Can Michigan really live up to lofty preseason hype?

At Big Ten Media Days, Michigan boasted a pair of Heisman Trophy candidates in Mike Hart (right) and Chad Henne. AP

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CHICAGO -- The Big Ten's media days, at least after commissioner Jim Delany threw a wet blanket on talk of expansion and the p.r. push for the yet-to-be-part-of-your-cable-package Big Ten Network became tiresome, were rightfully about Michigan. The Wolverines are the preseason conference favorite that everyone loves on paper but doesn't trust to run the table in real life. Most lines of questioning tried, some less delicately than others, to balance Michigan's great potential against its recent track record of great disappointment.

A press release on the opening morning of the two-day affair announced that Michigan was the writers' pick as the conference's preseason No. 1 team, ahead of Wisconsin and Ohio State. Each school brought a trio of players to face the army of TV cameras and digital voice recorders, and the Wolverine entourage happened to include two legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates, running back Mike Hart and quarterback Chad Henne, as well as a frontrunner for the Outland Trophy, monstrous left tackle Jake Long. Among the other 30 athletes, there was perhaps one other realistic Heisman hopeful, Wisconsin running back P.J. Hill. Rival OSU, meanwhile, offered up the talented-but-far-from-household-name threesome of Kirk Barton, Marcus Freeman and Vernon Gholston. The Buckeyes had glossy booklets stacked on their table that featured the team's All-America candidates, which was seemingly an attempt to remind us that the Buckeyes did not, indeed, lose everyone from last season's Big Ten champion squad.

The Ohio State team that rolled into Chicago last August was in many ways similar to the Wolverines of '07: the Buckeyes were overwhelming league favorites, had multiple Heisman candidates and faced great expectations despite an inexperienced defense. (Michigan has four starters returning on D this year; Ohio State had just two last year.) Yet the Buckeyes, who were riding the momentum of a Fiesta Bowl rout of Notre Dame into the fall of '06, were heralded more than they were doubted. For Michigan, life at the top of a Big Ten preseason poll is not nearly as comfortable. Not even close. Consider just how little time coach Lloyd Carr was afforded to enjoy the top ranking.

When Carr was at the press-conference dais on Tuesday, he concluded his opening remarks by telling all those who voted Michigan No. 1, "we'll try to make you look good." For a moment it seemed as if it would be a nice segue into a few softballs once the floor was opened for questioning. The first reporter to take the microphone did not comply.

First question (paraphrased): Have any changes been instituted this year so that Chad Henne doesn't finish his career 0-8 against Ohio State and in bowl games?

This opening salvo -- a jab at the Wolverines' big-game futility -- elicited the type of gruff response Carr typically reserves for pesky sideline reporters: "Well, I think we'll be doing our best to win every game we play," the coach said. "That's always our goal."

It didn't ease up after that; the fourth and fifth questioners turned the topic to rumors about Carr's health and/or imminent retirement, addressing, basically, the ploy that most opposing recruiters have been using against Michigan for years. "To the best of my knowledge, I'm healthy," said Carr. "I don't think there is anything to that." A few minutes later, in the hallway outside the press conference, Carr fielded a question about the hot-seat climate in Ann Arbor, and told a reporter, "If you're going to coach football at Michigan ... the expectations are going to be high, and if you don't meet those, you're going to have to deal with all the things that come with it. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's not so much fun."

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