Highest 2-year win total in program history
Yesterday’s win guarantees a minimum of 23 wins across the 2021 and 2022 seasons, with a 2-year win total of anything between 24-27 still on the table. The previous program record for wins in a 2-year span was 22, which M has achieved 4 times:
1998: 10-3 // 1997: 12-0
1905: 12-1 // 1904: 10-0
1903: 11-0-1 // 1902: 11-0
1902: 11-0 // 1901: 11-0
Caveats obviously apply in the form of the addition of the B1G Championship game and the move to 12 regular-season games, but even so, we are living through a historic run.
While we would all be wise to enjoy the run for what it is, I’m sure the same question is on many of our minds: is this sustainable moving forward? If so, what needs to change (or possibly, what needs to stay the same) in order for this run of success to continue?
November 20th, 2022 at 9:47 PM ^
M record year by year for reference:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/michigan/index.html
November 21st, 2022 at 2:27 AM ^
”23 wins across the 2021 and 2022 seasons, with a 2-year win total of anything between 24-27 still on the table“
Im not sure if you are playing with fire here but do you want to wake the 15 year old OSU kid that controls all this from slumber? Anything between 24-27 and one other number you left out.
November 21st, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
If we make it to 27 this year. We could make it to 42 next year. Wouldn't that be something.
November 20th, 2022 at 9:47 PM ^
Might be better yet next year.
November 20th, 2022 at 9:57 PM ^
Then we'll have to do the three year version.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:04 PM ^
The 3-year record is 33, which we achieved twice in the early 1900s.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:17 PM ^
At this point it would be disappointing if we didn't match that, with at least two more games this season plus all of 2023.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:08 PM ^
To sustain this level of success, Coach Harbaugh needs to continue running this Baltimore defense and recruiting effectively for it. And, coach needs to find a way to better balance the offense with a more effective and explosive passing game. Michigan can still be a power running team, but it needs to add the element of explosive passing so that when Plan A fails there is an effective Plan B. The offense needs a tweak, not an overhaul.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:17 PM ^
Well, JJ is a better passer next year, presumably. So you could get your wish without much tweaking.
November 21st, 2022 at 12:44 AM ^
and my wish: without any twerking
November 20th, 2022 at 11:01 PM ^
Doesn't even have to be explosive passing plays, we just need more playmakers and more passing efficiency.
November 20th, 2022 at 11:32 PM ^
'Offense needs a tweak not an overhaul' just perfectly captures it. But that lack of that tweak...man that is hard to watch without scratching your head and saying 'what are they thinking?'
November 21st, 2022 at 5:59 AM ^
That's pretty much last year's offense. As many were complaining about the team running too much UM was sneaky good at explosive plays...one of the best in the country.
And its apparent that the coaches want this too as they've taken shots.
November 21st, 2022 at 9:40 AM ^
Remember the fire Harbaugh crowd during the pandemic?
November 20th, 2022 at 10:09 PM ^
Better recruiting classes are needed to sustain this. Alabama, Georgia and OSU are always in the top 5. A good year for Michigan is just edging into the top 10. Whatever anyone’s issues are with particular coaching decisions, I think it’s very clear that overall the coaches have been doing a great job these last couple of years putting together top 3-4 teams with less talent than their competitors. 2023 is going to be a down year (currently 23rd, according to 247). They’ll need to do much better in 2024.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:11 PM ^
They’re currently in line to do much, much better in 2024. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the coaches decided some time ago to focus primarily on ‘24 at the expense of ‘23.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:34 PM ^
I feel like we shouldn't rate our incoming recruiting classes without also considering who we might get from the portal.
November 21st, 2022 at 1:22 AM ^
We did make one really big transfer pickup this year with Oluwatimi, who has been an impact player from day one. But Michigan academic standards make it really difficult for transfers to come here, unless they are grad transfers. Don't count on any portal pickups most years. They are few and far between.
November 21st, 2022 at 6:01 AM ^
Okie has been good too. Not Olu good but definitely an impact transfer w a year to go.
November 21st, 2022 at 2:31 PM ^
I think we did OK with Daylen Baldwin and Mike Danna--not Olu-level impact, but definitely value added.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:10 PM ^
Are you not entertained?
