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UW has had their program in a good place for quite some time.They'll be fine when BA hangs them up and PC will still be in place when that happens IMO

Bill Connelly, creator of the S&P+ with some perspective....LINK

In the offseason, we peer into the future. We see the big picture. If you’re going to field a young team, you know that there will be ups and downs, even if there’s a lot of talent. Toss in a couple of quarterback injuries, and things could get even more volatile in the short-term.

This past offseason, we knew what to expect from Michigan. The Wolverines’ two-deep had been set on fire, and even with great recruiting, the 2017 season would be about building for 2018.

It might be difficult for UM to progress in 2017. The Wolverines must replace their leading rusher, four of their top five receiving targets, three all-conference offensive linemen, their top three defensive linemen, their best linebacker, and their top five defensive backs, including nickel back and Heisman finalist Jabrill Peppers.

S&P+ loves what Harbaugh has done but projects the Wolverines to fall to about 10th.

From a macro view, the rebuild is going well and leading to one hell of a 2018. From a narrative perspective, though, 2017 will be interesting.

Harbaugh has had an incredible career despite a list of almosts — almost took Stanford to the BCS title game, almost won the Super Bowl, almost got Michigan over the hump — and will likely win even bigger at UM, but that will probably have to wait another year.

S&P+ projected Michigan to win, on average, about 8.9 games in 2017. If I had taken returning starting quarterback Wilton Speight — lost for the season with injury back in September — out of the equation, their projected wins probably would have fallen to about 8.5.

They are currently 8-3 following a loss to Wisconsin, and they will probably be 8-4 after Ohio State leaves town this coming Saturday evening.
Oh, the horror. Oh, the crushing disappointment.

When I wrote, “From a narrative perspective, though, 2017 will be interesting,” this is almost exactly what I meant. When we peer into the future, we can stomach some disappointments in the name of long-term success. When we’re living through those disappointments in the present tense, however, it feels like the sky is falling.

The defense is performing almost exactly as projected; Michigan was projected fifth in Def. S&P+ and is eighth. The offense has been a bit worse than expected (projected 40th, currently 69th), and Speight’s injury hasn’t been the only cause. But it hasn’t helped, and it probably isn’t a coincidence that the Wolverines’ hopes of an upset in Madison ended virtually the moment that emerging QB Brandon Peters also went down.

As for 2018:

Here’s how my 2017 Michigan preview ended, by the way:

You can’t take a “wait ‘til next year” approach when you’re still projected as a top-10 team, but if Michigan does lose a couple of late games and keep the “Never better than third in the Big Ten East!” meme alive, you should get your laughs in while you can. Because this program is probably a year away from ignition.

We can proclaim this season a disappointment if we really want to. We can use a competitive road loss to one of the best Wisconsin teams of all time as proof that Jim Harbaugh can’t seem to win when it really counts, if we are dying to further that narrative. 

But 2017 was always going to be about building for 2018, and this season has gone as planned, give or take a couple of QB knocks.

I think they have to make the playoffs for Chryst to get his due.  Simply being good at Wisconsin makes him the same as the three coaches before him.  Contending for the national title puts him up with the top coaches in the B1G (Urbs, Dantonio).  

well, Jimmy isn't on the hot seat, so he will get his chance to prove himself in 2018 and 2019

3rd or 4th in the East going to be enough in 18 and 19?

the thread was regarding Chryst, someone stated HArbaugh was better

Chryst beat Harbaugh head to head with lesser recruits.  Harbaugh has the younger, less experienced team, but this was game #11 of the season not, the 2nd or 3rd week.

Chryst will be playing for the Big Ten Title as an undefeated

the question isn't who was the better coach the past 15 seasons

Does Chryst need to get more google hits than Jimmy to get his due respect?