w 0 0 0 0 0 At long last, the Michigan football team is back home. The Wol- verines open their 2012 home schedule Saturday against Air Force, hoping to rebound from a poor showing in the Cowboys Classic against Alabama. Redshirt junior running back Fitzgerald Toussaint is back, and expected to start, so Michigan's running game might actually get going against the Falcons. Ben Estes, ZachHelfand, Stephen J. Nesbitt, Luke Pasch TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Michigan Legend: Bennie Oosterbaan's No. 47 jersey will be back on the field for the first time in over a half-century. 2012 Schedule- Alabama (Sept.): Michgan's memory needs to be short after this one. It should be anyway with some of the hits the Crimson Tide deat out. Air Force (Sept. 8): Oddly enough, Air Force likes to stay on the ground in its triple-option attack. Courtney Avery will catch a break. Massachusetts (Sept. 15): Easily Michigan's weakest opponent in the midst of a grueling schedule. Blowout alert in full effect. Michigan State (Oct. 20): Wolverines could snap a four-game losing streak to Sparty. If it happens, avoid fans' (or players') raging fists at all costs. Nebraska (Oct. 27): Michigan handed the Huskers a rude welcome to the Big Ten in 2011. Prime time in Lincoln could be different, though. Minnesota (Nov. 3): This game was a confi- dence booster last year - a 58-0 drubbing. The Little Brown Jug will stay in Ann Arbor again. Notre Dame (Sept. 22): May as well call this Northwestern (Nov. 10): In a late season Breaching the Border: The Michigan foot- .showdown an instant classic before kickoff the matchup, we'll find out who scraps harder: a ball team's success has always hinged on a way this series has gone the past few seasons, wildcat or a wolverine. specific state: Ohio. Purdue (Oct. 6): The Boilermakers blasted Iowa (Nov. 17): It's not heaven. It's Iowa - the Advance: Michigan is on the other side of Eastern Kentucky in week one, and hope to give tJ ij utterly mediocre squad that handed Michigan 8 the equation this week - heavily favored, Michigan a game in the Big Ten opener. one of its two losses in 2011. with plenty left to prove. Illinois (Oct. 13): Michigan will miss Ron Zook, Ohio State (Nov. 24): The reincarnation of the * s who was fired after an 0-6 stretch to end last Bo-Woody dynamic, Hoke and Meyer will com- Cover illustration by Erin Kirkland and Alicia Kovalcheck season. But it might like Tim Beckman more. 101Q ' pete in 'The Game' for the first time at the Shoe. STAFF PICKS The Daily football writers pick against the spread to predict scores for the top-25 and Big Ten in the 2012 football season. No.19 Michigan (-20) vs.Air Force No.1 Alabama (-37) at W stern Kentucky No. 2USC(-24)atSyracuse No.3 LSU(22)vs.Washington No.4Oregon-30)vs.Fresno State No.5Oklahoma(NS)vs.Florida A&M No.6 Florida State (NS)vs.Savannah State' No.7 Georgia (-3.5) at Missouri No. 8Arkansas(-28)vs.Louisiana-Monroe No.9 South Caroina (-23.5)vs. E. Caroina No.11 Michigan State(-24) at C.Michigan No.12 Clemson (-26) vs. Ball State No. 13 Wsconsir( 1)at OregonState No.14OhioState-14.5) vs. UCF No 15Virginia Tech (NS)vs. AustinPeay No i6 Nebraska(-4.5) at UCLA Nos 17 Texas( s-41) v. New Mexio No. 18 Oklahoma State (-13.5) at Arizona No. 20 TCU (NS) vs. Gramblingstate No.21 Kansas State (-6.5) vs. Miami No.22Notre Dame (-53.)vs.Purdue No. 23 Louisville (NS) vs. Missouri State No, 24 Florida at Texas A&M (-2.5) No. 25 Stanford (-14)vs. Duke Minnesota (NS) vs. New Hampshire PenStateoatVirginiao(-5) Indianat-03)at Massachusetts Iowao(-4) v. Iowa State Northwesternovs.Vanderbilt(45) Iliionoi tArizonaoState(-6) Lastweek Overal Ben Estes Alabama USC LSU COregon Oklahoma roida State Georgia Arkansas E. Carolina C. Michigan Clemson Wisconsin" Ohio Stateh Virginia Tech N exico Oklahoma State TCU Miarni Notre Dam Louisville Tas A&M Stanford Minnesota ondiona Io aStt e Vanderbilt AzonaSate 19-9-1 A19-9-1oi Zach Helfand Air Pe Alabama USC LSU Oregon COklahoma FloridaState Georgia Louisiana-Monroe E. Carolina C. Michigan Clemson Wisconsin Ohio State Virginia Tech Oklahoma State TCU Kansas State Purdue Louisville Texas-A&M Stanford Minesota Uirgioia Massachusets Vanderbilt