For all the pain - we had a good season
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.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:10 AM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
You know what deserves a SNL skit? Some fan's expectations. Rodriguez comes to Ann Arbor and his apologists lecture on the bare cupboard and time it will take to transition for the football wizard to rescue the Wolverines from almost two straight decades of winning records and bowl game appearances. Hoke arrives, restores pride, delivers two straight winning seasons and bowl appearances from a ridiculously bare cupboard and you are talking major disappointment?
Coaching overcame what coaching could overcome. What Michigan ran face first into this season is the limitations of their roster...no upperclass depth, no elite WRs or RBs, weak OL, etc. and they still managed to win the games they should win and compete in all but two games.
Major disappointment would have been a .500 or below record. This season was respectable, not glorious, but respectable and there is every reason to believe in the foundation Hoke and company is building.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:15 AM ^
teams we played with a pulse, unless you throw in Northwestern who consistently plays above their expected level based on their talent pool.
I don't look back on this past season and think we did anything other than beat the teams that we clearly should have.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:21 AM ^
We are still no where close to being a legitimate threat nationally. I feel like we are back to where we were prior to 2008. Cannot win the big games, our offense is abysmal, and our defense keeps us in games. Our best shot to be a top tier program was with RichRods offense. I am extremely nervous to see what this offense will become with all of our playmakers gone (Denard). The future is not as bright as it once appeared. We need to get used to a lot of 8-4 seasons and the Capital One bowl.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:30 AM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 10:32 AM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^
4 losses doesnt cut, with loses to ND and OSU. No Big Ten title or a Rose Bowl. Aren't those their main goals. It wasnt a disapiontoing or surprising year. This year could springboard us like the two seasons before the 97 did for that team. I expect a Rose Bowl next year. With a strong D, and a expirienced DG.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:11 AM ^
we lose the vast majority of our road games.
= we are not that good.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^
Hoke is 4-5 on the road and 1-1 on neutral sites. That's not great but when you look at the teams he's lost to, it's more understandable:
2011 MSU (11-3)
2011 Iowa (7-6 - this one is the obvious sore point)
2012 Alabama (11-1)
2012 ND (12-0)
2012 Nebraska (10-2)
2012 OSU (12-0)
The way our scheduling works makes even-numbered years pretty daunting, although odd-numbered years work out nicely.
November 25th, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^
Looking at it another way: As HC at Michigan, Brady Hoke's teams have yet to beat a team on the road during the regular season that has finished its own regular season with a winning record. Given the situation he stepped into, a two-season sample size can't be regarded as a definitive measure of his coaching ability. However, if we're still looking for that first road win against a quality team at the end of next season, we'll have plenty of justification for a bit of doubt.
November 25th, 2012 at 6:26 PM ^
the away schedule is UConn, Penn State, MSU, Northwestern.
UConn should be awful, PSU and MSU will probably upset someone along the way, but I doubt they finish with double digit wins, and Northwestern could be surprisingly good or find a way to choke several games away again. The schedule next year, and the away schedule in particular, is a cakewalk compared to this year.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:19 AM ^
This season is full of "what Ifs". Outside of Alabama which legitimately out played and beat us, all other games were winnable. It's a turrrrible feeling to have the "what ifs"
November 25th, 2012 at 11:23 AM ^
Hey! (emphatically points finger at OP), Brady Hoke disagrees with you. We not only didnt meet our goals, we fell way short.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
The bar has been set that UM plays for Big10 championships. We failed to get to the championship game so the season is a failure. If the Big10 were tough I might find accepting a 3rd place finish okay. However, we only make 3rd because 2 of the tougher teams are on probation. Worse, this is the weakest the conference has been in memory. If this team played a 2009 or 2010 schedule it would have been squashed. We barely beat a bad MSU team that was pretty much one man on offense. Northwestern with their grand total of 3 four star recruits on the entire roster came into our House and only loss because of the greatest string of comical errors I had ever witnessed. They lose less then we do and we have to play at their house next year. Yet we have that game nailed down as a easy Michigan victory? I would not depend on it. This conference other then OSU and perhaps Nebraska has devolved into Big Least level. If you look at most of the Big Ten schools 5 year recruiting profiles it is an ongoing train wreck. For that alone Michigan will be succesful in the future and we can build on our new rivalry with NW :(
