Burn the 2020 tape and never speak of it again.
No shit man. I'm about to start having flashbacks.
Get ready to see more of the same this season.
You guys are some seriously miserable sob's. I feel a little bad for you, but only a little.
Exactly..and many seem to love to parade around their misery as if it is a badge of honour.
Wear their BPONE like a sword
It's an unfortunate medical condition, akin to priapism. Walking around all the time with a raging BPONER. Totally unhealthy. Undermines self confidence. Causes cringing submission to small barriers in life. We can only hope that one day there will be an effective treatment.
WOWZA
Well that prettty much explains why he gambled on himself and declared for the draft. The fact that he might not be able to play this year is surprising.
i'm sure this can be attributed to harbaugh somehow.
He emits the injury inducing chemical Harbonium.
I knew it was a leg injury but since he only missed the last game I hadn't thought it was season-ending. Hopefully he'll recover and be a success in the NFL in a year.
Tough year for this young man. Started the season in a cast. Had to leave multiple games with injuries. Then, tears his ACL in the Rutgers game. Ooof. No wonder why he wanted to get to the NFL as quickly as possible.
All of that in the midst of a pandemic lockdown. If adversity is supposed to make you stronger, Cam McGrone is going to be one tough guy.
I know a lot of people are down on Michigan, but when you look at what actually happened, Michigan was cursed in 2020. From opt-outs (Collins, Thomas) to in-season injuries (Mayfield, McGrone, Paye, Hutchinson, Milton, McNamara, Hayes) to COVID (final two games getting canceled), I imagine the percentage of snaps by projected starters was one of the lowest it has ever been.
If there's a coach out there that can withstand the loss of its #1 WR, #1 CB, #1 OT, #2 OT, #1 DE, #2 DE, #1 QB, #2 QB, etc. and still win, then that coach should be revered as a god.
But a lot of those guys were supposed to be gone by 2021, anyway.
So if the next wave of guys can develop in practice and be ready for the fall, then Michigan should at least be decent. The team is not lacking in talent. It's lacking in development, experience, and elite QB play. That's not all going to be fixed by the fall, but I think some people are unfairly down on Michigan's chances to play well this season.
A couple of questionable coaching hires may have contributed to play also.
Elaborate? Which coaching hires were questionable?
Shoop ended up with a no-show job. Plenty of plausible extenuating circumstances but think it's fair to question that hire.
Harbaugh, Brown, Gattis
I often think back to late 2018, essentially right before the OSU game, where Threat Level Michigan on the Ozone or whatever was full throttle and things were so so bright for the future.
In less than 2 years, OSU flipped to this unbeatable machine and all the positives for Michigan seemingly disappeared. Like most things in the world, I agree that things were never as good as they seemed in 2018 nor nearly as bad as they seem right now. But I do understand how severely deflating that game was.
The eternal optimist, I do think we'll surprise people this year although I don't think we'll be elite by any stretch.
And don't forget; JT was short.
This thread - and your comment - made me think of a question I wanted to ask you. If a program (Michigan or whoever) was completely transparent about all the injury stuff that happens, do you think the trust/understanding they build with the fanbase would outweigh a competitive advantage gained by an opponent?
Great, rational points as usual man. Thank you for all you do for our fandom!
I'll say this:
I've noticed as a high school coach, that when our coaches/players talk to the media, they only skim the surface. The local papers/websites that cover our games have no idea what players got in trouble in school, which players were limited by injury, etc. But when you talk to teachers/parents who know the whole story, they've often like, "Jeez, that was a lot to overcome."
Of course college programs have more eyeballs on them, but there are things like McGrone's ACL tear that still go unreported/underreported.
If you were in charge of a program, how transparent would you be?
I would probably be more media-friendly than Harbaugh (spring game, yes!), but when it comes to injuries and behavior issues, I don't see the point in sharing.
This point was made several times during the season (by yourself and others) yet was constantly shouted down because GAWD FORBID it doesn't advocate for firing JH (or everyone else on staff).