November 20th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
^This was me yesterday when I came back to my seat after halftime to find the student section had emptied out
November 20th, 2022 at 11:03 PM ^
Well over a third of them left. Midwestern college students scared of a little cold. COME ON!
November 20th, 2022 at 11:12 PM ^
to find the student section had emptied out
The top rows never filled up.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
Sustainable in that, has Michigan turned the corner?
I think so, but I don't think we'll truly know until January.
Sustainable in that Michigan is going to go 10-1 or 11-0 to start every season? I'm not ready to go there just yet.
I think we've changed the culture, found an identity, and the program is as stable as its been since the day Carr retired.
But I won't lie and say this recruiting class doesn't worry me. Michigan has hit home runs in the past 2 classes and in order to get to Georgia, Bama, OSU level...I think you have to hit on 4 in a row. That, IMO, puts you at level where you expect to be in the CFP every year.
The transfer portal could be the big equalizer. I know on message boards we get attached to guys there's often this "he's earned it" nostalgia, simply by waiting his turn to play...that's bullshit to me, get the best player.
I love Greg Crippen, we aren't where we are without Olu.
Next year, we need to go find a RB to go with Edwards (I love you Stokes, but same as Crippen). Hell, if we lose Bowman, go try and find a backup QB to battle Warren.
Barnhart and Persi are great, if we can find the Olu of LTs? Sorry fellas.
On defense, maybe an EDGE. But if we only can get 1 Olu level transfer next year (which is unrealistic to bank in)...make it a CB.
I'm rambling, my point is...this class worries me a little and I'm not seeing the depth that I saw going into this season. And with NIL, you do get future first and second round picks who transfer.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:15 PM ^
So we are not a successful program unless we are a perennial CFP contender?
Seems a little silly to me. Perennial B1G championship contender is a fine and reasonable goal.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:37 PM ^
I agree in principal, but when your main competitor for B1G championships is a perennial CFP contender, that effectively means we need to be too. If not perennially, then at least more often than not.
November 20th, 2022 at 11:02 PM ^
The whole notion of "perennial playoff contender" will likely feel very different in a few years with a twelve team format.
November 21st, 2022 at 10:34 AM ^
Playoff expansion in theory should help us quite a bit. OSU/Georgia/Bama can't recruit any better unless 6 star players appear. But we can go from "fringe CFP contender" to "yearly CFP participant", which makes us a much more enticing destination, especially with recent wins over Ohio State and a B1G title to show that we've hopefully broken our ceiling.
November 21st, 2022 at 10:11 PM ^
EXACTLY.
Otherwise...what are we doing?
November 20th, 2022 at 10:40 PM ^
They are one and the same, though: The b1g champ will basically always get in with up to 1 loss (especially true if it's UM/OSU/PSU).
November 20th, 2022 at 11:48 PM ^
Assuming the B1G champ is from the east. The west is a crapshoot
November 21st, 2022 at 12:46 AM ^
if by "shoot" you mean "fest" then yeah
November 20th, 2022 at 11:28 PM ^
Why should Michigan set the expectations/goals lower than making the playoff every year? Your approach pervades the athletic department and...is the very reason that Michigan has made the playoff only once.
November 21st, 2022 at 7:12 AM ^
So we lost the 4th-down spot decision in 2016 because our athletic department didn't aim high enough?
Maybe it's simply difficult to make the final four?
November 21st, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
Exactly...should expect a championship every year...only expecting to make the CFP or even the championship game is settling. ;)
November 21st, 2022 at 10:10 PM ^
I didn't say that.
We are absolutely successful.
But that doesn't put us in the tier with Bama/UGA/OSU where every year we should expect to the in the CFP and it's a shock when we aren't.
To me, thats the goal and that is what Michigan is working towards.
...I don't think we're trying to just be a 10-win team on a consistent basis. But if that's you're goal...yes, Michigan is there.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:19 PM ^
Can absorb one iffy class. Just close strong and end up 15-20 and return with a good one in 2024 headlined by Davis and we will be fine.
