For all the pain - we had a good season

So what you're saying is we lost to every team that was worth a damn and you're proud of that. I'll agree with one of those two points. ND- 7 turnovers, Neb- No QB, ohio- Urban Meyer calling plays for our offense.

This was a mediocre season.  I think I am going to make my prediction for the next eight years, as long as the schedule stays reasonably close to what it is now: 8-4 on the even years when the tough games are on the road, and 10-2 for the years the tough games are at home.  

That averages out to 9-3.  That would be great for Illinois or Indiana, but it is mediocre for the "leaders and best."  Sadly, that is what the masses, or at least the ones with the most money, "voted for."  

The main problem is that not enough Michigan fans, donors, or trustees have enough patience for Michigan to be able to go to the spread offense.  Everyone gets their panties in a wad so badly during the adjustment years that nobody is going to be able to successfully retool the team.  

The Brian Kelly soundbite on ESPN is correct, even though it leads to an obvious joke/interpretation: "The game is played in space now."  And we now get to watch two of our three most hated rivals play the game the way it is played in this century, and go undefeated during the regular season.  

There are two more games left against ND, and at least one game with Ohio every season.  Unless Al Borges is given permission to concentrate more on using creativity to score points and less on showing everyone how "tough" Michigan is, it could get really shitty for the rest of this decade.

I don't know about anyone else here, but that is definitely not what I want to see.  We aren't ever going to see a spread option, but allowing Borges to use a lot of spread formations within the WCO would be a great compromise.  The problem, though, is that with every loss, too many "fans" would bitch that they didn't play manball.

I never bought into the bullshit about the kids from 2008-2010 not being tough. On the contrary, they gave more effort and got less in return than any players in Michigan history.  The players in the maize and blue are already tough.  Now, it's time to give them a contemporary offense and a chance to win.  

Al Borges is more than capable, but the handcuffs have to come off.  Since Brady Hoke was hired to play manball, someone is going to have to tell Hoke that it's OK to have a more contemporary offense: his initials are "DB."

Season isn't over yet. I'll talk about the season in past tense when in fact it is. Got a pretty important bowl game and a chance to pull our all-time bowl record to .500 

Yes, I know we played a nationally tough schedule (finally). I know we had tough road losses to stud teams in Alabama, ND and OSU, forgetting the Nebraska game. Our seniors showed plenty of character, and even guys who had been immature grew up and worked hard, so there is that. 

Four losses? Let's not tout that for being a very good season. Let's say this: Our team has great potential, as many other teams do. Now, it's up to us to work extremely hard to correct this season's mistakes. Unfortunately, we lose some valuable folks. That having been said, we'll get some good new faces in here. 

There are a lot of things that need to be addressed. Let's work hard and address them. We can win big if we reacher higher and work harder. Hats off to our opponents. No trash talk, just plain old hard work!

GO BLUE!

1996 Michigan lost 3 regular sesaon games and bowl game.....1997......

So if you think only spread teams are national title contenders, how do you explain Alabama? That's as pro-style as it gets, and they level everyone in their path.



It's not the system. It's the players in that system. Yes, the game is speeding up, but any offensive philosophy can win a national title. Evan one as conservative as Iowa's. What it comes down to is the players and how well coached they are.

I know people always try to put a positive spin on every season. Fact is i though this team would go 9-3. I didnt think they had a chance against Bama n i thought there were four toss-up games. MSU, ND, Huskers, Ohio. I though they would go 2-2 in those 4 games they didnt. I dont think the season was a total fail but u have to remeber we are still recovering form the whole RichRod mess. We won 11 games last year and we assumed the worst was over and it was happy sailing. Fact is were not there yet. I just want to say patience, recruiting and the ability of the coaching staff inspires me for future success. I know Borges screwed up in this game still pisses me off but we just need to be patient. Hopefully we bounce back next season with a 10 win season with a favorable schedule and i would judge the coaching staff on the 2014 season. I think by than the coaching staff will have established the team they want to be and we will be a chamionship team again. Just be pateint and dont jump to conclusions. Some guy called in today saying we should fire Hoke!! Dont be that guy

Our best win was against Northwestern. If we had beaten ND or Bama, ND and Bama wouldn't have been #1-2. I'm still pissed Hoke didn't have a backup QB ready for Nebraska. Hoke did not excrete gold this year and for $2M, it just wasn't good enough for Michigan standards.

