Which OOC Game Will be the Toughest?

Last year the Michigan Wolverines painfully proved that no OOC game is a gimmie.  Look into your crystal balls and tell me:  Which OOC game is Michigan most likely to lose this upcoming season?

GO BLUE

http://theonlygamethatmatters.blogspot.com

Utah will be an interesting game.  No offense to Utah (I don't know much about their team this year, and frankly it doesn't matter), but the Wolverines will be rolling out an entire new era of Michigan football.  First game of the year.  First game for R-Rod.  First game with Spread offense. In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory.

I supposed people are selecting Utah due to the Spread O, but Notre Dame, on the road, will hands down be the most difficult, imo. Those who can do, do; those who can't, go into journalism.

ORIGINAL: egami

I supposed people are selecting Utah due to the Spread O, but Notre Dame, on the road, will hands down be the most difficult, imo.

 
I agree with you.  A road game for a young offense will be much harder than any home game.  Also, I can't stand ND as much as anyone, but they have stockpiled talent and I think Tenuta will have a major effect.
 
I think the Utah game will be tough but the first road game trumps that game.

I disagree.
 
I think the first road game in the past (under the old regime) was going to be the most difficult b/c many times we were not prepared.  I don't think that is going to be the case now.
In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory.

My understading is the Utes lost 3 starting o-line, 2 starting wideouts, one of their starting TE's...I think the return their QB. So, I am taking our returning defense talent at home over their offense, is my logic.

Frankly, I fully expect to roll over them.
Those who can do, do; those who can't, go into journalism.

I think that in the Utah game, the team will come out fired up and ready to play, and their intensity will help them overcome any offensive difficulties.  I'm most worried about ND mainly because it's in South Bend and good things rarely happen down there.  

ORIGINAL: egami

My understading is the Utes lost 3 starting o-line, 2 starting wideouts, one of their starting TE's...I think the return their QB. So, I am taking our returning defense talent at home over their offense, is my logic.

Frankly, I fully expect to roll over them.

 
And what does ND have coming back that scares you?
 
 
In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory.

Ok first things first, I'm not trying to say I think the ND game will be easy by any stretch, it's a rivalry game, I know better.  I just think the Utah game presents a few more unique challenges to us as a team... most of them are independent of the opponent.

This is tough because obviously the first road game for a team that is this young is going to be a test... but that said, Notre Dame doesn't scare me on the field and they certainly don't scare me on the sideline.  They will be improved, but that's not saying much from a team that was 100% pure atrociously bad last year. 

I certainly hope that we roll in the opener, but right now if you were to ask me?  I think that's the tougher contest.  The first game is going to be tougher from a standpoint of finally getting out and doing all of the new things we've been working on under the pressure cooker so to speak.  I think Egami raises a good point about the experience on D (which is huge) helping out against Utah... but I think that'll play the same factor against ND as well.  So for me I look at the first game as the first "shake-down" of the offensive scheme with a first time starter under center and right now that causes me more concern.  I hope that we at least have our issues identified by the third contest of the season.

ND is on the road yes, but it's also the third football game of the year.  That alone for a young team, is a big factor. http://theonlygamethatmatters.blogspot.com/

What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve; and those who stay will be Champions.
GO BLUE!

I feel that it's a toss-up between Utah and ND.  I could argue for Utah being the toughest OOC test merely for the fact that it's the first game under the new system.  With virtually no one on offense with experience running Rodriguez's system, I would look to see the offense going through some major growing pains. We should find out real quick what kind of season to expect.  Either the offense looks completely lost and pathetic or the offense shows some semblance of being the explosive offense Rodriguez intended it to be.  And we won't really know the answer to that until August 30th.

Thankfully, Michigan also returns an experienced defense relative to the offense.  Hopefully, the defense will be able to carry this team while the offense figures itself out as the season progresses.

An argument could also be made for ND basically because it is at ND.  Don't let our last trip to South Bend lull us into a false sense of security.  The fact is, rarely does Michigan have as easy a time as they did in '06.  Remember that prior to last year, Michigan hadn't won in SB since 1994!  And of late, Michigan has usually come into SB as the favored team and ND has still come out on the winning end.  The funny thing is, '06 was one of the few times when ND was an overwhelming favorite to beat us?!  Go figure?!

Right now, I'm leaning towards ND being our toughest OOC game simply because of how poor Michigan's record has been in SB.  I know that much of the lack of success could be laid on Lloyd Carr and his staff for not having the team prepared, but you also have to acknowledge that Notre Dame Stadium isn't an easy place to play. 

Hopefully, the Wolverines can come out and surprise everyone with a lopsided win over Utah.  Carry that over to another lopsided win over Miami (OH) and then invade SB and leave fat Charlie as the one making all of the excuses as to why his team was embarrassed yet again by the University of Michigan!!!

Utah is no slouch when it comes to putting points on the board, we'll definately find out early whether or not our woes against spread offenses are over. Main question for me is, if Utah puts up a good amount of points, will Michigan's offense be able to match it. Utah has never been known for its defense, so you'd assume we should have no trouble scoring. Too much unknown going into the game for me not to think that the Utah game will be the toughest. By ND we should know a lot about our team, plus Notre Dame is not in much better shape then they were last year.

"When you coach at Michigan, you walk on water, period. There's a difference."-Don Nehlen

I agree that ND might be the toughest OOC this year (tied with Utah, personally), but we have Barwis and they have Charlie's personal trainer Michigan National Championships 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, 1997

20-14-1 ND
57-41-6 OSU
67-24-3 MSU

Utah loses 4 of its front 7 on defense, both starting wide receivers, and one starting offensive lineman.

