0 0 Friday, September 5, 2008 - Kickoff -11B 2B - Kickoff - Friday, September 5, 2008 KICKOmFF 200R 2008 Michigan Schedule Utah, L 23-25: Michigan was expected to have growing pains. And after a failed comeback attempt, the Wolverines were on the wrong end of an opening game for the second year in a row. Miami (Ohio): At least this game isn't against Oregon. Michigan should be able to win against the average Mid-American Conference team or the Wolverines might really be in trouble. at Notre Dame: Notre Dame was atrocious last year, but a bye week for the Fighting Irish last weekend means they can't go into the Michigan game 0-2 this time. They'll still probably be bad. Wisconsin: Michigan opens its conference season against a team who was predicted to finish second in the Big Ten - and which uses the traditional offense that Michigan left behind this year. Illinois: After facing Juice Williams and company the week after squaring off against the Badgers, the Wolverines will know if they're really cut out for Big Ten contention this year. Toledo: Enter token cupcake game here. That's what Michigan thought last year in its. October game against Eastern Michigan, anyway, before the Eagles kept it close. at Penn State: Penn State is returning to its spread offense, and it hopes it will be better than ever. "Spread HD," as the Nittany Lions call it, should test Michigan's experienced defense. " Michigan State: We've heard it every year - Michigan State will be good this year, seriously. But with superstar Spartan running back Javon Ringer, it could actually happen. The Big House really isn't that big - at least, compared to the 10/4 Maracana in Brazil. Read one sportswriter's perspective on the stadium that used to hold 200,000. How will Michigan stack up against other Big Ten teams this year? Read our conference preview to find out. He came from West Virginia. You've heard about his spread offense. So what else is there to know about new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez? Plenty. 223 North Main Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 665-5340 3k A ~ 11/1 at Purdue: Senior quarterback Curtis Painter may give Michigan's secondary trouble, but that's about all the Wolverines need to worry about. 11/8 at Minnesota: Watch out - Minnesota's victory last week means it's already matched its win total from last year. 11/15 Northwestern: It's always good to have a game against a doormat before facing Ohio State, right? As long as Michigan doesn't underestimate the Wildcats, it should be an easy game. 11/22 at Ohio State: Michigan has lost four straight against the Buckeyes, and they're favored to reach another title game. This could be ugly. RODRIGUEZ From Page 9B Roads." Rodriguez forced his players to continue the West Virginia tradition of singingthe song after wins, even when many of them didn't seem too enthused about the old country song. But one look aE the chorus makes Rodriguez's connection to the song clear. . "Country roads, take me home/ To the place I belong/ West Virginia, mountain momma/ Take me home, country roads." After spending four years coaching outside of his home state, the state where he played college football, the state where he met his wife, Rita, Rodriguez returned in 2001 as the head coach of the Mountaineers, The whole state was excited. At his introductory press conference, Rodriguez joked it was the first press conference he ever saw people tailgating for. But by 2006, Rodriguez's warm feelings toward his alma mater begun to deteriorate. He was offered, but turned down the Alabama job. Rodriguez's stay in Morgantown was largely because Mountaineer boosters facilitated discussion between Rodriguez and the West Virginia administration. Rodriguez's strained relationship with the administration culminated with a meetingat West Virginia president Mike Garrison's house last Dec. 16. Ken Kendrick, a West Virginia booster and managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, talked on the phone with Rodriguez as he drove up to Garrison's house. Rodriguez sounded hopeful, and he had reason to. Rutledge was driving. Rodriguez to Garrison's house at the request of someone on West Virginia's side, He said Rodriguez had been told all of his requests for the Mountaineer football program would be met. But that wasn't the case. "It was no to everything ... I wanted to know the answer to - at least a maybe," Rodriguez testified in his deposition for the lawsuit West Virginia filed. "I didn't even get a maybe. I got a. no." After leaving Garrison's house, Rodriguez called Kendrick. "This is basically what he said," Kendrick said. " 'Ken, I have three bosses. I have an athletic director who I cannot trust.I have a president of the university who I do not trust: And Ihave the governor of the state who I also do not trust.'" Kendrick tried to persuade Rodriguez to give Garrison another chance because the president was new and maybe couldn't act immediately because of that. "He said, 'I just don't trust these guys," Kendrick said. "'I've got to be here every day, and you don't. And I don't want to work for people I can't trust, and as a result, I'm going to leave.' " The next day, Rodriguez accepted Michigan's offer. MICHIGAN MAN Rodriguez met Schembechler once briefly at the annual College Football Hall of Fame banquet but heard Schembechler had mentioned him to people in Ann Arbor. "For a guy that I didn't even know or didn't know me, I thought that was probably one of the greatest compliments I've ever gotten in my profession," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez has spent some time since taking the Michigan job to learn about the Wolverines' history. Stories from the 1969 team, Schembechler's first, have been particularly interesting to Rodriguez - how unsure they were, but how they rallied to beat Ohio State and win the Big Ten. Does he see some of that same doubt in this year's team? "A little bit," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez invited some players from 1969 to talk to his current team. He has taken over plenty of teams that had a lot of rebuilding to do his first season, and he knew the words of those players would be invaluable. Arleen and Rita were talking recently about how Rodriguez has never taken a job that didn't require substantial rebuilding. Why couldn't he take over at a place that was already rolling, like Bill Stewart just did at West Virginia? Ritaaskedwhentherewouldbe a time when that would happen. "I said, 'Well, the time will be when he doesn't have to leave Michigan because there's nowhere to go," Arleen said. This story has been truncated to fit in the print edition. For the full version, please visit http:// www.michigandaily.com. I- Weekdays 7am-3pm Sundays 8am-3pm it