November 21st, 2022 at 9:07 AM ^
Especially considering a ton of leaders in the last two seasons were from a VERY iffy class in 2018.
Edit* Went and looked. Aidan Hutchinson, Ryan Hayes, Gemon Green, Vincent Gray, Michael Barrett, Luke Schoonmaker, Hassan Haskins, Ronnie Bell, and Jake Moody all from 2018. Some role players too in Taylor Upshaw, German Green and Julius Welschof.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:24 PM ^
A lot of young contributors at key positions on this team lessens the blow of bringing in an average recruiting class. Typical freshman defensive linemen do not play like Mason Graham. Or Kenneth Grant. Or Derrick Moore for that matter. Same with Loveland. And Will Johnson. Those positions usually require age/seasoning. Jenkins, Mazi Smith, All, Schoonmaker, Green, Turner etc all took years to get where they are. Their youth allows us a hiccup to some degree because they will be around 2 more years minimum. It gives the coaches time to find big time contributors elsewhere whether that is through recruiting or the portal. Harbaugh’s track record also suggests there will be some underrated studs in this recruiting class. No matter where it ends up.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:13 PM ^
Beat ohio!
.
That would be one additional---and HUGE---victory; potentially as many as three more wins could follow this season.
First thing first.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:34 PM ^
Best three year stretch I’ve seen was 76-78 when they went 10-2 each year, beating OSU every year, winning the B1G every year but losing the Rose Bowl every year.
This year’s team reminds me a LOT of those squads for a lot of reasons.
November 20th, 2022 at 11:22 PM ^
Pretty sure Michigan had the highest winning percentage in all of college football in the 1970s. Not a two-year thing, but a ten-year thing. I have always believed that Michigan has the fundamentals to repeat that result, if only the athletic department would fix its culture and stop thinking that 9-3 average is the goal....
November 21st, 2022 at 12:21 AM ^
Same decade, totally different years:
- 1971 10-1
- 1972 10-0-1
- 1973 10-1
or
- 1972 10-0-1
- 1973 10-1
- 1974 10-1
Even this three year span is nothing to scoff at:
- 1970 9-1
- 1971 10-1
- 1972 10-1
That five year span, 1970-1974 marked my formative years as a Michigan fan. The only things missing during those years was the illusive bowl victory, and a vote from the MSU AD.
November 21st, 2022 at 2:01 AM ^
We’ll finish 11-2 with losses to OSU and our traditional stinker in the Rose Bowl.
November 21st, 2022 at 8:51 AM ^
I remember that stretch (76-78) coming after the horrible run against OSU from 73-75. But 1975 was Rick Leach's first year so I had hope. Beating them 22-0 in Columbus was especially gratifying.
November 20th, 2022 at 10:48 PM ^
It's OSU being the most consistently excellent program in college football over the last two decades that has pushed Michigan to seek this level of excellence in a serious way. If we don't want to be embarrassed by OSU, we basically need to be a top 5 team.
November 20th, 2022 at 11:19 PM ^
This is an amazing result.
And yet...this is not the theoretical ceiling of the program.
Michigan has achieved this amazing two-year record despite the outdated culture that pervades the athletic department. Imagine the ceiling if Michigan would stop the self-inflicted restraints on NIL and transfer admissions, etc. Anyone who thinks 'well, we really cannot compete with Alabama and OSU' is...incorrect. A few key adjustments could bring Michigan football to parity with the most elite programs of all time.
November 20th, 2022 at 11:28 PM ^
Imagine the ceiling if we could just hang on to a few more passes!
November 20th, 2022 at 11:41 PM ^
Here is the thing: 'Hanging on to a few more passes' is very much about recruiting, NIL, transfer rules, and...the culture of 'as long as we average 9-3 it is all fine.'
Michigan is two or three super-elite recruits short of beating Georgia. Even in Harbaugh's best years, it is always true that Michigan is two or three super-elite freaks away from winning it all.
How good would the current team be with just ONE super elite WR that just gets open and snags everything in his catch radius? It would be the difference between having a 30% chance in Columbus (that is what the metrics-based models show) versus being the 60/40 favorite. It is the difference between having little chance against Georgia if we get that far, versus... winning it all.