For all the pain - we had a good season

Submitted by BornInAA on

We lost to the #1 team in the Nation – on the road at Notre Dame 13-6.

We lost to the National Champs on the road.

We lost to the Big Ten Champs on the road.

We went up against and undefeated Ohio team on the road without our starting QB and RB. Lost by 5.

I am proud of our season.

 

no joke its hoke

November 25th, 2012 at 12:01 AM ^

eh, i think more than anything it shows how far we have to go. the fact that we didnt beat a single good team sucks. but at the same time i think this record is what most people were somewhat expecting. i'm proud of the kids but it's not a season i will remember well.

User -not THAT user

November 25th, 2012 at 12:59 AM ^

...this is PROBABLY the year most were expecting for Hoke's first season. 

Think of everything affecting Team 132 that went in their favor, from Ohio having to suspend their best players and fire the most successful coach they've ever had against Michigan, the complete insanity that was the UTL game, being selected to play in a BCS game without benefit of playing in the B1G championship game, and THEN drawing the weakest possible opponent, the runner-up from the ACC and winning that game in an OT FG-kicking contest.

2012 was just karma paying us back for a season that was frankly pulled out of our asses to glorious effect a year ago.  It's frustrating because you look at the turnover figures and Denard's injury and Fitzy's ineffectiveness even before he got hurt and you think even with the Alabama curbstomp this should have been a BCS Bowl team.

uvadula

November 25th, 2012 at 11:30 AM ^

8-4 was what people were expecting before we saw how bad the big ten was this year...

That said, besides Denard, we lack a game-changing type player on offense that you need to break a couple of these games our way. We'll get those recruits as we continue to improve so I still think the future is bright

GOLBOGM

November 25th, 2012 at 5:29 PM ^

I think most UM fans want to be in the hunt for the rose bowl annually and at least in the discussion for a championship every recruiting cycle (4 years).  I think we had a solid year- losses to 3 of the top 5 teams on the road and to what may be the Big Ten champ also on the road is not too bad.  8-4 isn't great- but when you consider all loses on the road to top 15 teams- and two without Denard as a legit QB option it doesn't seem too bad.  But of course at the end of the day we are on the outside looking in making excuses for what could have been (no Denard injury may mean wins at OSU and NEB), Borges, etc.

None of that really matters.  Yes we had a hard schedule, yes we can claim luck helped our opponents in loses more than it helped us- but ultimately our season reflected our level of play.  To be a legit power you need to take care of business on the road- and we couldn't do that.

We have some great recruiting classes coming in and enough returning players to do well- but I think next year will be similar to this year was where we struggle against top teams particularly on the road. My hope is that like two years ago a more favorable schedule means we can luck our way into a BCS game- but unfortunately it seems like we are at least a couple years away from becoming a real power IMO.

Generic MGoBlogger

November 25th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ^

but we mustn't forget that we are still rebuilding from the RR era (shouldn't even be considered an era).  Ohio just had a down year with Fickel that was easily made up with the Meyer addition. By the way I'm still very butthurt about the loss.  I have had lower expectations than usual for the last two seasons and rightfully so, but next season with a lot of returning starters on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball I will come in with higher expectations.  I am especially proud of the seniors with the constant effort they put into each game and I am still proud to call myself a true Michigan fan... Solid season and GO BLUE!

 

Generic MGoBlogger

November 25th, 2012 at 12:35 AM ^

and Gallon returning for his senior season has a career year with 1,000+ receiving. But I still am optimistic because the offense should be a lot more consistent without the modified spread offense and its constant question marks but should interesting because it all boils down to whether the O-line can be solid protecting the pass and creating running lanes for Fitz (hopefully he returns) and Rawls. Just hopefully Hoke is able to coach them up with a physical mindset like he did when he came over in 2011.

Leonhall

November 25th, 2012 at 8:49 AM ^

Rawls looks like a fullback, regardless, we need the oline to be better. Also, our dine needs somebody to step up so that we can get more pressure on qb's. the fact that we generate no rush is a big reason why we struggled so badly in the first half defensively vs. Ohio.