Were most likely going to play either Florida or Texa AM, or perhaps LSU in our bowl game. So chances of a victory are slim. The more likely case is we will have our face stomped in and we will end up with 5 losses. Next year will be more of the same. We will beat the hordes of crummy teams and lose to any team with a pulse. We will play another dominant SEC team in a bowl game and get squashed again. If Borges does not scare off every single skill player of note perhaps we can do something beginning in 2014. It would be nice if Gardner gets his redshirt. Urban Meyer is bringing in 5 star RB's and WR's and the great line players. I do not see any victories against OSU other then upsets in the near future. So look for more of the same next year. If we get lucky 8-4 with another stomping against an SEC team. If were not so lucky 6-6 and we hold off a crummy Big East or ACC team in a bowl game. Meanwhile Urban Meyer starts bowling for BCS. Welcome to the last half of the Carr era 2.0
November 25th, 2012 at 11:38 AM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 12:02 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 11:51 AM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 11:56 AM ^
Michigan is in a transitional stage right now. It will take a couple more years for the offense to get the right players in place to run a pro style system. As far as recruiting goes, it is hard to convince elite skill position players to come to Michigan when the entire offense was based on a QB running with the ball. RB recruits want to see dominating O-lines and lots of touches for the backs, WR recruits want to see QBs throwing it around. So when you have a QB who is not good at throwing the ball and at the same time takes touches away from RBs, you will have problems recruiting elite athletes at those positions. Things will start change with Gardner or Morris next year as the offense will feature the skill position players more, but for now Michigan is in a transitional stage and will be for the next couple of years. I know that everyone wants to compete for the NC right now, but we simply don't have the talent to do it.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^
We still have a chance for some redemption versus a likely Top 10 team in the bowl game, but I think we'll be quite the underdog.
Was 1993 a "good season"? 1994?
That doesn't mean there weren't moments to remember, or player's efforts to applaud.
Roundtree's catch versus NW. Kenny Demens pancake stop. Denard to Dileo vs MSU. Brunette Girls FTW. Jake Ryan's havoc.
But it doesn't add up to "a good season".
November 25th, 2012 at 11:51 AM ^
It was a good season. Nothing fantastic, but a chance at 9 wins is nothing to sneeze at. This team over-achieved last year and probably achieved at a fair level this year. They'll be back in the mix most years, though I am still a bit worried about this offense going forward under Borges.
This won't be a season I remember particularly fondly, but that's how most football seasons go. I do think that the future is brighter than some around here think.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:58 AM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
8-4 without a single victory over a legitimately good team, and we had tons of senior starters this year. If 8-4 against a weak schedule is considered a good year, than it is a sad testament to how far the standards have fallen at Michigan.
November 25th, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
This was the opposite of a weak schedule. But your point remains, we won all the easy games and none of the hard ones.
8-4 is not a good season under any circumstances.
November 25th, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
As others have said, Team 132 overachieved and got lucky; Team 133 achieved about as was expected and mostly didn't get lucky. Turnovers: last year they got 'em all over the place and this year mostly gave them away.
I think what we're seeing is that after last year's incredible turnaround from the results of Team 131, there were expectations again. Unfortunately, i'm just not sure that the players and coaches were quite ready to meet those expectations fully. Yes, Team 133 still had Denard, but generally your greatest strenght is also your greatest weakness. The analysis at mgoblog has mostly ignored that what Denard does exceedingly well also forced Michigan into a one-dimensional offense ... which this year was compounded by serious issues with the offensive line. We found that the Oline looking good in pass protection was more a function of defenses gameplanning contain of the QB than Oline prowess, see what happened when Bellomy came in at NU.
