When history looks back at August 30, 2008, it won't document RR's messy separation from WVU, it won't document "sailboat's" Bill misadventures of a coaching search that ended much better then it started, it also won't document the disaster from a year ago.
Today is a New Day! 40 years of Bo and Lloyd (The Moeller years included) are now gone and there's a new man with a new system running The Wolverines. Today marks one of the biggest days in Wolverine History and Michigan isn't playing Ohio State, Michigan State or even Notre Dame.
What's ironic about today's game is there are two things that are "under construction" Michigan Stadium and The Michigan Wolverines. How have the Wolverines grasped the new system? Who will be the QB? Will the new Freshman make a big impression? Will the Defense dominate? All those questions start to get answered today when the Utes enter the Big House!
In what this blog as tabbed the "New Uniform Bowl" as both programs will be showing off their new uniforms for the first time today (Under Armour - Utah and Adidas at Michigan). The Utes are coming off a 9-4 season and ranked around 25 in most polls. Many sportswriters around the nation have Utah "being the BCS buster" this year and making a run at one of the BCS Bowls.
The strength of the Utah team is the offense lead by senior QB Brian Johnson who the last time was 100% healthy (in 2005) piled up 3,370 yards. The Ute's will also try to pound the ball behind an experienced Offensive Line.
The Ute's like to score points but they also like to give up points. The Ute's defensive is not that strong and had a tendency to give up a lot of points last year. It will be interesting to see if the young Wolverines can get some open field and score a lot of points.
The key to this game is Strength vs Strength: Utah's Offense vs Michigan Defense. The team that wins this battle will Win this game.
Tale of the Tape:
QB: Utah
Offense: Utah
Defense: Michigan
Special Teams: Push (both teams have good kickers)
Experience in the spread: Utah
Intangibles: Michigan
So how do you predict a game with so much mystery? I mean even the jersey's will be different. You look at things like Mike Barwis, that the Wolverine Fans will be a little louder and little more fired up today, that Utah is in the Big House, you look at team that got beat by a D1a team opening last year, you look at a team that everyone thinks is going to maybe play .500 ball this season.
The team with everything to prove is Michigan, the team that wants to make a statement is Michigan. It's a Brand New Day!
- Look for Shaw and McGuffie to pile up the yards
- Look for Michigan's defense to be very strong against Utah's offense
- Total points will be lower then people expect
- Watch for something "special" out of Special Teams
Go Blue!!!!
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