Noted CBS analyst says the Michigan football team will win the Big Ten, head to the Rose Bowl
CBSsports.com analyst Jerry Palm predicts Michigan will win the Big Ten and advance to the Rose Bowl in 2012. Palm projected the Wolverines as a BCS team prior to last season as well.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
And in 2012, he's keeping his seat on the front of the bus.
Palm, a CBSsports.com analyst and the owner of CollegeBCS.com, unveiled his 2012 bowl projections earlier this week, placing Michigan in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champions.
Palm, remember, was one of -- if not the only -- analyst to jump on Michigan's early potential last season, projecting the Wolverines as a BCS team before the 2011 campaign began.
"There was one week I took them out of the BCS projections, but I never thought they weren't going 10-2," Palm told the Detroit Free Press last season. "The hard part (of the BCS) isn't just going 10-2, the circumstances have to be right, the bowl selection matters, among other things."
Palm received criticism, but was ultimately rewarded in the end as the Wolverines surprised many with an 11-2 season and a win over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.
As far as 2012 goes, Palm predicts that Michigan will face Oregon in the Rose Bowl -- earning the Big Ten title bid over two-time defending champ Wisconsin.
Palm says the Badgers will battle Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. He has Florida State and Boise State in the Orange Bowl, Alabama and Louisville in the Sugar Bowl and USC vs. LSU for the BCS national championship.
As for Michigan State?
Palm says the Spartans will play Georgia again -- this time in the Capital One Bowl.
Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.
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