A look ahead to 2016 (schedule)

Submitted by James Burrill Angell on
First time I looked ahead at next year's schedule. Next year we go to 9 conference games (and consequently only 3 non-Conf). Next year the non-conference is pretty weak (Hawaii, UCF, Colorado). The conference on the other hand gets rough. We pick up a home game with Wisconsin and then play road games at Iowa, MSU and OSU (yes that's road games against the top three 2015 conference teams). Yeesh. At least the team will get a softer start to the season to gear up for a grueling conference schedule.

bo_lives

November 29th, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^

I prefer to keep my expectations in check. Let's face it, the next 2 years or so could easily see losses to both OSU and MSU each season, based on the talent gap alone. Is Brian a downer because he predicted losses in those games in his season preview? I don't think so. I'm not saying it'll always be like this, just that it'll be like this in the near future (1-2 years).

I used to put a ton of emotional energy into my Michigan fandom but with the way the program is right now, there are way more lows than highs. I purposefully scaled back my fandom in order to deal with it. Call me less of a fan, I don't care - after the MSU loss I was fine, whereas several of the friends I watched the game with were literally crying and went home, while I went out bar hopping and had a good time. I can't control it, so investing that much esteem is just an effort in futility.

turd_ferguson84

November 28th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^

Michigan should get better but all of our rivalty games are on the road.  Not sure where people can say MSU won't be as good, seems like people have been saying that the last 5 years, and they are a win away from the playoffs.  OSU will reload as usual, and will probably have a decent offense without any multiple QB drama. 

What sucks is when you don't win those games your first year, it puts added pressure that you better win them in your second year. 

Perkis-Size Me

November 28th, 2015 at 11:29 PM ^

I'm not sure. It's too early to make reasonable predictions, but with where we're at right now, I can't honestly look anyone in the eye, say we'll beat MSU and OSU on the road, and believe it.

We have no proven QB, no run game, no LBs, and outside of Peppers, a complete lack of playmakers. Next year could easily be 8-4. We just have no depth seemingly anywhere, and that's what makes championship teams. The dropoff between our 1st and 2nd stringers is very apparent.



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AMazinBlue

November 29th, 2015 at 1:18 AM ^

at all.  Maybe not at RB, but with Urbz they won't be re-building ever.  Dantonio has it rolling lately.  He has a system and finds players with a chip on their shoulder and makes that chip bigger.

Dantonio is a good coach and gets his players up for big games.  Losing Cook and Burbridge will be hard to fill, but Sparty will still be tough.  They are NOT little brother anymore.

If our Oline doesn't improve so we can run the ball for 175 a game, we're not going 11-1 or 12-0. 

I hope Taysom Hill isn't our QB.  We need somone on the roster to step and be the man, someone who knows and understands what Harbaugh wants.

The road will be tough at the end of next season.  The B1G needs to change the scheduling so MSU and OSU aren't both home or away in the same year.

Vasav

November 29th, 2015 at 2:06 AM ^

My expectation is the Rose Bowl. If not next year, when? Both the team and the schedule are not crazily different from this season. Wiscy is about as tough as NW, UCF as BYU, Illinois is Minnesota and Iowa is Utah - the difference is heading to C-bus and EL. But Sparty won the east by winning on the road twice - we cannot accept that excuse. We have big ?s at LB and RB, have to replace a QB but Harbaugh has me confident the passing game will look good. It's going to be tough sledding - Sparty and Ohio St have proven their ability to reload. And if we don't win the Big Ten East, or at least win one of those damn rivalry games, 2017 looks more like a rebuilding year and we're hoping for 2018.

The pressure is on to deliver next year. If Sparty can win on the road twice with deficiencies in the DBs, we have no excuses not to next year with a more seasoned group almost everywhere. Today's loss certainly hurts and makes me question whether we can - I wanted to contend this year and didn't expect to beat MSU or OSU. The season played out differently than I expected, and I'm disappointed we came up short. But I want Roses next year. If we can't catch up to Ohio in the next 365 days then damn it all.

uminks

November 29th, 2015 at 4:29 AM ^

to work with next season. It is important to find a good go to back and the OL needs to improve run blocking! Coaches need to develop or coach up the LB spot. After this season, I don't think we can get any worse at LB. We may have a tougher schedule next season but I think we can have a good season and be in contention for the B1G east division.