Michigan Wolverines 2008 NCAA Football Preview

When Lloyd Carr was in town, the Michigan Wolverines were always a good team year in and year out. They always won 8 or 9 games minimum and they always competed for the Big Ten championship. But following Carr's 1997 championship, it seemed as if the Wolverines' program slowly deteriorated from the inside. Many of the problems lurked just beneath the surface, and UM had some good years such as in 2006 when they came within four points of a National Title shot, but the problems finally manifested themselves in 2007's shocking loss to Appalachain State. Now, Rich Rodriguez comes to Ann Arbor with an M.O. of bringing Michigan up to speed when it comes to modern college football, both figuratively and literally. Rodriguez and new strength coach Mike Barwis are upping the tempo and the intensity of the workouts and focusing on speed and explosiveness rather than bulk. They're also bringing a spread offense and an attacking defense to the table as well. How will it all work out in year one with mostly Carr's recruits? Read on to find out in this 2008 Michigan Wolverines NCAA football preview:

Q: How will the offense do this year learning a whole new system and tempo?

A: Not nearly as bad as everyone seems to think. The transition might take a couple of games so avoiding mistakes early will be the key to surviving games against teams like Utah and Wisconsin, but by the end of the year, Michigan will have a more consistent offense that last year. That's right, even more consistent than the 2007 team which was led by NFL picks like #1 overall Jake Long, Chad Henne, Mario Manningham, and Mike Hart.

Michigan's old pro set was good by design but the play-calling grew so stale over the course of the year that teams often adjusted and completely shut down the Wolverines in key moments.

If UM can install a spread offense to use against the defending National Champion Florida Gators in the Capital One Bowl and use it to drop 42 points on them, then Rodriguez, who basically invented the spread option, can craft a solid offense in an entire off-season.