Jeff M

November 25th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^

Some dodgy plays yesterday withstanding, Lewan is a consensus projected 1st round pick, potentially in the Top 10 (hopefully not too high for the Lions, but that's another thread). It's rare that players come back when they have a draft grade like that. Being a RS Junior, Lewan can also probably finish up his degree before next season. I wouldn't be shocked, and would be delighted, if he came back to address some unfinished business.

azian6er

November 25th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ^

And who praetel did we beat? im proud of our seniors and team for keeping us undefeated at home, however, I would say defining pride in a team by their "best losses" is wrong.

More apt statement - "we lost to some good teams, and should have pulled one of those or more out."

PurpleStuff

November 25th, 2012 at 12:07 AM ^

What stings is how close this was to an incredible year, despite a tough schedule and a ton of bad breaks.  Countess gets hurt out of the gate, Denard goes down, Fitz misses Bama and OSU, and yet we would have been 11-1 with some impressive wins with something just short of horrendous performances on offense in a few games against some top ranked teams.

As for perspective, do folks remember the last time our QB couldn't throw the ball and our RB was injured in the OSU game?  Yeah, that went a hell of a lot worse on offense.

go16blue

November 25th, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^

Yes, we played 3 great teams (ignoring the Nebraska game because obviously). Yes, chances are we would lose each individual game. But this is Michigan damnit, and if we play 3 great teams I expect to beat at least one of them.

jmblue

November 25th, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^

I'm not real into moral victories from losses.  But here are some positives from this year:

-We beat MSU.  We've already kind of forgotten how important that was after the last four years.  In-state recruiting momentum is completely in our corner.

-We again went undefeated at home.  14 straight home wins is very impressive.  Alabama, Oregon, ND, OSU, LSU  . . . none of these can match that.  In fact, Bama and Oregon haven't gone undefeated at home either of the last two years.  Our homefield advantage is back. 

-Mattison showed that the defensive success last year wasn't just due to Mike Martin being a beast and us recovering a crazy percentage of opponent fumbles.

-Gardner got some invaluable experience for next year.  Getting four starts (and I'm assuming a fifth in the bowl) under his belt changes the complexion of the 2013 season quite a bit.

PurpleStuff

November 25th, 2012 at 12:24 AM ^

We've won 76% of our games the last two years.  That is a higher winning percentage than Carr, Moeller, or Bo's last decade.  The losses all came away from home to 11-3 MSU, 11-1 (so far) Bama, 12-0 ND, 10-2 Nebraska, 12-0 OSU.  And Iowa. 

If playing a traditional, smashmouth style with linemen more suited to that role (even if they are young) who are practicing nothing but running power down people's throats can produce a just-not-terrible offense in the few big games we'll play next year then it should be a big season.

WolverineFanatic6

November 25th, 2012 at 12:11 AM ^

Dude if we lose the bowl game we will be 8-5. Regardless of the teams we played that's embarrassing for a university of Michigan football team.

AZBlue

November 25th, 2012 at 12:56 AM ^

A few years ago then.

We were not as good as our record last year and may be a bit better than our record this year.

As I recall the general consensus on this board going into this year was 8-4 maybe 9-3. That is where we are at - as completely unsatisfying as it feels.

There are more important things than football. Plus it could be worse, you could be a MSU fan. Go over to RCMB and note the 5+ threads on our game today and remember deep down they all wish their team could be close to this "embarrassing" M team.

PS - The last bowl game against the SEC that we had no chance of winning turned out pretty good as I recall.

raleighwood

November 25th, 2012 at 12:12 AM ^

This was a pretty bad season by "normal" (pre-2008) standards.  Michigan only lost four games a handful of times from 1969 - 2007.  I think that they only lost five or more games twice (1984 and 2005) but that's just from memory.....no research.  A loss in a bowl game will put them in that category.

