Michigan could go 12-0 this year.

I lol'd.

Let us never refer to any football game as a "Gimmie" for the rest of all of our lives.

you are delusional.

Every game is "winnable"... even the games that aren't "won." Toledo last year was a "gimme" right?

This is inane.
I'm not even going to get into this... wow.

I think you should lower your expectations.

... but the same could be said for half the teams in D1. If anything less than 9-3 is a failure, does that mean RR should be fired if we go 7-5?

"There are plenty of qbs that play their freshmen year and do just fine."

Not many at all, actually.

i think 7-5 or even 8-4 is much more realistic. let us not forget one of those "gimme" teams of App. st. when we had a veteran Qb at the position. i do think first and foremost we need to do a much better job of holding on to the ball. just see Mich's turnover vs ND that put us in a huge hole early.

don't get me wrong, i LOVE the optimism. for instance, when filling out my bracket I had us getting to the final 4 cause i just didn't want to see a loss for us (and i also convinced myself that we legitimately could beat clem, okie, cuse, and maybe unc).

but anyways, I also remember seeing the same exact predictions before last season at this time with people saying that 11-2 or even 12-1 weren't that far off. now granted, there were like 7 games we had last season that we lost where we were winning at some point but then self-destructed.

but all i'm saying is don't get ahead of yourself. this year should definitely be better than last but we're not a BCS team yet.

I love the fact that Wisconsin on the road is a win, but @ Iowa is only winnable. There are ZERO gimmes.

Unfortunately, we are one of the reasons why.

The gap between should win and did win has been kicking our ass lately.

it often devolves into "fire RR" or "we are Michigan and can't lose that game." after we in fact lose one of your "gimmes". And dude, to say that the OSU game is a "toss-up" is just crazy.

But then in year two of my dynasty I changed the difficulty from All-American to Heisman. Justin Feagin threw so many interceptions, it was ridiculous.

4 should win
1-2 probable loss
5-6 could go either way.

I'll start with Bowl eligibility and go from there.

Wow, I've finally met someone with maize/blue colored glasses thicker than mine...

12-0? Are you serious?! I know our schedule is pretty pathetic, but 12-0?! None of those games are automatically "WINS". All of them are winnable, every college football game is winnable for either team. But 12-0?! Almost impossible. If we go 7-5 to 8-4 I'll be satisfied. If we go 9-3 I'll be impressed. If we go 10-2 or better, Rich Rod is God.

This opinion is based more on what the OTHER TEAMS have than what WE have.

You're right. Not many of these teams are scary good.

At the same time, we have a bunch of freshmen and sophomores at key positions and our defense was pretty damn bad last year.

So no. There's no chance in hell that we'll go 12-0.

Just be happy if we become bowl eligible this upcoming season. That, in and of itself, would be an accomplishment.

I guess I'm not the world's most optimistic UM fan anymore.

I still think they will go 9-3 with losses to Iowa, PSU, and Wisky, and a victory over vile, evil OSU.

Other things that could happen this year:

- The Lions could actually make good use of both of their first round draft picks.

- Detroit's economy could be rejuvenated to the point where they're razing entire neighborhoods in Brightmoor and Delray and building mansions in their place.

- The entirety of US agricultural could decide to collectively stop using pesticides and so forth and strictly adhere to a policy of organic gardening.

- The United States could decide to go to war with Zimbabwe.

- Electrical engineers the world over could collectively decide to revert to exclusively using power tubes instead of solid state technology in everything they design because they think cost efficiency and reliability are overrated concepts.

seeing as how we havent gone undeafeated since 97 that might be a bit of stretch...however, something more along the lines of 9-3 might be more realistic than a 6-6. the perfect storm of rr's second year record, 8 home games (which goes a loong way to helping a young team), a down year in the big10, an improved line, and maybe a team out for blood. i think they might have a vendetta out against some kids (ala the 06-07 season)

"If we would not of had 5 turnovers last year we would of beaten them"

You must be RReraBegins2009. He was the only poster who shared your logic-be-damned optimism and your inability to use "have" instead of "of."

Yeesh. All the guy said was "COULD."

I think it's more realistic we go 0-12 than 12-0. I'm praying we are at least 6-6, but I'm not entirely convinced we'll make that mark yet.

Also, here is some FUN WITH MATH!

Going with the OP's extremely generous predictions, lets say:

GIMME = 95% Chance to win
WIN = 80% Chance to win
WINNABLE = 60% Chance to win
TOSS-UP = 50% Chance to win

Then, the odds we go 12-0 are (0.6)^4 * (0.95)^3 * (0.8)^4 * (0.5) = 2.3%

So given very optimistic, generous predictions for each game, we have a 2.3% chance of going 12-0.