Breaking Down Michigan's 2010 Schedule: The Opening Act

Every year the schedule breaks down differently for every team in college football. It’s all but guaranteed that at the end of every season we will all look back and wonder what might have been.  For all of us Michigan fans, we wonder what if we had driven down the field to beat Iowa? What if we had gone for two against State? What if Roy Roundtree had found a way to get in the endzone against Illinois?  Rather than looking back on what might have gone better or worse in 2009, I’m ready to take a look ahead at what the schedule presents for Michigan in 2010.

In my next few posts I will break the schedule down into three four-game segments and the best and worst case scenarios for each portion of the schedule.  Keep in mind that each opponent will get a more detailed breakdown the week of that game.

The Opening Act:

Sept. 4 vs. UCONN

Sept. 11 @ Notre Dame

Sept. 18 vs. UMass

Sept. 25 vs. Bowling Green

Michigan has one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the Big Ten.  For all intents and purposes, I think we can assume that Michigan’s high-powered offense will run roughshod over both Bowling Green and UMass.  With UMass being an FBS, a win at the Big House would run Rich out of town before Big Ten play even begins.  Bowling Green will be a middle of the road team within the MAC this year and should not pose much of a challenge to Michigan.

That leaves two games for this portion of the schedule that could be the key for a young team looking to build momentum heading into the conference season.

In the opener, UCONN is a tough matchup for Michigan.  They are going to be a disciplined veteran team that will potentially have the running game to keep Michigan’s offense off the field.  Randy Edsall has proven these last few years that he is one of the better coaches in the game by building that program from absolutely nothing.  This will be a game where Michigan is going to have to do whatever they can to get the ball in space and use their speed.  Their speed on offense could really do some big time damage to the UCONN defense.

If Lloyd Carr had stayed one more year, who would not have been thrilled to introduce Brian Kelly as the new head coach at Michigan?  As if a trip to South Bend isn’t daunting enough, it really scares me that everyone seems to be writing the Irish off before the season even starts.  People need to respect that all Kelly does is win.  He will do everything he can to exploit our secondary and show people just how bad it truly is.  It doesn’t matter that the Irish have a new quarterback, this game is going to be a true test early in the year.  Road games have not been kind to Rodriguez at Michigan and this game could be the key to developing some big time confidence for this young team.

Worst Case Scenario:

Michigan comes out flat and falls in the opener against UCONN, and then follows it up with a heart-breaking loss in South Bend.  An 0-2 start would turn the pressure up past boiling on Rodriguez and might not be something such a young team could recover from.  A 2-2 start could mean we are in for a long season.

Best Case Scenario:

Michigan comes out on a mission and takes care of business against UCONN, and then goes down to South Bend and gets a huge road win.  Denard Robinson becomes the early buzz of the 2010 season as he puts up ridiculous numbers in each of the first two games.  Flying high off of two straight big wins, Michigan dusts off UMass and Bowling Green and heads into Big Ten play unbeaten and ready to prove that this year’s 4-0 start is no joke.