The Big Ten Conference loaded up some of the spots from its “I Will” series; here’s the Maize and Blue version and it’s pretty cool: I will….crush beer at Fraser’s Pub on Saturday like an underage football player in the 70s. Elsewhere: WolverineHistorian’s 2007 Penn State-Michigan game on the You.

More on the Wolverines from the WDFN drive time hosts. Stoney admits he’s got a gut feel that Rodriguez is a little sleazy (although he struggles with the adjective) and Wojo admits a bit of the same. Wojo predicts that this season, Michigan fans “are going to find out what they did like” about traditional Michigan football.

Check it out here. There’s a lot of ‘OR”s in the offensive listing but if I read it correctly, RR’s got McGuffie or Shaw as the starter. David Moosman will start somewhere, but is listed as an ‘OR’ on both center and right guard. Quarterback as expected is a toss up between Threet and Sheridan, with Sheridan listed first but I don’t think that means anything. Brandon Harrison will return kick-offs, with Donovan Warren handling punts. Other items from the updated Game Notes: * Legends Ron Kramer, Dan Dierdorf and Bob Chappuis will be the Alumni captains for the game and will be out there from the coin toss. A great new tradition; thanks to Rich Rod for that. * Speaking of legends, Lloyd Carr will be recognized at halftime for winning the 2007 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award. * Michigan coaches are 15-2 in the debuts (Bump Elliott lost in 1959 to the Irish, Gary Moeller did the same in 1990). * This is the second earliest game in school history (tie), the earliest being the epic Pigskin classic vs. Virginia – Scotty Driesbach to Mercury Hayes baby. * There are players from 21 US states on the Michigan roster.

Via Michigan Sports Center: MSC also introduces the new Rich Rod tradition, the The MVictors Walk: “The Victors Walk” calls for the team to be dropped off of their buses at the edge of Crisler Arena, giving fans the opportunity to watch the players and coaches head to the stadium in an up-close and personal way.

Debut is Tuesday 8/26 at 6pm EDT. Good stuff when he runs into Moosman in the hallway:

A complete run-down of the Michigan-based or Michigan tied athletes, compliments of the Free Press here. Most have some affiliation with U-M, a couple have ties to Northern and Central Michigan. No Spartans? There was a lot of build up for wrestler Andy Hrovat but it didn’t work out: ‘Lost to Reineris Salas of Cuba in the opening round of the 185-pound freestyle event.’

More from the tireless ESPN.com blogger Adam Rittenberg. Here is a small piece from his interview with Spartan coach Mark Dantonio: AR: You’re focused on Cal, but you and the players haven’t been shy about talking about the Michigan game and building that up. How important was that when you came in, stressing that game? MD: Any time you’re in a program, I don’t care what program it is, a high school program, a college program, there are certain teams that are rivals. They become rivals through the years. You have to recognize that fact. History demands that you recognize that fact because of the players who have played that game in the past. Wherever I’ve been as a head coach, at Cincinnati and now at Michigan State, we’ve done that. We did that at Ohio State, we did that at Youngstown [State] when I was there. We did that at Michigan State when I was here before, we did it at Kansas when I was at Kansas. The history of who I’ve been with as an assistant coach and then my time as a head coach has been about taking one game and making it a little bit more special, providing a little bit more of a sense of urgency for. Right now, we focus on the task at…

The Ann Arbor News blasted out a bunch of season coverage this morning. Check out John Heuser’s piece on Rodriguez including his impressions on a trip to Grant Town, West Virginia – Rich Rod’s hometown. He includes a shot of the sign that used to hang outside the town. The slightly modified version now chills on Rich Rod’s parents’ barn: Other articles: Big Ten Preview (Carty) Projected Depth Chart Elsewhere: Bill Simonson of The Huge Show interviews Threet, Sheridan, Rich Rod, Barwis, Taylor, and Shafer. All the audio is here.