Athlon Michigan prediction: 7-5, Pinstripe Bowl
Well the first preview magazine of the year has come out. It's Athlon Sports' Big Ten preview. Peppers is on the cover-
They have Michigan going 7-5 and 4-4 in the East, finishing in 4th behind OSU, MSU and PSU (lol).
However, they have MSU at 6-2 and both Michigan and PSU at 4-4 in the B1G East leading me to believe that they have Michigan beating MSU at home but not beating PSU on the road.
They have Michigan playing 8-4 Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
Athlon projected B1G bowl games-
| Bowl | Game |
| Goodyear Cotton Bowl (CFP Semifinals) | OSU vs Auburn |
| Rose Bowl pres. by Northwestern Mutual | MSU vs USC |
| Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl | Wisconsin vs Tennessee |
| Outback Bowl | Nebraska vs Arkansas |
| National University Holiday Bowl | PSU vs Stanford |
| New Era Pinstripe Bowl | Michigan vs VT |
| Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | Iowa vs Missouri |
| Foster Farms Bowl | Minnesota vs UCLA |
| Tucson Bowl | Illinois vs Boston Coll. |
| Austin Bowl | Indiana vs Miami |
| Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | Maryland vs Air Force |
| Quick Lane Bowl | Northwestern vs Pitt |
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I thought Hoke would go 8-4 after hiring Nuss! But after a good but not great ND team blew us out, I was thinking 6-6 or 5-7 and I knew Hoke was a goner!
I will be very happy with 8-4, anthing more and I will be elated. I'm just hoping for a little bit more from the season than 7-5.... I'm a MICHIGAN fan, have been spoiled, and it's been a long draught.... I'm thirsty.
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You are correct. It is currently impossible to discuss Michigan football on this site. You can sum up the total content of any thread as: HARBAUGH!!! But I'm sure it will pass; it's been so dark for so long, I understand why people don't want to hear about potential dark clouds on the horizon.
In solidarity with you, I will get myself negbanged by opining that it would not be a *major* upset for Michigan to lose any of the following games:
- Utah
- Oregon State
- BYU
- Maryland
- Northwestern
- Michigan State
- Minnesota
- Rutgers
- Indiana
- Penn State
- Ohio State
I believe UNLV will be the only game this season that Michigan will be a 2:1 favorite or better. I think 7-5 is a reasonable prediction.
Neg talk on MGoBlog? OFF WITH YOUR HEADS! Okay fine...Bolivia then.
I don't see how 8-4 is unrealistic? I'll be happy with with 8 or more wins. In fact I'm ecstatic that Harbaugh is our coach. I think it will take 4 to 5 years before we are playoff contenders. Hopefully the playoff bracket increases to 8 in the next several years
people will be snapping femurs and shattering ankles jumping off the Harbaugh bandwagon and knuckleheads will be muttering under their breath that we should have kept Hoke.
I see 7-5 as the bare minimum for this team.
People forget that we had a very stout defense last year, even with a dismal offense. The defense was 10th overall in total yards last year, and we return most of those guys. Plus Peppers should be a solid addition. We have a very talented coaching staff on this side of the ball.
We will have at the very worst slightly above average quarterback play in Rudock, and at best a quarterback capable of winning the conference. Rudock's stats are comparable to Connor Cook's, and he had a far shittier team to work with. The offensive line should see improvement with the coaching- I think Drevno is one of the best line coaches in the game. Harbaugh can't work miracles, but he is a top three coach, I'd be surprised if we don't have a few games where we really exceed expectations this year.
I am going with 9-3.
-Loss to Penn State
-Split MSU/OSU
- Lose to one of BYU, Minnesota, Maryland
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In almost every game, we will be the more talented team (except for osu and msu). I believe we will have better coaches in every game, so why would winning 10 games be such a reach? I think 8-4 is closer to our floor than our ceiling.
Considering our numbers suggested we were closer to a 7-5 team last year with a harder schedule and a worse coach, seems way too low.
Our offensive was historically bad, but Harbaugh will figure that out.
The best part about college football is that even though you don't have any "playmakers", "playmakers" are born every year. My biggest fear is OL and WR. However, we no longer have 5'9" "playmaker" WR's that everyone seems to be big on, when they are too small to make the big plays we need.
Remember, Ty Isacc transfered here to play, Derrick Green is a good power back, We have guys who could step up at RB, we could have a dark horse at WR we don't even know about. Shane Morris looked like he can actually run an offense somewhat, But I believe Rudock will become a break through QB under Harbaugh which will give Morris a year for his true test against O'Korn, which determines whether or not he plays or transfers.
This team could easily be a 10 win team, just as easily as you who already write us off as 7-5. So far I only have tickets to the game in Indiana. Can't wait to see what else I get my hands on, GO BLUE.
