From 247:

Bold prediction:
Iowa wins 8 or 9 games and I continue to talk **** about Ferentz all season. He receives lifetime contract after losing the Alamo bowl.

As far as devastating pain levels, Ohio State getting Fields is right up there with Colorado 94, the MSU punt block and the Ohio State riggage game in 2016.

Outside serious Michigan fans, I dont think people really knew how good Michigan was gonna be this year. This was gonna be one of our best teams in the last 50 years. We had a great chance of going undefeated into the playoffs. But all that is irrelevant cuz Ohio State got Fields and there's no way we're beating them when they have a generational talent at QB. So it's another year Michigan falls short and ends up in some important pointless bowl game that they still find a way to lose. I guess it's better this way. If Ohio State didn't get Fields I would've been completely insufferable round here. Like more than usual. Sigh.

All I ask is that you unload the clip big time on t(tm)OSU when it’s time for the game.

I can't tell how much of this post is TIC.

Week 1 is here! It's been a long off-season and I can't wait to get this started. I will get to 4, maybe 5 Purdue games this year. Working every other weekend is sure better than working every weekend!

The Week 1 slate, in order from "I care" to "Who cares"

1. NORTHWESTERN (+6.5) at Stanford, 3pm (CT) Sat, Fox. Only B1G team playing a ranked team and only B1G dog of those that have lines. Fitz hasn't named a starting QB yet between Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson and TJ Green, son of Trent. I guess if they want the Fox cameras to NOT focus on the game much they will start Green. Smartest team wins this one, with maybe a Luck-y bounce going Stanford's way. Cardinal 23-20.

2. WISCONSIN (-13) at South Florida, 6pm Fri, ESPN. Again, who wins the QB battle in Madison? Might be a tricky opener. The Bulls won their 1st 7 games last year and lost their last 6. They do return their starting QB from last year and my cousin's wife works in the admissions office. Can the Badgers give 35 carries to Johnathon Taylor? Wisconsin, close, 19-13.

3. PURDUE (-10.5) at Nevada, 8:30pm Fri, CBSS. Purdue is hopefully on the rise, holding onto Jeff Brohm after 2 straight years of flirtations. Lorenzo Neal Jr and Tario Fuller are out for Purdue, but Nevada has major question marks at QB. I figure Nevada can't be that good for Purdue to be this big a favorite. Purdue 41-24.

4. Miami, OH at IOWA (-21.5) 6:30pm Sat, FS1. Iowa has a stud on defense in AJ Epenesa. They do seem to struggle in early season games however, no matter the opponent. Don't know anything about Miami except my dumb ex-wife couldn't even get a degree there. Iowa 26-14.

5. South Dakota St. at MINNESOTA (-14) 8pm Thurs FS1. Only interesting really because it's the first game of the year for the conference. PJ Fleck seems to be building something and Tyler Johnson is REALLY good. Minnesota 31-14

6. Tulsa at MICHIGAN ST (-22.5) 6pm Fri FS1. Another year, another year of not knowing what to expect out of Sparty. Brian Lewerke is considered one of the better QBs in the conference, but I really don't see it. Maybe it's just because there are so few returning starters. MSU 31-7.

7. Florida Atlantic at OHIO STATE (-27.5) 11am Sat FOX. Ohio State is turning the page from Urbz and Haskins. Somehow Justin Fields got a waiver to play right away. Apparently free agency is alive in not-quite-pro-football. This game probably doesn't mean much, but how they look under the new regime might. Do THE Buckeyes keep on rolling or will they have some stumbles in the transition. O$U 63-0.

8. South Alabama at NEBRASKA (-36) 11am Sat ESPN. Can there be more hype about a 4-8 team? USA!!! USA!!! Corn 42-3.

9. Middle Tennessee State at MICHIGAN (-33.5) 6:30 Sat BTN. MTSU once beat Michigan State in basketball, and you can probably easily drive to Appy St from there, so I'm going with the Red, I mean Blue Raiders.......nah who am I kidding. Patterson's pretty good. Offense should be legit, but can the defense reload after losing guys like Bush, Gary and Winovich? Michigan 52-20

10. Idaho at PENN STATE (-40) 2:30pm Sat BTN. Is Mark "Stink" Schlereth coming back for this one? When I was 8 I laid on the border of Wyoming and Idaho. Was kinda fun. Way before Facebook though so there's no proof. Pedo State 63-10.

11. INDIANA (-17) at Ball State, 11am Sat, CBSS. Indiana had a QB competition and they named Michael Penix (no jokes) the starter this week. Indiana likes to think they have a football program, but when you spend more on basketball recruiting than football recruiting, it's kinda telling. Testicle University 27-21.