No, this wasn't a "good" year and moral victories are hollow. This was another transition year that went more like a transition year would be expected to go. What people are forgetting is that a decent team wins the games it should win and has a chance even in games that it maybe shouldn't win. That's been Team 133, which fell far short of its own goals but we only hear the rah, rah goals that the coaching staff sets publicly.
The question that needs to be answered, but cannot yet be answered is whether Teams 134, etc. will progress from decent to good to great with some regularity.
November 25th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
I watched the game yesterday just like everyone else. It hurt. Still troubled by it. But, and my only real point to make here, I am getting over the loss much faster because of one simple fact: we have overachieved for two straight seasons. 19 wins from a mash low talent unit. That is the product of dedication and hard work by both the players and the coaching staff.
Kudos to them!
We get to go to NY's citrus or outback bowl and play a damn tough sec team. These are good things and going in the right direction. Denard clear couldn't be trusted in the second half because of either injury or some other reason we will never know.
November 25th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^
I wish I had taken a day off from the Blog.
November 25th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
There's a lot of banter on this board about how Michigan should play really tough, exciting OOC schedules, because "to be the best you have to beat the best". Now look at the teams in the hunt for the national championship. Alabama can do that. Pretty much nobody else can.
The virtue of a relatively easy OOC schedule goes well beyond wins. It's also the time where your second string QB (and other positions) gets signfiicant game experience. It's the time where you play with wrinkles and new concepts. It's valuable to player and team development in myriad ways.
Take Alabama off this schedule and Team 133 is 9-3, with intangible benefits that might have shown themselves against ND, and NU when Denard went down. The coaches might have found that they needed Devin ready as a backup based on watching Bellomy against cupcakes ... where he'd probably still be successful enough.
The kind of OOC that more than a few advocate will degrade all but great teams in terms of record and development. And then when it happens, just as many will jump up and complain about a terrible season.
November 25th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 2:33 PM ^
the drunken accosting of police officers and his wife had nothing to do with it eh
November 25th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
I am proud of the players giving it their all, and while I have faith in Hoke the program is not where it needs to be yet. We need to expect to win Big Ten championships, beat Ohio, and be in the national title discussion every few years.
This is not Iowa. We are not Kirk Ferentz. We don't stoicly jog off the field because we managed to not get blown out. Michigan does not play for consolation prizes.
November 25th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 1:47 PM ^
I see ya shirtless
November 25th, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^
How I read your post:
"Haha, I see ya shirtless, Glen Masons hot wife."
I just want to understand what is funny about seeing his hot wife shirtless?
November 25th, 2012 at 6:04 PM ^
Didn't recognize you without your Avatar, but I don't remember what your avatar was. Mike Martin maybe?
November 25th, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^
Yes its me, I still drop by to complain and make useless posts every now and then. I found myself making such posts almost exclusively when I was around here a lot before, and then one day I looked in the mirror and realized I had become a real a-hole. So I stopped coming by so much. Yet, still not much has changed (in terms of the whole a-hole thing).
November 25th, 2012 at 11:56 PM ^
It is nice to be back to expecting to win.
November 27th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^
This season turned out much how I expected/feared it would. I thought from the beginning that Michigan could be an improved team this year and still wind up with worse record than 2011 simply based on their schedule. And then it turned out that their schedule was even more difficult than anyone's worst nightmare could have imagined.
Michigan's 4 losses come to teams with a combined record of 45-3. That is ridiculous. All of those games were on the road and Michigan was missing key players in each of them. In the end, the only game that they didn't have an excellent chance at winning was Alabama. Notre Dame needed 5 consecutive interceptions to squeak out a home win, and you'll never convince me that Michigan loses to Nebraska if Denard doesn't go down in the first half.
It's easy to be disappointed and to think about what might have been, but its clear that Michigan is a program that is headed in the right direction. We have already come light-years from the Rodriguez years. It’s clear that we’re going to have a top 10 defense for at least as long as Mattison is in town, and while I am frustrated with some of what I saw on offense this year, everyone knows that the offense is in transition. Keep your heads held high!