Before Jameis Winston's freshman season, I had no idea who he was. I remember watching highlights on ESPN and seeing him throw deep passes wondering where this kid came from. There's many guys like that, who came from no where.
How many times did we just need to manufacture a win last year with at least a respectable offensive showing - something that Hoke was not capable of doing. In essence, Hoke's coaching style wasted numerous solid defensive performances. Hoke's non-offense cost numerous games. Hell last year could have been 8-9 wins with at least a half a brain offensive strategy.
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Also, Michigan State's 2 year run of comically easy (2013) and pathetically favorable (2014) conference schedules is over and will never happen again.
A Rose Bowl prediction is laughable.
If Moo U makes the Rose Bowl against USC, I have two words for ya:
Fight On!
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I think we need to all realize that while I firmly believe we'll see a ton of improvement, this year may not be our year. The non con schedule isn't a walkover (thankfully), and both OSU and MSU have excellent teams. MSU has a crapload of 5th year seniors. This might be their best team in awhile. Minnie is coming up and no slouch.
I'm hoping for 9-3. I'm dreading that we might lose again to both MSU and OSU.
My dream is we upset one of those two.
My satisfaction point is that we see continuous improvement in execution, hustle, discipline, toughness, and heady play throughout the year.
If we lost 10-7 to MSU and we physically punched them in the mouth I'd be happy.
You never know, and God knows I'd love to see us have 10-11 wins and upsets of both our chief rivals; but I don't want reality to undercut our support of the first competent, well supported staff we've had in awhile.
I think we beat Utah. Minnesota, Penn State, Ohio State are all tossups. On paper we are better than Minny and PSU but those boys play for coach Kill and it's on the road, and it's always hard going into happy valley
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True... but after spring ball it sounds like Michigan is thin at the defensive backfield, no RB has established himself, and QB is still a question mark.
7-5 may be reasonable this season.
The seasons thereafter -- no way.
the Athlon article but I don't think they actually projected which team's beat M. Also they were very bearish on the bgtn, typical sportswriters. They must think sparty, bucky, psu, Utah and either byu or oreg state will beat the maize and blue. Need I even say, I don't agree. Why? Harbaugh!
We know we have talent, it was mainly the mental aspect of the game we lacked. Look at how well we played OSU because we were dialed in and mentally there. That will be every game under Harbaugh. Plus we will have much more toughness and confidence from his practices and coaching. The defense should be really good. Secondary with Peppers, Wilson, Lyons, and JD.. thats potentially four future NFL players. Linebackers should be solid with Bolden, Ross, Gedeon is a beast (need some more speed at LB). DLine with Marshall coming on, hopefully a freshman impact here, Hurst, Wormley and Henry. That defense should be top two in the big ten. Offense -- we have to pray the O Line turns the corner. So much talent on paper. No playmaker at RB? Ty Issac can be special. We have grinders. Smith, Green, and Isaac should be able to really wear down defenses. Jake Butt is an NFL tight end and can be our main passing game threat along with Darboh and Wheatley. If the running game is emphasized than lack of playmaking WR is not a huge deal. We have MSU and OSU at home. We should beat MSU. This team can and will surprise.
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Recent Athlon predictions:
2012: 11-2
2013: 10-3
2014: 8-4
This team will be better than 7-5.
We will win ten games.
This a veteran team loaded with talent. Assuming we get at least last year's Rudock at the QB position, there's no reason to think this year's squad should flounder in mediocrity. Factor in a coaching upgade that is about as large as you can possibly get (and also, that with the same average head coach, Michigan beat expectations in 2011 with a similar veteran team), we're going to beat all the predictions.
Those are big question marks this year. You would need some real leaps in production from those areas to get to 10 wins. In 2011, we had Fitz, Hemingway, Roundtree and Gallon. Not to mention Denard being Denard. I can see winning 10 games, but our skill position players have to be reliable this year.
2015 is kind of the inverse of 2011. In 2011, we were returning an offense that put up big numbers, but wasn't always the most efficient and struggled in certain situations. Everyone thought that it would be a miracle if our defense turned out to be average. Meanwhile, in 2015 its the defense who put up great numbers the year before, but anyone who watched the games knows that they struggled when it really mattered. The offense was abysmal and getting up to average would be considered a miracle.
I think that having a veteran OL will be on par with the 2011 secondary not having to start converted receivers and true FR Ray Vinopal and that more than anything will turn the offense around. The defense just has to progress like they should. We really don't lose much. Clark is the only big loss as Ryan (despite a good season) was playing out of position and should be replaced to 90% capacity by Morgan/Bolden.
I desparately need us to beat MSU this year. But, people are getting a little too confident, they're a legit top 10 team and they'll be strong coming into the Big House this year. When's the last time we beat a top 10 team?
Poor Indiana and Purdue.