12. Akron at ILLINOIS (-17) 11am Sat BTN. How does Lovie still have a job? Did the McCaskey's make some weird deal with Illinois, like they'd agree to keep wearing orange and blue if Lovie got more than 5 years there? Akron must suck. Illinois does have Brandon Peters as a drop-back passing transfer QB, which is completely against what they've been trying to do at QB since Tony Eason and Jeff George, and totally against their solid dual-threat recruit. Illinois 33-31.

13. UMass at RUTGERS (-15) 6:15 Fri BTN. I was tempted to put this game higher just because it could be a game, but then again, it's Rutgers football. UMass has been pretty good since becoming FBS, but I'll take Rutgers by the number in honor of the 150 years of college football that started in New Jersey. Rutgers 28-13.

14. Howard at MARYLAND (-29.5) 11am Sat BTN. Mike Locksley has his hands full rebuilding this program, but Jerry DiNardo said they have a decent QB, but they haven't named a starter yet between transfer Josh Jackson and Tyrell Pegrome. Steph Curry only sponsored Howard's golf program and not their football program, so let's go with my favorite Turtles 47-10.

Slight correction to the above. Indiana vs Ball State is at Lucas Oil in Indy.

Minnesota kinda looked meh.

I noticed that South Dakota State's kicker is Adam Vinatieri's nephew. Adam played there too.

I stayed awake for the first half of Minnesota - SoDakState. A couple of observations -- SDSU appeared to be fairly legit on defense. They didn't bust many assignments and had a couple guys who are players.

Minny QB threw a DREADFUL pick on a RPO that fooled exactly nobody. If the undercutting LB didn't pick it the DB was in perfect position, also cutting in front of the WR. As bad of a decision and throw as you will ever see. Okay, maybe not, the DERP Int the Cincy QB threw at the goal line was pretty bad too.

Minny RT Daniel Falele has gotten a lot of pub for being Aussie, 6'9/400 lb and athletic. He certainly looks all of that. But, news flash: He's not a very good lineman at this point. Plays way too high and appears to be susceptible to quick DEs. We'll see if he did any better in the 2nd half.

NEVADA

Gonna be a long year in (central?) Indiana.

I really can't believe the last 2 major Purdue sporting events. Just can't believe it.

Lads

(It’s Purdue)

You know who's really, really bad? Idaho, that who.

Making Pedos look like a top five team so far.

Hmm, looking more like 8-5 on 2nd thought. We know it has to be 1 of the 2, as those are the only records Harbaugh finishes with at Michigan.

bump for ski u mah!!!!!!!

For a preseason post, I would say I pretty much nailed it. This truly was one of Michigan's best teams in the last 50 years but miscues by the coaching staff kinda turned this into a wasted season:

Source.

And a generational talent at QB falling out of the sky into Ohio State's hands truly was a monumentally devastating moment for Michigan fans whether they realized it at the time or not. Not so much becuz it made Ohio State virtually unbeatable for ANY big ten team let alone Michigan but becuz it had to coincide with one of the best teams Michigan has ever fielded. That's the real devastation. You field your best team since 2007, and one huge transfer annihilates any chance of that team accomplishing anything meaningful. If we just had a mediocre team like in 2017, Ohio State getting Justin Fields would've been like meh whatever.

All that said, if the team finishes 10-3 capped off by winning a bowl game I'll be happy. That outcome was pretty much the top of our range once Ohio State got Justin Fields anyways.

I'm confused. 10-3 was the ceiling for the best UM team in years?

Yes. Translation: We are not Bama.

Of the 4 highest rated recruits in Sparty's 2015 recruiting class, 3 have committed sex crimes

The 4th is a victim or just hasn't been caught yet.

Neither is PSU and I feel confident saying their ceiling this year was 11-1 and a playoff stomping.

Alright alright let me walk this back and get serious. With no Justin Fields, Michigan's ceiling is what ND did last year. Win every game til playoffs and then get rocked. Expected outcome being around 11-2. With Justin Fields our ceiling = whatever and 1 loss assuming we miss the playoffs and play in a New Year's 6 bowl. Expected outcome being around 10-3.

Edit: So I was wrong to say 10-3 was the top of our range with Justin Fields.

Ohio State has actually ran bad at qb, ILP because the recruiting has been so good that Joe Burrow had to transfer and now tOSU has a legitimate playoff competitor. Sucks man.

Not that it matters but chase young is eligible for penn st and Michigan