2008 Michigan Wolverines College Football Predictions

Big Blue was supposed to win the Big Ten and contend for a national title last season, but a season opening loss to Appalachian State seemed to crush those dreams from the start. Now Rich Rodriguez has taken over and has brought a new offensive scheme with him. Can he compete for a Big Ten championship in year one? Jimmy Boyd's 2008 Michigan Wolverines predictions and season preview provide the answer. 
 

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Offense

Rich Rodriguez will try to implement his high powered spread attack into a Michigan program which has only know smash mouth football under Lloyd Carr. I can assure you that it won't be a well-oiled machine from game one. Michigan's leading career rusher, Mike Hart is gone and so is leading career passer Chad Henne. The team's two top receivers have departed along with number one overall NFL draft pick Jake Long. And it gets worse, would be succeeding QB Ryan Mallet transferred to Arkansas and starting lineman Justin Boren transferred to hated Ohio State of all places. Redshirt freshman transfer Steven Threet will take over under center. With an inexperienced line and inexperienced receivers, it could be a rocky road for Threet, but we must remember that Michigan has been able to constantly reload with talent for decades now. So the dropoff likely won't be as steep as projected. There is no Mike Hart on this roster, but Brandon Minor, Kevin Grady, and Carlos Brown could be a handful as a trio.

Defense

The defense will have to come up big for the Wolverines this season as they must atone for the status of the offense. Linebacker Obi Ezeh leads the charge along with seven other returning starters. I have no reason to believe that this unit won't be able to meet the challenge. First year defensive coordinator Scott Shafer comes in from Stanford and brings his attacking scheme with him. Shafer will look to ends Tim Jamison and Brandon Graham to consistently get to the passer. The duo combined for 14 sacks last season. Both starting defensive tackles are back too and they are rock solid. Michigan's secondary was very good in 2007 with corner Morgan Trent leading the way. Michigan is expected to move special teams star Stevie Brown into the free safety position to get some of the big play ability on defense.

Special Teams

The Wolverines have a nice kicking game. Place kicker K.C. Lopata made 11 of 12 field goal attempts last season and punter Zoltan Mesko has a two-year average of 41.3 yards per kick.

Prediction – 5th in Big Ten

Any other team which lost as much as Michigan did would likely be sniffing the bottom of the ocean just like Arkansas will likely be doing in the SEC West. But Michigan is Michigan and with that comes a certain intimidation factor. Rodriguez does not know losing well and he won't accept it for a second. I don't expect the Wolverines to open this season the same way they did in 2007. That's for sure. It won't be long, probably next year, before Big Blue is right at the top of the conference.   I see them slightly better than Michigan State and Iowa but still well behind Penn State and Illinois.

Check out all of Jimmy Boyd's 2008 Big Ten Conference predictions to see who the teams to beat are in the Big Ten this season. And do yourself a favor and play Jimmy's football picks from the opening Saturday through the bowl season for the most winners against the college football spreads in the industry.

June 15th, 2008