ArznaSate 15-13-1 15i-l3-1 Stephen J.U Nesbitt AirF orce Western Kentucky USC washington Oregon Oklahoma Florida State Georgia Arkansas South Caroina Michigan State Ball State Wisconsin Ohio State Virginia Tech N eexco Oklahoma State CU Kansas State NotreDame Louisville Florida Stanford Minnesota Indiana Vanderbilt Iioi 16-12-1 Luke Pasch Michigan Alabama USC LSU Oregon Oklahoma Florida State Georgia Arkansas South Carolina C. Michigan Ball State Wisconsin Ohio State Virginia Tech NewMexicoo Oklahoma State TCU Kansas State Notre ame Louisville Florida Stanford Minnesota Pooo Staoe Indiana Vanderbilt Arizona State 17-11-1 A17-11-1oi Steven Fisher, Men's Glee . Club Michigan Alabama USC LSU Orengo Oklahomo Florida State Georgia Arkansas E. Carolina Michigan State Clemson Wisconsin Ohio State Virgina Tech New Mexico Oklahoma State Cu Miami Notre Dame Louisville Ce oASMa Stanford Minnesota Uirginia Vanderbil Arizona State 16-12-1 Air Force senior quarterback Connor Dietz was part of a back- field corps that rushed for a nation- high 484 yards last weekend. Dietz finally slowed down this week, just long enough to sit down for a press conference in Colorado Springs, Colo. This transcript, courtesy of a Air Force Athletic Department video, touches on Dietz's game, his roots in Ohio State country and more: Question: Growing up in Colum- bus, Ohio, I bet you grew up a big Michigan fan. Connor Dietz: Not at all. But I was never really into the whole Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. I was a college football fan, and obviously it was Ohio State growing up, but once I came here it's pretty much all Air Force. I don't really see how you can be a fan of someone else when you're playing for another team. Q: Would you say that your hatred for Michigan is a little more close to home than other players on the team? CD: I guess you could say so because of my roots, but I've never really despised them. I've got acou- ple of guys who played at my high school that play up there (redshirt freshman Keith Heitzman). They're obviously a great college football team. It's going to be a good chal- lenge, but as a competitor this is what you want, and as ateam this is what we're looking forward to. Q: In addition to what you do offensively, how much can the pace of what you do help you in a game like this? CD: Ourtempo, our.conditioning, we're going to have to use every- thing to our advantage that we can. Being aware on offense of where we're going, when we're going there. Trying to keep the tempo up is going to playa crucial part, that's for sure. It's not one of those games where it's going to be a first-quarter game or a second-quarter game. We're looking to play four quarters, and that's what we think it's going to be. Q: Michigan has big-play ability. Is this the kind of game where you try to hang with them, and the lon- ger you hang with them the better chance you have of winning? CD: Any time you're in a big game, you want to come down in the fourth quarter and have it be a one-possession game. From there, anything can happen on any given Saturday. We're going to play our game, be us. Michigan hasn't seen us, we haven't seen them. We're gonna go out, be the best we can be for three quarters, and then in the fourth quarter see where we are. Q: How would you assess your play last Saturday (in Air Force's 49-21victory over Idaho St.)? CD: I played OK. It's nice to come out the first home game and get the nerves out and get the first win out of the way, but I didn't playtoo well. I could have been a little smarter with some of my throws. In a game like this, coming up, some of those throws we're goingto have to hit for home runs instead of 30-yard gains. Some of my rushes, I could have ran a little harder, maybe broken one or two more tackles. ... There's a lot of things when you come back in on Monday and turn the film on. It's a whole new game; it's like you didn't even play the last game, you're watching something brand new. Q: When you look at the sched- ule, people say, 'Oh, this is Michi- gan.' Is it hard to just tell yourself this is asnormal game? CD: It's kind of hard. Obviously, we've all been looking at this game since last January - me especially, being from the Midwest. It comes down to: It is another game. They were talking to us about the crowd and everything, but they play every home game there in that kind of atmosphere, so I think we can go in and play one game there. A lot of guys on this team have had expe- rience going into big-time games like this - Oklahoma, Notre Dame - so it is another game and we can only control what we can control. There's no use worrying about other things. Q: Is it dangerous to face a team like Michigan when they're com- ing off a game they feel a little bit embarrassed about? CD: I think facing a team like Michigan is dangerous no matter how they feel or whatever game they came off of. "They have playmakers on both sides of the ball, more than one, obviously. There's not really a good time or bad time to catch them; every time you playa team like that it's going to be a four-quarter grind and you've got to come to play with- your hard-hat on. Q: Are you goingto have to match Denard Robinson step for step for your team to have a chance this weekend? CD: (laughs) Nah. I never really understood why people compared quarterbacks ... because you never play againsteach other, so I never understood why it's a quarterback versus a quarterback thing. I think it's Air Force offense versus Michi- gan defense. "And while Denard Robinson is a huge part of Michigan's offense, it's Michigan's offense against Air Force's defense. So I'm not going to try and focus on anything like that, I'm going to try to focus on my job with our offense. The Air Force football team celebrates its victory over Idaho State last weekend. OHIO CONT. It's easy to find stats that From Page 6 show how strong of a state From _Page_6 _ Ohio is football-wise. In Rivals.com's national high Unsurprisingly, Thomas school rankings, only Florida, and others have heard it Texas and Georgia have more from their friends and other than the four teams that Ohio locals, all of whom chide boasts in the top 50. them for going to That School According to ProFoot- Up North. But that has done ball~eferencecom, Ohio is nothing to sway them. tied with Georgia for having "I still feel great about it," produced the fourth-most Thomas said. amountof players currently in the NFL. It's more diffi- * - cult to put your finger on why Ohio is so good at football. Sure, there's population - it's the seventh-largest state in the country by that mea- sure. But New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania all have bigger populations, and none match Ohio's football prow- ess (though Pennsylvania nearly does). Michigan and North Carolina come close to Ohio's population figure, but they don't hold a candle to the quality of Ohio's football either. When you talk to high school coaches - the ones who see the interest more acutely than anyone else, who feel the pressure more strongly than anyone else - you find that even they don't have a firm answer. The only possible expla- naiton is passion. "When you go to a game, there's 8-10,000 people in the stands," Trivisonno said. "It's a tougher state, blue-collar state, that people work hard at and enjoy football, love football. There's great tradi- tion, obviously, with the Hall of Fame and all that. "I just think it's a state that loves the game of football." As Hoke said, Friday nights matter in Ohio; think Friday Night Lights, but without the over-the-top-craziness that apparently permeates the culture in Texas. That pas- sion manifests itself in one of the besteconcentrations of tal- ent in the U.S., in some of the most diligent anddetermined coaches inthe country, and in a visceral, almost indefinable tie between communities and teams. In some ways, the history of Michigan football is the history of an Ohio foundation. That foundation includes two of three Heisman winners, two of the previous four head coaches - including the most iconic - and some of the best players in Wolverine history. That foundation includes Hoke, and his focus on Ohio - a focus that has yielded results unmatched in recent years. And there's no reason to believe the run in Ohio won't continue. 2 FootballSaturday - September 8, 2012 TheMichiganDaily.- www.michigandaily.com 7