Lynn Henning is at it again
Michigan Wolverines (football): The generous pick would be 7-5, but it's difficult to make a case for more than 6-6. The Big Ten schedule is tough, and even the non-conference menu (Connecticut, Notre Dame, Massachusetts, Bowling Green) has enough thorns in it to make life tense for Rich Rodriguez's team. Anyone who says Connecticut (season-opener) is huge has the autumn forecast pretty well pegged in Ann Arbor.
Michigan State (football): Opposite picture, largely because the schedule is cozy, and also because MSU will be driven to exorcise last November's dorm-incident demons. With no Ohio State on the schedule, this could be a 9-3 team.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100706/OPINION03/7060408/1136/SPORTS07/Expect-Lions--MSU-to-be-much-improved#ixzz0t0W7c7Gm
Aside from the painfully easy nonconference schedule outside of Notre Dame, why is the bar set so high for next year for one school when BOTH are coming off losing seasons? I understand that they don't play Ohio State or Purdue, but isn't 9 wins stretching it? They host Wisconsin, play at Northwestern, Iowa, and Michigan. That sounds like tough sledding in the Big Ten conference, but why not slather MSU with all the praise in the world after three "successful" years with MD at the helms. And what happens if they lose a stinker? And say they lose a couple Big Ten games at home, which they have done in the past. That leads us to believe that 6-6 and 7-5 are a pretty good starting prediction, barring some sort of breakthrough year. Discuss.
fearless prediction from a sports writer! I just keep telling myself, Sept 4th is the day we can start proving the critics wrong. Until then, its just a bunch of white noise.
Call me a homer, but I really don't see Bowling Green being a 'thorn.'
MSU driven by the demons of the dorm brawl? I cannot take this seriously.
It wasn't a "brawl". It was just an "incident".
How could I have mistyped that...
he used such a strong word. I would have expected something more along the lines of "misunderstanding" or "situation."
plus, "brawl" would imply that there was some semblance of a fair fight. From what I understand, these guys ransacked the hall and beat the crap out of people who weren't doing anything to them.
brawl would equate to physical opposition as opposed to beatdown
'Brah'-L.
Clearly having thugs on the team will make them work harder. Duh.
How does a dorm brawl motivate anyone? and how is the motivation behind this more than the motivation from two of the worst seasons in UM's history? is this motivation so great that Dantonio knew about and let the dorm incident happen, knowing that the next season he would be able to use it as motivation? the man is a genius, a boring boring genius.
maybe there is a clock in the MSU locker room counting down to the next dorm pot-luck beatdown.
Um, I think because demons were involved. I'm not into the Twighlight/vampire fad, but the kids love this shit. Dantonio relates to and knows how to motivate his players.
of discussion and speculation, other than stating emphatically that the entire M-hating world can eat me.
...but it is becoming very difficult to not use the word "senile" in reference to Henning. I still think that overrating the instate rival and underrating Michigan only adds fuel to their fire this year, and that Michigan is going to play with the biggest chip we have ever seen on their collective shoulder this year.
I think the last time expectations were this low for Michigan, they went 11-2, and were one poorly-called personal foul away from playing for a national title.
His predictions don't bother me. His opinion is his opinion. What bothers me is that he gets paid to say things that really don't have any rhyme or reason beyond "I don't think Michigan will be very good this year."
I could write this article, with better analysis, for a small fraction of what they're paying him to do it.
Did MSU finish with 9 wins? How is that even a reasonable prediction. Their schedule is weak, but they always find a way to lose. I don't think a 6-6 prediction for UM is unreasonable. It is on the low side of what I think is reasonable, but its the MSU prediction that makes me question the writer's sanity.
He didn't predict 9-3; he said 9-3 is their ceiling.
Isn't every team's ceiling 12-0?
He's predicting 9-3 and throwing the "ceiling" word in there is to protect himself when they go 6-6.
13-0 or possibly 14-0 in some conferences...
I'm at the point where there are so very few people whose predictions I take seriously. Phil Steele says both of these teams should be pretty decent (top 40) and his record of accuracy is second to none. I'll trust his judgement that we'll be ok this year.
P.S. Steele has us playing LSU in the Gator Bowl.
Sounds good to me. The Gator Bowl sounds awesome right about now.
to death with a Gator Bowl berth this year. It would not only take the pressure off of Rich Rod (at least I think it would, you never know with our local media), but it would be a great step towards Tate/D-Rob's years as upperclassmen.
tickled to death?
So too does Jamie Mac in the HTTV roundtable. Albeit against Arky.
But, I trust you all have bought and read that already, amirite?!?!?!
I just bought it from the link in your sig, Jamie. Maybe you could get some commission from that or something.
"MSU will be driven to exorcise last November's dorm-incident demons"
Lynn should ask Digger Phelps and Dick Vitale how many teams were on a "mission" during the NCAA Tournament.
There's a reason he's a local sportswriter, he's not smart enough to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, bus driver, etc.
Because MSU's schedule is painfully easy. Like ours was going to be in 2011 before expansion screwed that up. I can easily seeing them go 8-4. If an MSU guy throws on an extra one, or thinks they'll beat Michigan, I can't really hold THAT against him. I'll save it for when he says really stupid stuff. Like all the rest of the time.