These are well thought out and valid points. But what about my feelings? /s
FWIW, I’m on this side. Prior to the absolutely bizarre 2020 (putting it mildly), the worst Michigan had gone under Harbaugh was 8-5 in a year they lost, what, 19 of 22 starters or something like that.
Now, I see people saying we’ll be lucky to get to 6-6. They still might not beat OSU or win 10 games, but I think 8-5 or 9-4 is well within the realm of possibility.
Is that good enough? Probably not here and there are concerns, dude, but the idea that this program is in shambles is a false one.
Magnus; you have quietly become one of the best posters here. I generally tend to agree with you on most things, but especially on this. The whiny, miserable toads who populate this board are never going to give anything a fair shake under Harbaugh. Context means nothing anymore, just make loud noises, and call for firings! That'll fix the team!
Let's have the public face of our fanbase just be insufferable idiots every day, shit on the team and its coaches non-stop, on the board, on twitter, wherever we can be heard! The recruits will love it! Great success will surely come of this!!!!!!!!
Which posters are better than me? I'll hire a hitman. I suck at everything else, so this means everything to me.
P.S. Thanks.
Thank you
2020, on the whole was cursed, but that's not the reason why the season was an abject failure. Mayfield, McGrone, Paye, Hutchinson, Milton, and Hayes all played a majority of the MSU game and that was a colossal disaster from the players to the coaching staff.
I mean, I agree to an extent.
Michigan should still have won that game, even with all the missing players.
BUT that game turns out completely differently if Ambry Thomas is playing, if not Nico Collins, too. There's no way Rocky Lombardi throws for 300+ yards on prayers if Michigan's #1 corner is there.
Yeah, with Thomas maybe MSU's arm punts don't connect and they don't score 20+ points. So Michigan wins scoring 20-something and that's still terrible. We've seen Michigan with Collins and they never used him enough so his existence in the offense maybe elevates it from a tire fire to a smaller dumpster fire (can't prove the hypothetical of course). We all watched that game. Replacing Gray with Thomas and Wilson with Collins is still an ugly team in an ugly game.
Not going to get into my opinion as to WHY 2020 happened, but safe to say the neck sharpie from the Bama bowl game proclaiming Gattis to be on the rise (he's not) and defending Brown's reputation after being defenestrated 2 too many times weren't the hills to die on.
Michigan beating MSU, even in a low-scoring game, is never terrible.
If Lombardi can pray and pitch, why wasn't there something similar for the Michigan QB? I mean, absence of #1 corner is understandable, but didn't Michigan have something for the offense?
Unfortunately, the world we live in seems to drive everyone to take one extreme stance or the other when the reality in most cases is that a blend in the middle is more accurate. Both of your statements can be true. Michigan lost a TON of talent and didn't have time to prepare for it. I totally agree that the piling on of last year is excessive and overlooks some massive mitigating factors. I also believe that almost none of those excuses, sans Collins/Thomas, apply to the MSU game and that the coaching staff deserves some blame there. QB development is another one that you can't blame on pandemic reasons very much.
shit, i made this similar post just after the season but it fell on mostly deaf ears. you added more detail, however. i just indicated that they basically lost 8 of the top 10 players that they expected big seasons out of. not many teams outside the big 3 that could.
my GOD, but this is the right take. pin this.
Two things were good in 2020. One that means nothing going forward, another maybe a beacon of light.
The Minnesota game was a blast. First game back, Milton looked good, beat a “ranked” team on the road. Obviously all of that means nothing.
The other was Cade vs Rutgers. I do think he will be the guy this year and QB play for once won’t be an issue. Too bad there are plenty of other issues. Although, we should be pretty good on O this year
2020 was an ugly season in more ways than just the losses. I hadn't seen so many injuries pile up in a very long time.
Classic Belichick "red shirt" pick. Work hard in the training room and then pick up the Philly Cheesesteak Spring Rolls at Davio's on the way home.
So many injuries last year - let's hope this year we stay healthy
Sure seems like we deserve a good fortune year