Our program isn't even that good anymore, but it's going to be miles ahead of Iowa's even at this level for many years to come.

Easy there Foppa is a well respected guy around here.. Take it to the shed Maybe he shouldn't be. This seemed like a legitimate thread and he came in just do deride it.

I think it's embarrassing enough that we are even in this. If we don't sweep it then it's going to be one long season.

I concur with this ^^^. However, I don't really understand why some of our fans are so down on this team when they haven't even played a game yet this season. Because the only thing that we can count on being good is Rex. Many uncertainties everywhere. Team could turn out great, but they seem pretty unproven for the most part.

...like you said...Big East. Who's left to win it? Exactly. The only kind of respectable team, West Virginia, is in the Big 12 this year. The Big East is absolutely pathetic and in no way deserves a BCS tie in. Look for the conference to be swept in the bowls this year.

Kirk Ferentz was highest paid coach in the conference? Guess zero conference titles in 13 years gets you a lot, but at least they won about the worst Orange Bowl ever.

UCLA lost 8 games last year, that's why they get cut right away. Arkansas State and S Miss both had very good records.

Games aren't being won because he is an exceptional quarterback and those records will be his because no one else has ever started all 4 years at QB before.

No. I do not ever want to see this team traveling to play a 1-AA school. I don't care if they won their title, it would be embarrassing.

Past 5 years. 2011: 1 team with 0 losses, 4 teams with 1 loss 2010: 3 teams with 0 losses, 5 teams with 1 loss 2009: 5 teams with 0 losses, 1 team with 1 loss 2008: 2 teams with 0 losses, 7 teams with 1 loss 2007: 1 team with 0 losses, 2 teams with 1 loss, 10 teams with 2 losses 2 loss teams are not deserving either. One of the 2 loss teams would have gotten the 4th spot in 2007, but I don't care that one is picked over the other 9 since you didn't leave out a deserving team. One of those 2 loss teams won the title in 07. Those numbers don't tell the whole story. The two teams with 1 loss were Kansas and Hawaii, and neither were that good. OK. I didn't give that a whole lot deeper analysis than Saunders did when he just listed the teams with the least losses. My point is, if you take the best 4 teams, you're very unlikely to leave someone out who really deserves to be in the championship game. Lose a game, and you're at risk of being left out. Lose 2 games, and you're going to need a lot of help to be in. As far as an undefeated Boise St or Hawaii or Tulane goes, maybe they get a shot, maybe not. To me that just encourages playing a weak schedule if you automatically include them. I wouldn't have objected to an 8 team playoff to include them in a season such as 2009. Btw, that famous Boise St - OU game was after the 2006 season, and Boise was #8 in the BCS, so they still could've played #10 OU and not deprived anyone of their favorite game. Yeah, but that game only happened because of the BCS. If one of the BCS bowls weren't forced to take Boise I doubt any of them would have.