2019 Michigan Season Thread

[Mdot21]

So, can this season be saved?

bench Shea and get Harbaugh off his meds and get the fiery competitive ahole psycho back and maybe there's a chance.

Otherwise, this team loses 3-4 more games. Possibly even more.

[Cincydawg]

I should say salvaged, not saved.  It can't be "saved" in terms of preseason expectations I think.

Rutger - Win
Iowa - probable win, but not clear cut
@ Ill - probable win
@ Penn State - probable loss
ND - probable loss
@ UMd - probable win unless the wheels come off, which is possible
MSU - 50-50 at best
@ IND - probable win
OSU - probable loss

So, 8-4 appears "probable", perhaps, and worse is very possible, better seems unlikely.

[MichiFan87]

This season is reminiscent of 2007 so far, except Michigan beat Army instead of losing to App State. 07 Oregon (before Dixon got hurt) is roughly comparable to Wisconsin this year. That 07 team got its heads of their asses and won the next 8 games with some decent wins and also had a chance at Wisconsin and vs Ohio State despite Henne being out and playing hurt in those respective games, before finally beating Florida during Tebow's Heisman year in the bowl game.

I'm not sure this team has the leadership to more or less repeat that, but I do think it's possible....

[Mdot21]

This season is reminiscent of 2007 so far, except Michigan beat Army instead of losing to App State. 07 Oregon (before Dixon got hurt) is roughly comparable to Wisconsin this year. That 07 team got its heads of their asses and won the next 8 games with some decent wins and also had a chance at Wisconsin and vs Ohio State despite Henne being out and playing hurt in those respective games, before finally beating Florida during Tebow's Heisman year in the bowl game.

I'm not sure this team has the leadership to more or less repeat that, but I do think it's possible....

this team doesn't have that leadership.


Henne and Mike Hart and Jake Long were LEADERS. Don't see any leaders on this team.

[847badgerfan]

Bo won more than 9 games per season. He won 10 or more games 12 times in his 21 years at Michigan. He had a 4 year stretch where he only lost 3 games in 4 years. He went 41-3-1 from '71-'74.

Jim is losing 3 games a season minimum right now. Harbaugh could only dream of a stretch run like that at this point. Bo was the head coach at Michigan for 21 years. He went 21 years without ever having a losing season. 6-6 in 1984 was his worst season- a .500 season. That's pretty impressive, to go 21 years and never have a losing season. Every other of Bo's 20 years- he had a minimum of 8 wins.

Yeah he lost too many Rose Bowls, but aside from that he was a great coach. He was a model of consistency, won a ton of games, and he beat Ohio State more than he lost to Ohio State.

I just took his win total of 194, and divided by 21.

9.23 wins/season.

[FearlessF]

bench Shea and get Harbaugh off his meds and get the fiery competitive ahole psycho back and maybe there's a chance.

Otherwise, this team loses 3-4 more games. Possibly even more.

so, does Brother John in the NFL still display some fire on the sideline?

[SuperMario]

I just took his win total of 194, and divided by 21.

9.23 wins/season.

It's a little unfair to use math and actual data. 

[Honestbuckeye]

 I am not going to pile on Michigan here. Having watched my team look that way on numerous occasions it’s already not fun. 

 Can’t deny I was surprised - not so much by the winni, as I had said I had no idea who would win that game but more by the margin.  I could tell Wisconsin was really damn good but wasn’t sure about Michigan 

 On the one hand I can’t say I’ve ever seen Michigan look so, I don’t know  .... out of it.      No explanation for that as I feel they have good coaching and damn good players too.  

On the other hand we may want to just chill out as fans because we have this tendency to over react to games like this. When things look great there never really is good as they look for a college football team, and when things look bad they’re usually not as bad as they look.

Wisconsin is clearly fantastic, and maybe Michigan is working their way up to that slowly. Who knows?

[Cincydawg]

A lot of us are good about trying not to draw too much from one data point.  Maybe this was "one of those games", the likes of which we've mostly all seen from our teams at times, I know I have.  A very good UGA team lost to a decent (10-4) Tennessee team 35-14  in 2007 and cost them a shot.  They looked dazed and hapless in that game, it was peculiar.  UGA ended up ranked 2nd and 3rd that season with an 11-2 record (the other lose to USCe).

So, maybe we're seeing overly much here?

[MichiFan87]

Nobody on the team has actually quit yet....

Meanwhile, D'Eriq King at Houston just decided to redshirt and sit out the rest of the year to grad transfer elsewhere. That's a disturbing precedent that I hope not too many others take advantage of and risk coaches convincing the NCAA to do away with the exemption, because I think it's done a lot more good than bad.... Though it might be worth adjusting the 4-game RS rule, which I think has also been a net-plus but less so.

[medinabuckeye1]

A lot of us are good about trying not to draw too much from one data point.  Maybe this was "one of those games", the likes of which we've mostly all seen from our teams at times, I know I have.  A very good UGA team lost to a decent (10-4) Tennessee team 35-14  in 2007 and cost them a shot.  They looked dazed and hapless in that game, it was peculiar.  UGA ended up ranked 2nd and 3rd that season with an 11-2 record (the other lose to USCe).

So, maybe we're seeing overly much here?

I agree with your underlying point that it is dangerous to read too much into one game but Michigan hasn't looked anywhere near like what most of us expected in any of their three games so far this season.  They beat MTSU reasonably comfortably but the game was competitive until late in the third and MTSU lost to DOOK by a similar score.  The Army and Wisconsin games were clearly WAY below what most of us expected from Michigan this year.  

They could get it turned around.  There are good athletes in Ann Arbor so don't count them completely out but so far this team is not even remotely close to expectations.  

[Cincydawg]

Fair enough analysis right there, I think.

Expectations and reality.

We have four games of data, we have to try and glean what we can from that.

[FearlessF]

things are rarely as good or as bad as they seem after any win or loss.

[medinabuckeye1]

Bo ... beat Ohio State more than he lost to Ohio State.

I think it is a little bit dangerous and can be misleading to rate a coach based on how he does against a rival because those rivals have their own ups-and-downs.  Auburn losing to Bama lately sucks if you are an Auburn fan but you can't fire a coach for not being able to beat the machine that Saban has going in Tuscaloosa.  Urban (and maybe Day) in Columbus are only a little off from that.  

Bo against Ohio State:

• Bo went 5-4-1 against Woody:  He had the big upset in 1969 and won again in 1971 then went 0-3-1 from 1972-1975 before winning Woody's last three (1976-1978)
• Bo went 4-5 against Earle:  He started out 1-3 then went 3-1 before the upset loss in Earle's last game.  
• Bo went 2-0 against Cooper:  There was a close win over a terrible tOSU team in Columbus in 1988 and a blowout in Ann Arbor in 1989.  

Bo ended up 11-9-1 but he was .500 until John Cooper came along.  

Michigan has lost seven straight to Ohio State but I don't think it is fair to look at that as Harbaugh/Hoke can't beat Ohio State.  I think that has a lot more to do with Ohio State being historically strong.  The last seven Ohio State teams finished:

• 13-1
• 12-2
• 11-2
• 12-1
• 14-1
• 12-2
• 12-0

No team is going to do very well against that.