Has there really been improvement from 09 to 10?

"Wisconsin (at least were competitive in the first half last year -- on the road)."

I won't even get into the rest of it but this one makes no sense.  Last week it was 24-14 early in the 3rd quarter and we had momentum - we were competitive in the 2nd half.  We are a much better 2nd half team this year and that is a good thing.  You can knock RR if you want but you have to stay with the facts.

I do think that there have been improvements.  They might not be as fast as they should be (and this could be on the coaching), but there have been improvements.  The simplest way to demonstrate:

In 2008, we lost to everyone, including MAC teams.  We were a joke.

Last year, we at least ran the table on the OOC cupcakes, but couldn't beat a single B10 team (except indiana).

This year, we still ran the OOC table, but have beaten Indiana, Illinois and Purdue.  Admittedly, we haven't beaten a single good team, but last year we were losing to even the crappy B10 teams.  This is improvement.

Assuming RR stays (and that is a big assumption), I see this progression continuing next year.  Maybe we still will not run the table, and we would probably still lose to a team like this year's Wisconsin team, but we should certainly be able to win some of our games against the upper-middle B10 teams like MSU, Iowa, Northwestern and next year's Wisconsin.  So, while we will probably still struggle (but be competitive with) teams like OSU and Nebraska, we should improve to the point where we are an above average B10 team.

Why?  The offense loses nothing.  We return virtually every single player.  The year-to-year improvement for Denard alone - from a first year starter to a seasoned starter with 16 extra practices and an entire spring season under his belt - should be worth a win or 2.  How different would our record be if Denard cut in half his turnovers against MSU, Iowa and PSU?  We would have won at least 1 of those games.  QB turnovers decline significantly in the second starting year.  (Mathlete?).

How about the RB situation.  We have 2 big time RBs coming in this year that should provide the Slaton to Denard's Pat White (I know, the comparison is done to death, but it is apt).  And, even putting aside the freshmen, V. Smith will be a year older and fully rehabbed from his ACL.  Improvement.

As for the defense - even if half of our injured players return, that is worth a win or 2.  Plus, those players who had a full season of playing time this year will be so much more seasoned.  The defense can't possibly be worse, and there are many reasons to think that it will improve.  Probably still a below-average defense, but even if they are just below average, we should win 2 more games. 

So yes, there is improvement and reason to believe that there will be MORE improvement enxt year.

I was just thinking this morning, how the past two years we've limped into The Game in whipped / beaten puppy state. The team seemed to have given up three or four games before.

This year, the team has not given up. They may have lost games convincingly, but I can't point to a single moment of them rolling over.

Yes our defense is riddled with injuries, and talent that didn't make it to, or is no longer on campus, BUT they haven't given up. Molk has gone down, Odoms, any given running back, Denard here and there, etc., AND our offense has stepped up and continued to compete.

This is a huge difference than the past two years, and say a Weisian-coached ND team.

So, I don't like where our defense is, and I don't like the turnovers, and the kicking is really a disaster, but this team is young, AND they are still fighting.

For that reason I am entering The Game with at least the view that we should see a competitive offensive game. With a few breaks, good things are possible. (This is in contrast to quarterbacks with their arms hanging in pain in '07 and '09, and good 'ole Sheridan (not even Threet) in '08.)

They're moving in the right direction. The real question is whether Rich is capable of making the changes necessary to field a competitive defense. (Hint: Loyalty is an admirable quality, but maybe some ex-WVU coaches need to go ...)

stop arguing and just go beat OSU

Michigan has improved slightly. The Wolverines have beaten most of the teams they should have beaten (Penn State being the only possible exception). And Wisconsin was really the only game that they never had a real chance to win.

The red flag is that all four of Michigan’s losses are by more than two scores, but four of Michigan’s wins are by one score or less. Michigan is, in other words, much closer to having more losses, than it is to having more wins.

The Notre Dame and Illinois wins, in particular, definitely qualify as lucky breaks, with an injury to the starting QB playing a big part in the ND win, and a freak bounce in Junior Hemingway’s favor deciding the Illinois game. There wasn’t any comparable bad luck that took away a game Michigan should have won.

Overall, improvement on offense has been somewhat canceled out by playing worse on defense and special teams than the Wolverines did a year ago.

Yes.

We are going bowling this year, and the team is making positive strides. The defense is another story, but they have had their moments, too.

+ fire =death

If my math is correct,  7 > 5 (with two games left still to go).  That is improvement.

Let's not bother with facts.  Just throw everyone under the bus.

I think the OP minimalized the DB lack of depth that we had.  DWarr, Woolfolk, Demar, etc etc.  You cannot lose half your depth at ANY position and expect to be good.  Especially when you already have questionable depth/skill at LB.  Just too many question marks.

The one thing I think helped us last year, which I rarely see discussed is our special teams play in 09.  We were very fortunate to score TDs and get great returns on special teams last year.  Those don't show up in the offense or defense numbers, but they were still points we scored that were crucial in many games.  We obviously haven't been that fortunate this year.  You can say the special teams regressed this year, and I think it has....but last year I think we played well beyond the means...if there was a "points scored" statistic for kick returns, I would venture to guess we were well above average in 09.  Those easy points have not been there for us this year.  Everything has had to go through the offense.

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Yes, Michigan will finish the regular season at 7-5 or 8-4 and that is indeed progress when compared to 5-7

You admit this is progress, and are still asking the question whether there has actually been improvement? How can there be progress without some measure of improvement? The only answer is luck...so you're saying the team has been THAT lucky this year? I agree there has been some luck (um, yeah, 10 turnovers in 2 games that WE WON!), but to say it was 100% luck is simply asinine.

(2)

That, of course, brings us to the defense.  It's hard to believe, but it's actually worse than last year.  I know there are excuses including Woolfolk's injuries, but they're just excuses.

It's actually not hard at all to believe. Quite the opposite, really. Many here were PANIC when Woolfolk went down before the season even started, and of course let's not forget the littany of attrition due to transfers or other reasons (which, while RR has some part of, certainly cannot be entirely put on him) I had false delusions that, hey, the defense is a year older and this = better. Ha, yeah right...not necessarily. And now we learn that GERG is really not the right coach for the job, despite the youth. And they're not "just" excuses, it's reality. RR keeps saying it, and it may not make you feel any better (it doesn't make me feel any better), but there's only so much you can do when your entire secondary is freshman and one senior whose been switched back and forth between corner and WR year-to-year (so, he's really got limited experience at corner as well, and it wasn't his primary position).. 

Certainly RR should take some heat for how he's handled the defense, but when you look at the bigger picture you see Michigan's most dynamic offense in about 50 years, which can only get better with some actual experience (as in, his players actually become upper classmen). The defense is bad, but why not give him one last shot to get it better?

Wow! This post was epic lunacy today.