Kevin Newsome just decommitted for next year and reopened his recruitment. Also, Forcier is now scheduled to make his official visit for the Utah game. Here's guessing that he commits shortly after that visit. This sucks, as I was definitely looking forward to Newsome playing here.

That blows, but Forcier would be a really good consolation prize in addition to Beaver. I hope he goes to VA Tech though.

Oh well. 4CA doesn't have Newsome's athletic ability, but he's way ahead in terms of being a complete QB. Kid had 77% completion last year. And that's in addition to Beaver who I think could be a Dennis Dixon-type player for us. Either way, UM gets 2 of their top 3 QB targets. Not a bad job by RR.

edit: gzus McG looks enormous in that pic, hooray for Barwis

Andre Ware's first Bold Prediction today on College Football Live was Utah beating Michigan in week 1

I think you mean "world renowned college football analyst" Andre Ware.

Andre "I just really like them" Ware

Gee, picking a 3 to 3.5 point underdog. BOLD prediction, Mr. Nice F'n Draft Pick Lions. Did he at least get the prediction out without drooling on himself?

There will be plenty of picks against Michigan this year. Lots of people who will enjoy the season, much as some of us (quietly) enjoyed Notre Dame's exceptional 2007 campaign. Haters should get their jollies while they can, because Coach Rod's swarms of lightning-fast midgets will be breaking ankles soon.

BTW, I see an App State +23 vs Clemson. Too much respect? (oh, sorry, wrong forum)

Yeah, Utah over Michigan would hardly be surprising. They have, what, 16 starters back from a pretty good (9-4) team last year. Meanwhile, Michigan has 1 starter back on O, no O-line or depth, no real QB and, if practice reports are to be believed, whoever it winds up being is going to blow. It's going to be a close game, and Utah has a damn good chance of winning.

That reminds me, some guy on some mainstream media site made his bold upset picks of the year, and it was something like Utah over Michigan, OSU over USC, and something involving Kansas (winning/losing to OU or MIzzou). Gee, those are some really bold picks.

I will say that I was all over Utah when the spread opened up at 7... that's much more brave than these fools

True, and iirc before fall practice really got going. And also before the pundits started saying "zOMG Utah could be this yearz BCS buster!".

(also, 6 point Michigan victory FTW)

I've only talked to a handful of Michigan fans, but it based on that sample, it appears that expectations are definitely in check. Nobody said they'd be stunned if Utah won week 1, and I heard a lot of "6-6 would be respectable". Bonus if they take at least one from ND, little brah or tOSU.

One thing that I kind of want to go look up is how Rodriguez's teams have done in early games. I'm sure I'm not the only one who died as a kid watching Michigan look completely unprepared against ND in the opener, a tradition that Lloyd seemed to keep on, even as cupcakes took the first slot in the schedule.

6-6 would be a bit disappointing, most of us were hoping for 8-4, but given the O-line injuries and the apparent lack of a QB really looking anywhere near decent, that'll probably be it. Agree with the rest, except that taking one from little brah is not a bonus, it is a necessity. Not that they'll suddenly gain any kind of momentum (they've been the Team of the Future since the South ended segregation and destroyed their pipeline), but I don't see them being that good, it's in Ann Arbor, and it's Sparty. Probably worth noting that basically no coach wins this game in their first year though; Saban did it but he and Lloyd were both in their first year so something had to give.

Sagarin ratings are out:

Top 10

1. USC
2. LSU
3. OSU
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Virginia Tech
7. West Virginia
8. Texas
9. Georgia
10. Auburn

and #11 is (drumroll please).........

Michigan.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm

wtf why I dunno I've never paid much attention to how Sagarin compiles his rankings. Somebody's smoking something.

For those who haven't been following, Zirbel's out for the season and last year's backup DT John Ferrara (who has never played OL in his life) has been moved to the o-line and may be starting at guard. It could get ugly.

Conference ratings fwiw: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbc08.htm

sec
pac10
big12
acc
big east
big ten

Sagarin preseason is all based on previous years, so until all the preseason stuff filters out, it's pretty worthless.

Yeah this year is quickly shaping up to be a whole lot of Wildcat Formation (hopefully, would at least be fun to watch)/ quick screen pass fun. Everything out of practice sessions indicated the QBs suck worse than anyone would have thought and the O-line situation is effed even worse than it was before. I was totally looking forward to this season because of how many unknowns there were, but I might be getting more than I bargained for.

I mean, not a whole lot has changed considering the D was supposed to carry the team anyway, but the RBs and slot receivers need to be ****ing ridiculous for us to be any good at all.

Herbstreit was on 1460 in Columbus today predicting that Michigan destroys Utah. Quite a bit different tune today from the 6-6 at best that he was talking about six months ago.

Well, this is the guy who guaranteed Miles/Tenuna.

1460 is a joke. Spielman predicted 4-8 this year for Michigan.

Spielman predicts bad things for Michigan 100% of the time. It's just part of his schtick.

this would barely be an upset if it happens.

I'm a huge UM fan, and I am very, very worried about this game. If we win, we can probably go 7-5 and get into the sun bowl, if we lose, this might be the beginning of the end this year.

Also, Utah is only 3.5 point underdogs in the big house, that tells you all you need to know about UM football this year.

ANN ARBOR IS A WHORE

so true^

but it sure is a fun one.

About to leave for Ann Arbor now. So excited. One thing in our favor this year: teams are imo generally overrated based on offense. I figure O and D are basically equal in importance, but a team with great O/no D is picked >>> bad O/great D. See: us last year. So I think given that we figure to have a pretty good D and a bad O, we should do a bit better than some people think.

Also, nice to see Gameday ragging on barring all the celebrations.

over/under 4.5 wins

we ****ing suck

just absolutly LOL @ the QB position what a ***** joke

ffs this year is gonna be long

Lucky to only lose by 2. Good news is we don't play a team anywhere near as good as Utah until arguably ND.