The starting QB returns as does a 1000-yard rusher from 2007 (Darrell Mack).

The Utes have won five straight bowl games, most recently a win over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl, 35-32

http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2008/04/23/Sports/Football.Utes.Prepare.For.Bright.Season-3343310.shtml

Notre Dame was aweful last year.  Hands down Utah scares me much more the ND.  We better come with it starting on the FIRST PLAY AUGUST 30th!

ORIGINAL: ScottsdaleBlue

ORIGINAL: egami

My understading is the Utes lost 3 starting o-line, 2 starting wideouts, one of their starting TE's...I think the return their QB. So, I am taking our returning defense talent at home over their offense, is my logic.

Frankly, I fully expect to roll over them.

And what does ND have coming back that scares you?

Nothing "scares" me...it's just that ND, on the road, with their talent will flat out be a more realistically tougher challenge on paper than a run of the mill home game against a depleted Utah offense.

I am not naive enough to believe they are going to suck that bad two years in a row.
Those who can do, do; those who can't, go into journalism.

ORIGINAL: scmgoblue

Ok first things first, I'm not trying to say I think the ND game will be easy by any stretch, it's a rivalry game, I know better.  I just think the Utah game presents a few more unique challenges to us as a team... most of them are independent of the opponent.

My take on Utah as the first game, from a psychological perspective, is that we aren't dare going to come out flat this year like we did last year.

Also, it's RR's first game as the UM coach and he is going to take it seriously and he'll have the players takin it seriously. That's why I think we will not only win, but win big. It's going to be a statement game for RR.

So, I think actually playing Utah first, especially when they are filling some big shoes and when our strength should be defense, and really I see the intangible aspects tending to be in our favor rather than against us.

I'd be curious how you see those specific challenges stacked against us...certainly every aspect can't be in our favor.
Those who can do, do; those who can't, go into journalism.

ORIGINAL: egami

ORIGINAL: ScottsdaleBlue

ORIGINAL: egami

My understading is the Utes lost 3 starting o-line, 2 starting wideouts, one of their starting TE's...I think the return their QB. So, I am taking our returning defense talent at home over their offense, is my logic.

Frankly, I fully expect to roll over them.

And what does ND have coming back that scares you?

Nothing "scares" me...it's just that ND, on the road, with their talent will flat out be a more realistically tougher challenge on paper than a run of the mill home game against a depleted Utah offense.

I am not naive enough to believe they are going to suck that bad two years in a row.

 
I think you are fooling yourself if you think that Utah is a "run of the mill" team.  Do you remember the last time they came to AA?
 
Go Blue!!
 
 
In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory.

Yeah, last time the weren't loaded on offense...

And what's your point? That we played down to their level? Wasn't that hallmark of the Carr era? ;)

oops, "weren't" loaded I meant...
Those who can do, do; those who can't, go into journalism.

ORIGINAL: egami

ORIGINAL: scmgoblue

Ok first things first, I'm not trying to say I think the ND game will be easy by any stretch, it's a rivalry game, I know better.  I just think the Utah game presents a few more unique challenges to us as a team... most of them are independent of the opponent.

My take on Utah as the first game, from a psychological perspective, is that we aren't dare going to come out flat this year like we did last year.

Also, it's RR's first game as the UM coach and he is going to take it seriously and he'll have the players takin it seriously. That's why I think we will not only win, but win big. It's going to be a statement game for RR.

So, I think actually playing Utah first, especially when they are filling some big shoes and when our strength should be defense, and really I see the intangible aspects tending to be in our favor rather than against us.

I'd be curious how you see those specific challenges stacked against us...certainly every aspect can't be in our favor.

I think the team will be sky high for this game, and I think they're going to come out ready to play; from a psychological perspective I agree with you entirely.  Believe me I would love nothing more than to start this season off with a bang.  Intangibles are entirely in our favor, agreed. 

The challenges I see are actually running plays against an opponent for the first time in this offense and making sure that we keep mistakes (false starts, illegal formations, holding, turnovers, etc) to a minimum.  Utah in and of itself doesn't present a lot of challenges matchup wise (in my mind), but rather I think they're better than a cupcake and we're going into this matchup with a new approach and a lot of new players.  Now believe me, I happen to think that there is a BOATLOAD of talent on the offensive side of the football, but there's not tons of experience, and as such I think a few first game jitters and less than crisp execution aren't out of the realm of possibility.

I think that by the third game of the year, the team will at least be in the momentum of the season and have an idea where they stand both in terms of execution and starters, etc.
http://theonlygamethatmatters.blogspot.com/

What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve; and those who stay will be Champions.
GO BLUE!

Lack of offensive cohesiveness is definitely the most likely downfall in a game like this.

However, I'll throw this out there, I still think if that's your big concern then the ND game still has to rank up there because the Irish D wasn't that bad last year and they return a lot of that talent. People think I am under-estimating the Utes, but I think conversely some may be under-estimating playing ND on their home turf.

Let's hope RR gets the offense to gel. That'll be critical for the entire year. Those who can do, do; those who can't, go into journalism.

ND gave up an average of 4TDs per game (28.8 avg) (#72 in the country)
 
195.5 rush yards per game (#96 in the country)
 
161.58 pass yards per game (#2 in the country).  However, this is skewed b/c they were trailing/losing so many games that teams stopped passing on them and only ran the ball.  Teams only had 344 pass attempts on them, which puts ND at the bottom of that category.
 
Frankly, neither offense or defense of Utah or ND scare me.  I'm more concered with what Michigan will bring to the table and I think the first game against Utah will be more difficult than the 3rd game against ND.
 
 
In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory.