ESPN: We totally underestimated the Michigan Wolverines
ESPN just owned up to totally underestimating Michigan in their "Monday drive through."
The Michigan Wolverines: Speaking of Ohio State, a funny thing happened on our march to the Nov. 21 Game of the Century of this Year, when the Buckeyes welcome Michigan State to town. It turns out the maize and blue team hosting the Spartans on Oct. 17 might be way more improved (way faster) than we expected. That Utah loss keeps looking better and better.
More in the video, including thinking MSU is overrated, and a lot of discussion on Michigan. They definitely don't think MSU is any kind of lock to make the NC playoffs. With their weak win against Western Michigan, their unimpressive win against Oregon, and a blah win against Central Michigan, only pulling away at the end of the game.
They also note that MSU is not favored against Michigan, and think that Michigan is for real. Commentators mention that Utah game was a tough game, and they've improved a lot since then.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
Exactly. It's ridiculous that 4 games into the season we have to talk about how wrong the rankings were. Of course they are wrong. Oregon lost a Heisman winner, OSU and MSU lost very important coordinators, Michigan has a brand new coach, etc. Some teams get way too much credit for the previous season, whereas teams like Utah, who returned key players, starts the season unranked. It's dumb.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:56 PM ^
I'm not interested in watching people bloviate on ESPN, but come on, predicting a college football season is a total crapshoot. Seriously, how many of us expected Michigan to just absolutely annihilate BYU by the end of the first half? I felt pretty optimistic about the game, but no one can even predict what will happen in the next week, let alone over the course of the season.
September 28th, 2015 at 1:27 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Which you may not see on the web. He has a very pro Michigan response (along with admitting to trolling). Nice words from a rival, but not enough to buy a ticket back from Bolivia.
Go Blue!
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September 28th, 2015 at 2:52 PM ^
Awake drooling or asleep drooling? Big difference IMO.
BTW, I occassionally awake drool when concentrating really hard on some task (kinda like the MJ tongue thing).
September 28th, 2015 at 3:32 PM ^
The perseived wisdom on this site had Michigan possibly at 8-4, more likely 7-5, and quite possibly even 6-6. So the collective "they" has to include the collective "we" as well.
September 28th, 2015 at 4:36 PM ^
I went with a final projection of 10-2 regular season. I thought BYU and NW would be the only losses. Now I am beginning to think they can run the table.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
Harbaugh: "Keep a humble heart and grind on."
September 28th, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^
But the saying (and the crown) were originally used during WWII in Britain to keep moral up as german airstrikes were predicted...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On
Its definitely been played out, but the origin is kind of cool. Replace the Crown with a block M and I'd be down.
September 28th, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^
I think that might be what JH said to Jed that got him so worked up?!
September 28th, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
Based on nothing but performance so far this season, it's hard to disagree.
Michigan has one loss on the road that keeps looking better and better, and absolutely dominated a bad team, an okay team, and a good team.
Michigan State has one "signature" win at home that keeps looking worse and worse, and has been very unimpressive against three other nobodies.
September 28th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 3:25 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
The post-BYU/post-Utah circle jerk should be ending today at about 2pm EDT, I hope.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
Agree. This is getting out of hand.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
I don't think you could get that many Mormons involved in a circle jerk if you tried.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:56 PM ^
Agreed, assuming that you're thinking "Michigan as top 10 team" thoughts, which I am starting to do. :) However, I'm still so BLOODY THRILLED to see us looking like a team that will beat Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesota, etc, that I'm not at all ready to get in a frame of mind where losing to the 2nd ranked team in the country feels like a disappointment.
Will I be disappointed if we don't play well and compete that day? Yeah, I really will. But MSU is a damn good program, and we're 4 frickin games into the Harbaugh era. I refuse to get to the point mentally where I'm "expecting" a win against a team that good.
However, I have evolved to the point where beating Maryland and Northwestern is definitely expected, and honestly, I was not there at the beginning of the year. I *hoped* we could win those games. I *thought* we could win those games, but I didn't expect it. Now I think the defense is so damn good that it's hard to imagine those teams scoring more than 14-17 offensive points, and Rudock is progressing to where he's not going to hand them points. Can we score more than 17 against Maryland/Northwestern/Indiana/Rutgers? Yes, I think we can. :)
Rob
September 28th, 2015 at 1:22 PM ^
Not saying that I'm looking at any game as a layup, but it will be awfully nice to turn on the tube for games against NW and Indiana and feel excitement, instead of the sick gnawing in the pit of my stomach that I've been experiencing for the last several years.
September 28th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^
I don't think they were predicting a total destruction of BYU or that our single/close loss would be to top ten-ish team who would utterly destroy the Ducks.
The actual 3-1 looks far better than the preseason hypothetical 3-1s.
September 28th, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 3:48 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
Now we have good coaching. Amazing what teaching fundamentals and scheming creatively can do.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
I really hope this BYU victory doesn't over saturate the media with Michigan optimism.... I prefer the underdog role with lack of coverage.
Dantonio is gonna only use this to motivate his players even more somehow... Not to mention Urbz.
I'm also thinking Harbaugh would rather function with less bullshit from the media too.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
"groucho mark" never registered with me until now. . .
September 28th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
We have Harbaugh as our coach. The guy that quit the NFL at the peak of his career to go back to college. The guy that does endless crazy entertaining things across the globe.
We were getting this kind of media attention before we played any games. It goes with the territory. Might as well get some wins to go with it, since the media attention is always going to be there.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^
Damnit. I'm tired of getting beat up by these guys. Harbaugh knows that. And for all of his b*tching about not getting respect how many times has Dantonio taken cheap shots at UM? 'Where's the threat?' 'East Lansing was the place to be today' The crap about not letting a UM Coach speak because he didn't want it to turn into a recruiting session.
Screw him. He's a great coach. I really do respect his coaching/program building ability. . But he practices this wierd sort of aggressive victimhood that I find appaling. He can say or spew anything about UM; and we just have to f*cking take it. Anything that happens between UM and him that isn't just hunky dorie slanted in his favor is a slight. He gets annoyed at the Harbaugh coverage. But the only thing we did was hire the guy. He gets annoyed at not being respected and his team starts the season ranked #5.
He is jealous jackal.
http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Pickles-Jackal-Everything-Series-ebook/dp/B…
September 28th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^
of Dantonio's job and he gets a lot of help anyway.
September 28th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^
There's a lot of this kind of thinking here, and it has to be a remnant from the past 7 years. Sure Dantonio will use this but you don't think Harbaugh has plenty to use as well? This isn't Hoke anymore, complacent Hoke who thinks we should win "just because." We have a coach who will actually learn about the team we're playing and then create a game plan to outplay them. We didn't have that last year (or the five years before that). I don't think we need to pound our chests; humility is good. But I think we can stop being scared of waking a sleeping dog. We are the sleeping dog.
September 30th, 2015 at 6:23 AM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
Probably top 15. LSU is ranked too low as well. And OSU and MSU as 1 and 2?!?! Who the hell have they beaten this year to deserve those rankings?
Hate early season polls, but it's still nice to see Michigan ranked again. Where we belong.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
but not that optimistic. I'll be convinced of a team being overrated when we beat them. MSU will be up up up. And stuff like this is just locker room materiel.
Not that we don't have our own at this point (Thanks Mark), but this is college football and they are going to come in very hot.
I think we can beat them. But we will have to bring our A game.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:29 PM ^
agaisnt MSU, even when they're shitty. They always play us like their lives depend on it.
I'm just honestly not that impressed with what I've seen from them so far this year. I'd say the same about OSU, but they haven't even played one good team so there's really no way to know.
September 29th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
I suppose what worries me is MSU's somewhat older tendancy to play to the level of their opponents. They might still have that, but just be better so they don't drop those games.
Utah, honestly, is playing the way I expected MSU to play.
The very interestin matchup to me will be MSU's D line vs our O line. WE need to be able to run, but MSU's D line is fantastic.
My dream scenario is where Kalis, Glasgow, and Braden channel their inner Hutchins and find a way to be just as physical. Smith in MSU's backfield is a decent matchup. But that's a big dream.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
No way. Top 15 is giving BYU way too much credit.
It's not like they destroyed Boise St and Nebraska. They could easily be 0-4 instead of 2-2. Actually they probably SHOULD be 0-4.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
We should have beaten Utah, the #10 team in the country right now. If that game was played after we worked a few of the bugs out of the offense, we would have won. Nevermind that UNLV just hung 80 points on Idaho State, who isn't a good team, but they're not in middle school either.
Maybe I'm overstating things a bit, but I think we're better than most people think we are. We'll find out for sure in a few weeks agasint MSU.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:40 PM ^
I agree that Michigan is a much better team now than it was a month ago, but Utah has improved too. They just beat the stuffing out of Oregon at Autzen.
Michigan is on the right path, and I'm loving it. Absolutely loving it. But Utah beat us straight up, and while we played them close it's a bit much to assume we'd beat them now.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
that other teams improve too. And I actually wouldn't be surprised if Utah wins the PAC-12 this year now that it has become apparent that Oregon sucks.
Maybe we'll get a rematch in the playoffs. Or the Rose Bowl.
September 28th, 2015 at 1:15 PM ^
I still believe that if we played our first two games in reversed order, we would have beaten Utah. (and Oregon State, for that matter). Utah is a very good football team, but with one game under our belt, I think we would have improved enough to eliminate just enough of the mistakes to win that one.
Rob
September 28th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
1 week before MSU. Northwestern is going to be a tough one too.
September 28th, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^
Is this one of their once per decade 10+ win seasons? Or are they going to flame out at some point? I don't know yet, but I'm leaning towards the former.