And conversely, while I don't agree with it, if you think we'll lose the 3 big games on the road...and as above, think we'll lose to MSU...there's four losses right there. Finding one or two more, which he is speculating, isn't really that hard among Iowa, Wisconsin, U-Conn, Illinois, Purdue. I mean, there are a lot of people on THIS site who say we should be thrilled with 7-5, and it shows major progress. So for him to hem and haw over it, I don't see it as a major insult.
is the second coming.
I don't know why you are getting so upset about it. Where we play OSU, they play Minnesota. Where we play UConn, they play WMU. We play @ND, while they play @home. They were pretty equal teams last year, so to think that they wouldn't pull out an extra 2-3 wins from those downgrades isn't unreasonable. If MSU were to beat Michigan this year, their 3 losses could be against the only teams with a better record than them at the end of the season.
Now, I don't think MSU is going to get by unscathed, but it's not like anything he said is exactly groundbreaking.
- They play at Iowa, and we get Iowa at home.
- We get State at home, and they have to travel to Ann Arbor.
- They have to play at Northwestern and we get Indiana.
State's schedule is probably a little easier, but not enough to justify a 3 game difference on those grounds alone.
I will give you the first one because Iowa can offset ND. I'm counting the game between them as a tossup and looking at both situations to determine best case and worst case for the two teams. Northwestern and Indiana are a lot closer than they appear.
But you still have the upgrade of WMU to UConn and Minnesota to OSU. Assuming the two teams are about equal, that COULD be a 2 game swing. If MSU wins, that is your 3 game swing.
Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that 9-3 and 6-6(or worse) are the likely outcomes this season. I'm just saying that 9-3 seems like a reasonable ceiling for MSU and until we prove that we are better than them on the field, 7-5 or 6-6 is definite possibility as well. However, if we have similar records going into the matchup, I think you could give us a 60/40 advantage in that game, we likely finish the Big X better than they do, and those records get swapped.
He makes one good point: MSU's schedule is pretty easy although I still think the best they do is 8 wins.
I see losses to Wisky, Iowa, Michigan and Penn State at minimum. People forget something really important when it comes to MSU, their pass defense was worse than Michigan's and nothing much has changed in that department.
their secondary was (and still probably will be) awful, and several of the pass offenses in the conference should get better. Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan should be improved with more experience at QB. Penn State, probably not so much. Who knows about Purdue...
The MSU game is far from a given win this season. PSU most likely doesn't have the QB to expose the secondary that you are pointing out. And, any games that you automatically assign as a loss to MSU should probably be assigned as a loss to Michigan as well.
Forgive me if I have no faith in MSU beating Penn State in Happy Valley despite whatever their QB situation is.
I think you forget that teams actually need to score points to win games.
Defense and Special Teams can score too
(not a comment on the rest of the discussion... just a statement of fact)
has a running game though! It might be funny watching PSU QB's vs. MSU secondary. Penn State wins 2-0.
Go ahead and cancel the whole Pro/College sports season Henning is on top of things, no need to take the field/court/ice. Nice article Douche (Henning not OP).
...Someone call him and ask where LeBron is going.
I hope all the local media expect MSU to win 11 games and MICHIGAN to win 4. Proving the local hacks wrong seems to be a regular occurrence around here.
at "Lynn Henning."
State's schedule is only "cozy" because they loaded up on delicious mid-major snacky cakes, and they avoid Ohio State... but they also miss out on cellar-dweller Indiana. How their schedule is 3 games easier is beyond me, especially when they play AT Michigan, Iowa, and Penn State.
going into this year is rated 58th. Ours is actually fairly tough at #37. We do have to go on the road to Notre Dame, Penn St, and OSU. That's a brutal road slate. However, it's not like State has the easiest schedule in the world. They have enough "auto-win" games if you will, to make a bowl. Plus us, Iowa, and PSU on the road. Notre Dame and Wisconsin are tough home games. It's not like their schedule is worlds easier than ours. It's certainly not 3 games worse as Henning insinuates.
i wouldn't say that's a brutal road slate. i would say typical big 10. if not ND, osu and psu on the road, it could easily be wisky and iowa. you should always expect at least 3 tough road games anymore.
but ya, i do typically like our season's chances when ND and osu are home games.
Let them pile it on. The revenge tour starts Sept. 4.
Quema los pre-season predictions.
I have better things to care about than what Henning's ignorant column states. You know things like, do I have time to drop a deuce before I have to GSI chem 125?
Class won't start until you get there. You always have time.
same headline had me rolling laughing on the floor. Can't wait for the games to start so we can make a statement. Go Blue !!!
Is it just me, or does it happen every year that local prognosticators overrate MSU, citing these two things: they have "a good defense" and "returning starters on offense"?
As long as I can remember, this seems to be the line. Doesn't seem to matter what year it is, who's playing, who's coaching, or if either statement is objectively true. Those always seem to be the two reasons MSU will "surprise" people every season.
I'll give Henning credit for citing an easy schedule, this time.