2026 Michigan Season Thread

[medinabuckeye1]

This explains it:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1H1aEebABY/

[ELA]

Also, it won't take much to fix it and make Michigan a juggernaut again. The rest of us just need to enjoy it while it lasts.

I mean, when in the past 40 years have they been a juggernaut?  And then look for the difference for those 3 years.  It won't take Michigan much to be good again, for sure

[FearlessF]

[Mdot21]

I mean, when in the past 40 years have they been a juggernaut?  And then look for the difference for those 3 years.  It won't take Michigan much to be good again, for sure

think he means a juggernaut in the B1G. Michigan was certainly that most of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.

it's a different era with the portal and NIL. Michigan was crushing it in the porthole 2021-2023 and they weren't using their NIL money to get HS recruits. They were using their NIL money to get proven veterans in the portal like that stud C from Virginia and keeping their star players from leaving early for the NFL draft like Blake Corum and Kris Jenkins. They haven't done a very good job in the portal since and they shifted the NIL philosophy to recruit HS stars like Bryce Underwood instead of paying proven guys in the portal and keeping proven guys on their own roster from going to the NFL.

The OL play has also fallen off a fucking cliff. Their OL play has not been this bad since the days of RichRod. Whittingham has to go at the end of the year and they need to find a coach that isn't 70 years old on life support and checked out on his retirement tour.

[SFBadger96]

Yeah, in the 40 years starting in 1968, Michigan finished outside of the top three in the conference I think 6 times. In the Harbaugh years, Michigan consistently finished in the top 15 in the country, and was always a very tough game for any Big Ten opponent. Honestly, they are a tough game this year, too, they just don't score many points.

Michigan against the Conference since 1968 (omitting the Pac schools)

Illinois: beat Michigan in their last game in 2024, but prior to that its last wins were in 2008-2009 (the dark years in Ann Arbor), and Illinois has beaten Michigan seven times.
Indiana: notwithstanding Indiana's recent success, other than its last two games against Michigan, Indiana has won two games: one was the Covid season, one was 1987.
Iowa: relatively competitive with Michigan (Iowa has been good under Frye and Ferentz): Michigan is 28-13.
Michigan State: The DAntonio/RichRod-Hoke years were good for Sparty, and Michigan's record is still 39-19.
Minnesota: five wins against Michigan, scattered roughly one every ten years.
Northwestern: the Cats last beat Michigan in 2008, and have four wins in this time.
Penn State: a college football blue blood when it joined the conference, since 1993 Michigan is 18-10 (with four in a row for PSU during the RichRod-Hoke era 2008-2013).
Purdue last beat Michigan in 2009, and has beaten Michigan seven times.
Wisconsin: Third in conference championships since 1993, still a loser to Michigan: 32-10 (12-9 in the post-'93 era, which includes Wisconsin's best-ever stretch, and Michigan's RichRod-Hoke era).

Maryland and Rutgers? Who cares. Regardless each has one win during the Brady Hoke era.

So that leaves Ohio State, the only winner, 32-24, I think. Dominant in this century (except '21-'24), as the Buckeyes have been against almost everyone.

So yeah, a juggernaut in the Big Ten.

[medinabuckeye1]

Yeah, in the 40 years starting in 1968, Michigan finished outside of the top three in the conference I think 6 times. In the Harbaugh years, Michigan consistently finished in the top 15 in the country, and was always a very tough game for any Big Ten opponent. Honestly, they are a tough game this year, too, they just don't score many points.

Michigan against the Conference since 1968 (omitting the Pac schools)

Illinois: beat Michigan in their last game in 2024, but prior to that its last wins were in 2008-2009 (the dark years in Ann Arbor), and Illinois has beaten Michigan seven times.
Indiana: notwithstanding Indiana's recent success, other than its last two games against Michigan, Indiana has won two games: one was the Covid season, one was 1987.
Iowa: relatively competitive with Michigan (Iowa has been good under Frye and Ferentz): Michigan is 28-13.
Michigan State: The DAntonio/RichRod-Hoke years were good for Sparty, and Michigan's record is still 39-19.
Minnesota: five wins against Michigan, scattered roughly one every ten years.
Northwestern: the Cats last beat Michigan in 2008, and have four wins in this time.
Penn State: a college football blue blood when it joined the conference, since 1993 Michigan is 18-10 (with four in a row for PSU during the RichRod-Hoke era 2008-2013).
Purdue last beat Michigan in 2009, and has beaten Michigan seven times.
Wisconsin: Third in conference championships since 1993, still a loser to Michigan: 32-10 (12-9 in the post-'93 era, which includes Wisconsin's best-ever stretch, and Michigan's RichRod-Hoke era).

