Michigan gameday 2012 #6: vs. Illinois

The Illinois Fighting Illini of Champaign, Illinois, home of the Illini of Illinois will be travelling to Ann Arbor for a meeting with an increasingly confident Wolverines football team at 3:30 EST this afternoon.  Betting has heavily favored Michigan over a pretty abysmal Illinois squad, and I hope my Wolverines live up to that, including some big numbers on the ground for Denard and Fitz.  If anybody needs me, you know where I'll be, so LET'S GO BLUE!

Michigan gameday 2012 #1: vs. #2 Alabama

Find this wallpaper and other versions of it thanks to Six Zero of MGoBlog.com

This is it:  after months and months of waiting and celebrating in the afterglow of Michigan's first great football season in seemingly forever (not to mention a bowl win!), we're back for more:  Team 133, the 2012 version of my favorite team in my favorite sport.

And this year the Maize and Blue start things off with a bang thanks to scheduling a tilt with #2 Alabama--the defending champs (of oversigning; they also did win the MNC last year, though)--in the "neutral" JerryDome in Texas.  Few are expecting the Wolverines to come out on top, but almost all of us see it as a step in the right direction that was a long time coming in terms of scheduling non-"snacky cake"-type non-conference opponents.  There's not a lot to lose here:  a win means a huge leap forward in the race to a national title; a loss resets expectations a bit toward the other major goal:  a Big Ten title.  Either way, this promises to be a crazy contest, and no matter what, I can't wait until tonight.  GO BLUE!

Game time:  8 p.m. EST
Location:  Cowboys Stadium, Dallas, TX