Herbstreit said Michigan will be 10-1 going into The Game

Submitted by South TX MFan on

This may have already been talked about in other threads, but I haven't seen it. I also haven't gone through every post either. Sorry if it's old news.

During the GameDay telecast Herbstreit said he believes Michigan will be 10-1 heading into Columbus, with our only loss coming to MSU. Desmond agreed. Pollack said that might be possible, but it'd be because of our schedule and Notre Dame and Northwestern missing players, and we still wouldn't be what he considers a "great team." Herbstreit countered, saying that Michigan will be a lot better than most people think. This was prior to the Appalachian State game.

I was really surprised to hear this, especially since a vast majority of analysts I've heard talk about Michigan said that we'll be down again. Herbstreit even gave more credit to us than I did, as I guessed we'd be 9-2 at that point.

So far so good! It'll be nice to get some respect again.

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Epic-Blue

August 31st, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^

Of ourselves here. They just beat the Toledo school of the bind. They were ranked just behind Jacksonville st. and ahead of Monmouth. It was a nice win. The team looked great as it should have against a very bad Appy St. team. Come out next week. Lay the wood on the Catholics. If that happens we can talk about 11-1. Great win for the good guys! Go Blue!

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Mr. JaCharles …

August 31st, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^

He is a jackass! I hope he is wrong, 11-0 is more like it. Lil brother is not an acceptable loss ever. I could care less of his opinion.

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ThadMattasagoblin

August 31st, 2014 at 12:05 AM ^

After watching games we should have a really easy 9 games and 3 tough rivalry games. No other big ten teams that we play were really impressive besides Maryland and possibly Rutgers.

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Danwillhor

August 31st, 2014 at 12:13 AM ^

I don't see it. The first game is almost always a game you can't take too much from but despite the clear victory there were things I didn't like. Fundamental things that could really hinder us going forward. I was happy with the running totals but the OL/HBs looked 2013 many times vs a very mediocre App St defense. Gardner is just going to make silly decisions sometimes. It can't be coached out of him at this point, IMO. The defense was overall very good but a few key players had some very large mistakes repeated that we need to correct. I'll maybe go into detail tomorrow. Good win but not very reassuring in some areas.

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ifis

August 31st, 2014 at 1:31 AM ^

I agree that today exposed some major concerns, but isn't that kind of what you expect/want out of a first game with Appalachian State while you are installing new offensive and defensive schemes with a lot of talented but young players?  This game is supposed to be a stepping stone in a learning process.  Do you really think our RBs and LBs lack the ability to improve?  There is arguably more talent at those positions than any position except CB.  I strongly disagree about Gardner, too.  I didn't see him make any bad decisions today, and 1) he had really bad coaches up to this point and 2) now he has a really good (possibly the best) qb coach in college football.  I'll be very surprised if he doesn't get better at making decisions this year.  Looking forward to your thoughts tomorrow. 

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grumbler

August 31st, 2014 at 7:56 AM ^

I'm with you.  I think Michigan will learn more from the game film from the Appy State game than ND will.  The line has to stop getting beaten by stunts, but held up well otherwise.  Gardner looked good and comfortable with the offense, and made good reads and checks.  The LB play was worrisome, but they are smart, talented, and coached by the best coach on the team.  Most of the problems will be fixed, though the line has the furthest to go and won't be superior until late in the season, if at all.

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MileHighWolverine

August 31st, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^

Only bad decision I saw from Gardner came on a broken play when he didn't see a WIDE OPEN receiver braking free up the side line. But, again, broken play so I don't really count it against him. Would be nice if he could learn to calm down on broken plays and lose the tunnel vision....but that's it so I feel like he is doing very well all things considered.

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Danwillhor

August 31st, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^

so don't concerns but it's the first game. Teams tend to greatly improve or greatly destruct after week one. We'll see. As for DG, it's more silly mistakes and panic than bad decisions yesterday. That's an improvement from last year if it holds but still not ideal. I just think it's his innate style and 3 OCs made out impossible to coach it then out of him. You have to just give up on a play sometimes. He refuses to lol. The OL? Yeah. I don't see it this year. That is something you can generally see week one when it's not so much decisions or ability but both.

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UofM626

August 31st, 2014 at 12:21 AM ^

Bad as SPEILMAN!! That dude is a total ass towards Michigan. He always talks bad about them or points out every little mess up when he does the broadcasts. It's sad cause as a player I liked him, but now he's a total HOMER

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DefenseWins

August 31st, 2014 at 12:28 AM ^

Obvious attempt at a reverse jinx is obvious. But seriously I don't understand the Herbie hate. He's usually pretty reasonable. Agree that Pollack is intolerable.

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DrWolverine19

August 31st, 2014 at 1:29 AM ^

Whatever Kirk is drinking. Were just not a good team. We played okay today, but it was against a vastly inferior opponent so I put zero stock into how we played. The o-line looked okay at best, and hasn't instilled any confidence what so ever. And besides we bear central by a ton to open up last year and we all know how the rest of the season played out so forgive if I still have major major doubts about team 135

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JamieH

August 31st, 2014 at 1:30 AM ^

when all is said and done I think this will end up being on of the most severly underrated Michigan teams of the past few decades.

 

Senior QB + good defense + rejuvinated offense under new coordinator + talent that Hoke has been recruiting starting to make contributions = solid team. 

 

Sure, it was only App St. today, but we finally went out and just pounded an inferior team into dust like we USED TO back when we were good all the time.  It won't mean spit if we don't bring it next week, but for once we didn't struggle against a patsy and just came out and clocked them like we were supposed to.  That always bodes well.

 

 

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Vengeful Barbarian

August 31st, 2014 at 1:44 AM ^ 

Sure, it was only App St. today, but we finally went out and just pounded an inferior team into dust like we USED TO back when we were good all the time.

 

I take it you must have missed the first game last season vs Central Michigan, when we won 59-9, or the 2011 Minnesota game that we won 59-0

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StephenRKass

August 31st, 2014 at 2:44 AM ^

I'll always be a Michigan homer. The game yesterday was fun. But Michigan has a lot more to do to be considered a "great" team, imhe. There is some "Irrational Exuberance" going on here.

It isn't that I think they'll do poorly. I actually believe that 11 - 1 is quite possible. But to predict a sure victory in E.L., "write it in stone?" Based on curb stomping a clearly inferior opponent yesterday? I'm just not there. I tend to think that we're not good enough to run through every game with no losses, even though I'm not quite sure who will beat us. Although, I think the Spartans are more likely to beat Michigan than not.

I have consistently held that the OL would be a great improvement over last year, but not yet great. Yesterday showed us the possibilities. But the DL at both MSU and OSU is a different animal. We now have a fighting chance. But it is hubris and folly to think Michigan has proven much of anything with it's victory yesterday.

It is better not to get too high, nor too low, while still greatly enjoying the ride and the journey.

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jackw8542

August 31st, 2014 at 9:47 AM ^

What's the matter with irrational exuberance, even if that is what we are experiencing?  It's a beautiful day, the team played great, the O line looked good, Gardner was terrific, Funchess was funtastic and two RBs had over 100 yards.  It makes me feel pretty exuberant, and I could care less whether it is entirely rational!

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KBLOW

August 31st, 2014 at 3:18 AM ^

If I had a choice about any loss that would make us 10-1, I'd so much rather have it be to the Fig Things and end up winning all the rest, win the B1G, and get into the playoff.  A 12-1 B1G champion Michigan gets in the playoff no matter what. Then we win it.

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aiglick

August 31st, 2014 at 8:54 AM ^

It may be though the Big Ten is perceived, and honestly probably is, one of the weaker Power 5 conferences. Looking at all five the SEC, PAC-12, and Big 12 are probably better currently. We may be better than the ACC but they do have FSU which may once again be the best team in the country. Now I think if Michigan goes 12-1 we'll have a chance and will be pissed if any team that has 2+ losses hypothetically got in ahead of us. However our schedule may only be top 30 in terms of strength so there is a possibility that, since our conference has not been very good for a number of years now, we'll left out of we have the hypothetical dream season that is certainly possible if not probable. That said as the coaching staff said we have a long journey ahead of us before any of this becomes pertinent.

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CoverZero

August 31st, 2014 at 6:01 AM ^

Herbstreit is correct.  Michigan will face Wisconsin in the BT Title game and beat them.  Wisky is good, but thin on the DL.  By that game Michigan is at least 11-1, or 12-0 (everyone assumes MSU is a loss...Fuck that..Sparty doesnt have the horses to match up to Michigan this year) and on to the BCS Final 4... mark it.

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auger

August 31st, 2014 at 8:03 AM ^

Before app st I said 8-4 or 9-3. But after that game this win against inferior opponent looked much different. This team has depth on defense. They can play bump and run and blitz. The offense looked calm and poised haven't seen that in 8 years. Also looks like we finally have playmakers at wide receivers

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samdrussBLUE

August 31st, 2014 at 8:29 AM ^

Let's worry about these upcoming games- specifically ND, Utah and Penn State. If we are going into the Sate game undefeated, then I will start getting a little excited. A little

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titanfan11

August 31st, 2014 at 8:33 AM ^

the oppnents from the first week and gather a ton of info.  I am interested to see the reaction of the board (and analysts) after next week.  Sparty goes to Oregon, Blue at ND.  What if Sparty pulls a Stanford on the Ducks?  Or Michigan plays a similar game to 2 years ago in South Bend?  Oh the reactions!!!

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I dumped the Dope

August 31st, 2014 at 8:54 AM ^

which is 1 game...I'd say Staee is a more formidable opponent than Ohio at this particular point.  Obviously lots of season left to go here before we get there.  Much bigger test for the two Michigan-based teams next week and I think we will learn more then.

I do have respect for Herbie, minor disdain for his lineage, but I believe he's mostly professional and analytical in his comments.  He obviously respects Nussmeier a lot with a lot of good things to say about him.  Pollack and Palmer irritate me for ways mentioned above.

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UM4Life2011

August 31st, 2014 at 9:13 AM ^

Yeah and you can add old man Lou to that list as well. Still don't see how ESPN has such a biased person in their payroll! I Des and Herbie are 2 of the most unbiased commentators. They call it fairly and objectively no matter what team they are referring to.

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Leonhall

August 31st, 2014 at 9:13 AM ^

I'll say it again, I don't think there is any reason why we can't beat all of our rivals this year, and that was before yesterday. The coaching staff needs to produce, the excuses are done, time to win.


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victors2000

August 31st, 2014 at 9:17 AM ^

'analyst' for those folks determining the potential of a college football team may be a stretch; I think a lot of these guys just read each others evaluations and regurgitate the same info. Kirk seems to put genuine effort into his work, in my opinion, and he may have better connections than many of these pundits. Even so, most of the games on the schedule aren't in the gray area; either we are solidly favored or solidly the underdog so it doesn't take much to surmise we'll be 10-1 or 9-2 at the end of the year.

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