From where I sit, I think we lost to everyone that I was worried about, with the exception of Michigan State, and they turned out to be awful. We might have given it a good fight, but we're far from where we need to be.

OT, but there is always basketball ;)

but we lost four games this year, and those four teams combined for a 45-3 record. We were very close in two of those, and another was decided by an injury early. Not really a fan of "moral victories" and whatnot, but I don't think 8-4 really tells the story of this regular season.

They were right on target for what I and most projected as a season record. My biggest disappointment was the weak OL play. For much of the season our OL has been handled by opposing D lines during running plays.  I'm not sure if it was lack of talent beside Taylor or just losing a veteran center Molk? But this will have to change. We need to dominate the line of scrimmage again!

The defense played a lot of bend but do not break. The secondary played well.

Hopefully we'll beat OSU next season at home.

I guess the younger generation is into moral victories. I remember when Michigan was the team you played and said oh well at least we played them tough, but they are just better than us. So what we played 3 real good teams and lost to them all. That is what every other mediocre team would have done. I expect to at least have one marquee win...This year was a disappointment plain and simple. I love the guys we have on our team, but the results just weren't there. This is Michigan fergodsakes.

I'm proud of the team and the way they fought, and I'm not saying I could have done any better, but this was not a good season.



We failed to produce a quality backup QB when we needed one most.



We lost to what is now the #1 team in the country by a single touchdown, a game we could have won were it not for 6 turnovers. I love Denard, but that performance was inexcusable. 6 fucking turnovers. Just thinking about it infuriates me.



We did not beat Ohio State. Borges' play calling in the 2nd half was pathetic at best.



We did not win a championship. No Rose Bowl.

Overall, the season was a bust. Michigan lost 4 games. All to quality opponents. We lost 2 out of  3 rivalry games. The bright spot was a win over Michigan State. This was a difficult schedule and I suspect OSU would have achieved the same record if they played this type of schedule. Michigan had no running game outside of Denard for the majority of the year and our offensive line didn't improve at all. Still, I can't wait to see the team play in a bowl game and gain victory. I believe better things are in store for 2013.

We didn't beat anyone good and lost 4 times. The worst part is the teams we lost to (except for Bama).



We get one more chance against a quality opponent in our bowl game but that's likely to be a team much better than us at the moment.



I just don't see how that qualifies as a good season

Michigan played six games against pretty good to great opponents. We went 2-4 against them.

Alabama was a blowout; it made us look like high-ranked frauds. We went 1-2 against our biggest rivals, and while beating very good ND and OSU teams on the road is certainly difficult, if we don't expect Michigan to win some difficult games, what are we? We really never came that close in the end of either of those games. Also, the Nebraska loss (w/ its QB follies in the 2nd half) was a debacle.

On the flip side, we needed a miracle bomb to get in position to beat Northwestern and a last-second FG (not to mention a great scramble, throw & catch by Denard/Dileo right before it) to beat MSU. We were much closer to going 6-6 than we were 10-2.

But we went 8-4 and I am glad we didn't blow a game against a decent team like Air Force (which Michigan has done in the past) and blew out the bad teams we should (e.g., Iowa, Illinois). But this team had the talent/experience to go at least 9-3 and they didn't get it done. In particular the OL play was MUCH worse than I had hoped (I was only worried about our lack depth; our lack of production/skill with the starters was the problem); same with the RBs. Denard also regressed and while Devin was awesome his first 3 games, he frankly (If understandably) didn't play well against OSU.

It's not a terrible season and this team gave strong effort all year, and they should be proud of it. But don't tell me 8-4, in a year the Big 10 is just horrendous, is a "good" season. This 12-0 OSU team would get beat soundly by their 1995 or 1996 teams that were undefeated until we beat them.

Sorry, Llllllllllllllllllllllllloyd, but 8-4 is not a good season.

Losing to a marginal Notre Dame team by a touchdown is not part of a good season.

Dropping a game to Nebraska because the coaches failed to prepare the team's second best quarterback is not part of a good season.

Not recognizing that Vincent Smith can't pick up a first down on a third-and-short (something he's never been able to do) and other assorted offensive play-calling flubs are not a part of a good season.

The utter failure to establish a running game outside of your quarterback is not part of a good season.

That's enough for me for now.  Now you go back to your recliner.  You're retired, remember?