They lost to every good team that they played and won a couple of prayers against MSU and Northwestern.  This season was two plays away from being a train wreck.

I'm proud of the guys on the team and all that they have been through.  We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future (I see no reason why the 2014 and 2015 teams can't be as good as ND and Stanford right now).  Calling this a "good season" is a pretty big stretch.  I'd feel disappointed if anybody on the team would call this "good".

PurpleStuff

November 25th, 2012 at 12:52 AM ^

We lost four games in '93, '94, '95, '96, '01, '05 (lost five that year), and '07.  That is 7 of the last 15 seasons before Rodriguez arrived here (i.e. about half of them).  We lost 3 games another 5 times in that span.

We've finished in the top-5 twice in the last 20 years and have actually lost games to plenty of crappy teams in that time.

Brodie

November 25th, 2012 at 1:08 AM ^

isn't it amazing how, in the course of a year, our fanbase forgot every single lesson we'd supposedly learned since 2007? We're back to the point where 7-5 constitutes a "year of infinite sadness"

and the hilarious thing is we're able to react like this solely because of what Hoke and his staff accomplished last season and with the recruiting... which is now not good enough, apparently. 

blueheron

November 25th, 2012 at 8:29 AM ^

"This was a pretty bad season by "normal" (pre-2008) standards."

"... but that's just from memory.....no research."

You're wrong. Mr. Purple did the research for you.

As usual, your main goal was to bitch about Rodriguez. It's OK -- with a few exceptions that was an ugly three years. Wasn't all his fault, though ...

raleighwood

November 25th, 2012 at 11:12 AM ^

Michigan had seven (or more) four-loss seasons from 1969 -2007.  That's seven times in 39 seasons!  That's pretty close to a "handful".  More to the point, if they lose the bowl game, that will make it a five loss season which was pretty unprecedented in the pre-RR era.  And no, that's not a bitch about RR, it's just a clear dividing line in the Michigan program.

It's a serious stretch to call this a "good" season.

 

 

raleighwood

November 25th, 2012 at 11:32 AM ^

How is this "off topic"?  It's a direct response to points made in the immediately previous post.  It included facts and historical perspective to Michigan football.  Whoever took it down.....you're a moron.

Now, go ahead and remove this one, too.

 

Brodie

November 25th, 2012 at 2:04 PM ^

Five loss seasons were uncommon because we played 11 games, being 6-5 in that era meant a truly bad team as opposed to 7-5 mediocrity

And you're still wrong because the answer is 9 seasons with exactly 4 losses and 11 seasons of 4 or more losses. In other words, once every class. But to drive the point home even more, if you remove the first 10 Bo seasons when it never happened it becomes 11 in 29 seasons or more than one third of the time. In that stretch we won at least a share of the conference 13 times (3 of those times we ended up in the Citrus Bowl, like we will be this year, anyway).

raleighwood

November 25th, 2012 at 12:13 AM ^

This was a pretty bad season by "normal" (pre-2008) standards.  Michigan only lost four games a handful of times from 1969 - 2007.  I think that they only lost five or more games twice (1984 and 2005) but that's just from memory.....no research.  A loss in a bowl game will put them in that category.

They lost to every good team that they played and won a couple of prayers against MSU and Northwestern.  This season was two plays away from being a train wreck.

I'm proud of the guys on the team and all that they have been through.  We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future (I see no reason why the 2014 and 2015 teams can't be as good as ND and Stanford right now).  Calling this a "good season" is a pretty big stretch.  I'd feel disappointed if anybody on the team would call this "good".

brandanomano

November 25th, 2012 at 12:13 AM ^

We lost to 2/3 of our rivals and didn't even make the conference championship game. Being complacent with 8 wins seems sort of...Sparty. We just as easily could have won 10 or 11 games. Good teams find ways to pull out wins in the final minutes, this one has not, save against the ones we shouldn't have even been in that position against (NW, MSU). I'm proud of the way the team represented itself, but I am not happy with the results. That might have a lot to do with how pissed off I am at the outcome of today's game.