Michigan football team's hopes for an 'outstanding season' start with beating Western

“These guys have worked pretty hard, really for seven, eight months, but especially the last three weeks in camp to get ready for game week, and here we are,” Rodriguez said. “Nothing’s going to change their focus on getting ready for hopefully an outstanding season.”

Barely into September, Michigan’s season is off to a rocky start.

Last week, several mostly anonymous current and former players alleged that Rodriguez and his staff shirked NCAA rules on practice time. Rodriguez denied the charges and the university launched an internal investigation. Days later, a lawsuit against Rodriguez and his ties to a rogue former Clemson booster were revealed.

Beating the Broncos won’t make any of that go away - Michigan has hired the ex-head of the NCAA Infractions Committee to assist the investigation - but a win today could galvanize a team with major questions both on and off the field.

The Wolverines are coming off a 3-9 season that ranks as the losingest in program history, and they have little proven depth on either side of the ball.

“We all know what happened last year, and we don’t want that to happen again,” linebacker Stevie Brown said. “Everybody’s picking us last for a lot of things, or not where Michigan’s being typically picked to produce at. So we’re all ready and just anxious to get out there so we can show what we can do.”

True freshman Tate Forcier will start at quarterback for Michigan, the third true freshman to do so since 1975.

He edged classmate Denard Robinson and junior Nick Sheridan for the job, thanks to strong performances in two fall scrimmages. Rodriguez said he considers all three starters, and all three will play today.

“Generally you’ll keep them in a series, especially if we’re in a rhythm,” Rodriguez said. “But there are certain plays that maybe we’ll put them in and out of.

“We don’t have just a Wildcat package for (Robinson) or different packages for Nick or Tate, but there are some plays that some of them run better than others. We’ll play that by ear.”

Defensively, Michigan will have its hands full with Broncos quarterback Tim Hiller, a career 64-percent passer who’s playing behind a veteran offensive line.

Western graduated its top two receivers, and safety Louis Delmas was a second-round pick by the Lions, but the Broncos remain one of the most dangerous teams in the Mid-American Conference.

That’s a scary proposition for Michigan, which has lost two straight season openers - to Utah last year and Appalachian State in 2007 - and last year fell to a MAC team in Toledo for the first time.

“The MAC teams have proven over the years, not just against us, they can be (not just) very competitive but win,” Rodriguez said. “We’re playing a veteran quarterback, a veteran ballclub, and we know we’re going to get their best shot.”

Dave Birkett covers the University of Michigan football team for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidbirkett@annarbor.com