The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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all creative, and we'll all try to come up with ways to approach that and create some success there. "Our new bowl alignment is some- thing that, for the most part, we're all pretty excited about. We'll be the last one to do our TV deal. That still comes up in a couple of years. I'm sure somewhere along the line, our commissioner will be going to market, as everybody else has, to establish whatever that is going to be going forward. That will be something to watch. "From a national competitiveness standpoint, all the hype and the re- cent success seems to be happening down in the SEC, but these things go in cycles. We all understand that. The quality of football we play is terrific, and the quality of the kids that we are recruiting, and the performance of the conference in terms of academics and some of those other measures is really, really strong. "I think the conference is in great shape. The competition is terrific. It will be interesting to see what hap- pens this year with two new mem- bers. It doesn't get any easier. Now you've got to do well within your di- vision, and you have to beat a really good team in Indianapolis, and tee it up in a national bowl game. "Many, many years ago, when I was part of the football program here, we had 10 teams. There was no Penn State, and there was no Nebraska. There was no championship game at the end of the season to see who went to the Rose Bowl. The dispersion of talent was very different. There were 105 scholarships, and you really had the ability to go at least three deep on your depth chart with all scholarship athletes. "Now, Central Florida goes to a BCS bowl game and wins, and their quar- terback goes in the first round and could potentially start this season in the NFL. There are reminders all over the place that really, really talented football players are being dispersed among vastly more programs, and on any given Saturday, anybody can win. "You just have much greater parity, and it's a much bigger challenge. We all have to understand that. "In terms of the national cycles of things, it was only a few years ago that everybody was saying Big Ten basketball was second rate, and the ACC was what it was all about. Now, look at where the Big Ten is in basket- ATTENDANCE 111,592 Michigan's average attendance for its seven home football games in 2013 led the nation for the 16th con- secutive year. 115,109 The Big House attendance for Michi- gan's 41-30 win over Notre Dame on Sept. 7, 2013, an NCAA record. 129,872 M ichigan's combined average home attendance for its three best drawing spor ts in the 2013-14 school year — football, men's bas- ketball (12,698, 24th nationally) and ice hockey (5,582, ninth in the coun- try). That total paced the NCAA.