Misanthrope said:
Because Michigan has Michigan State - an in-state Big Ten rival. If Ohio University was a Big Ten program I'm pretty sure we'd hate them, too, but they're not, so we hate scUM.
We have Notre Dame, too. I grew up near Lansing; half my family is from there, and the other half is from South Bend. For me, OSU-Michigan was the #3 rivalry most of my life due to circumstances (that's changed with MSU's and ND's decent into mediocrity). It's rather counterproductive to be consumed by hate for your rivals when you've got three of them, all with very rich tradition and success. And that's ignoring Minnesota, who have a serious chip on their shoulder now.
crazybuckfan40 said:
When you lose a top ten talent in the NFL draft it is going to hurt no matter how you spin it.
I'd like to point out that no one has denied this. However, we still expect to have a superb offense, and I think that expectation is justified with the all the returning talent and health of Breaston.
MililaniBuckeye said:
Braylon Edwards was key to Michigan's passing success. Both Avant and Breaston are good receivers, but neither are world-class. Michigan no longer has the top WR corps in the conference. That honor clearly goes to us, with Holmes, Ginn, and Gonzalez.
You'll see on Michigan boards a lot of people claiming we're better at WR. Our starters aren't. Ginn is clearly better than Breaston (Ginn hasn't yet proven he has better hands, but it doesn't matter in light of Ginn's athleticism), Holmes is clearly better than Avant, and Gonzalez will likely be better than our third, especially since a clear third hasn't even stepped up yet.
When Michigan fans say we have a better receiving corp, it's because they think we're deeper at the position, which I do agree with. Also, while OSU's WR starters are almost undeniably top 3 in the nation or better, I think ours will still be in the top 10.