Maryland and Rutgers? Who cares. Regardless each has one win during the Brady Hoke era.

So that leaves Ohio State, the only winner, 32-24, I think. Dominant in this century (except '21-'24), as the Buckeyes have been against almost everyone.

So yeah, a juggernaut in the Big Ten.

He said 'last 40 years' and then you refuted that with records since 1968 but 1968 is close to 60 years ago.  Frankly I think he misspoke with 40 because 40 years ago was 1986 and Michigan was most definitely a juggernaut in the late 1980s and in the 1990s up until at least 1997 (B1G title and split NC).  However, I do think that @ELA 's point is valid if we adjust it to since 1997.  Here are Michigan's finishes starting immediately after the 1997 season and ending immediately before the Connor Stallions cheating fueled their great run post-COVID:

• 1998 7-1 tied for 1/2/3
• 1999 6-2 tied for 2/3
• 2000 6-2 tied for 1/2/3
• 2001 6-2 2nd
• 2002 6-2 3rd
• 2003 7-1 1st
• 2004 7-1 tied for 1/2
• 2005 5-3 tied for 3/4/5/6
• 2006 7-1 tied for 2/3
• 2007 6-2 tied for 2/3
• 2008 2-6 tied for 9/10
• 2009 1-7 tied for 10/11
• 2010 3-5 tied for 7/8
• 2011 6-2 2nd in Legends
• 2012 6-2 2nd in Legends
• 2013 3-5 5th in Legends
• 2014 3-5 tied for 4/5 in B1GE
• 2015 6-2 3rd in B1GE
• 2016 7-2 3rd in B1GE
• 2017 5-4 4th in B1GE
• 2018 8-1 tied for 1/2 in B1GE (lost H2H tiebreaker, no CG)
• 2019 6-3 3rd in B1GE
• 2020 2-4 6th in B1GE

That is, IMHO, not a juggernaut.  You can certainly argue that they were still a juggernaut from 1998-2007 1998-2007 but from 2005-2020 they went 16 years with no league titles and without even managing to appear in any of the first 10 league title games.  

From 1998-2007 against teams now in the B1G (excluding the 4 that were added post-COVID):

• .941 against IU, 16-1
• .875 against MN, 14-2
• .867 against NU, 13-2
• .857 against RU, 6-1
• .833 against UMD, 5-1
• .786 against IL, 11-3
• .769 against PU, 10-3
• .632 against PSU, 12-7
• .562 against UW, 9-7
• .522 against MSU, 12-11
• .500 against Iowa, 7-7
• .400 against UNL, 2-3
• .182 against tOSU, 4-18

If you narrow it down to 2008-2020 they definitely were no juggernaut:

• .900 against IU, 9-1
• .875 against MN, 7-1
• .857 against RU, 6-1
• .857 against NU, 6-1
• .833 against UMD, 5-1
• .714 against IL, 5-2
• .667 against PU, 4-2
• .500 against UNL, 2-2
• .375 against UW, 3-5
• .364 against PSU, 4-7
• .308 against MSU, 4-9
• .286 against Iowa, 2-5
• .083 against tOSU, 1-11

I get borderline juggernaut from about 1998-2007 and most definitely NOT a juggernaut from about 2008 until the cheating.  That isn't the 40 years that ELA first stated but it also isn't including the 30 years from 1968-1997 when I think everyone would agree that they were.  

[Brutus Buckeye]

Don't forget Appalachian State, Toledo and Utah x3.

[SFBadger96]

No, I meant what I said. In the 40 years from 1968 to 2007, Michigan was a beast. In the RichRod-Hoke era, Michigan was bad (under Hoke, not that bad). Since then, Michigan is back to being very good in conference, including a few years of elite at a national level.

So I gave the records for all teams back to 1968, the start of the version of Michigan that most of us know best, but I recognize that 2008-2014 Michigan was not what we are used to. When Harbaugh arrived, Michigan was good again. It took a while to beat Ohio State, but they were beating everyone else most of the time.

Unless you are an Ohio State fan, it's a very big deal to beat Michigan. And if you are an Ohio State fan, it's the most important single game of the year--and the most competitive conference game over any period of time that isn't the last two years.

[Brutus Buckeye]

On a macro level it was around WWI that they fell from a consistent Nation power, to more of a regional power that can reach up and snag a NC once every three decades or so.