Michigan will be _ - _ in FB next year

11-1, Legends Division Champs

I think we go 9-3, with some luck 10-2. Questions I have are this, who is our starting running back/can we run the ball effectively, and can our O-line hold up all season. Having said that, I like our schedule and a trip to the BIG Championship is quite possible.

I honestly can see them winning all of those games next year... as long as they play sound, disciplined football.

This is my big concern.  The good news is with the the exception of ND, the first half of the schedule doesn't look that difficult on paper.  Barring key injuries, I'll be disappointed if UM isn't at least 6-1 heading into East Lansing.  Hopefully by then, the oline will have settled down and gotten comfortable. 

I also like the bye week before Sparty. 

9-3

Knock-on-wood, should be good: CMU, Akron, UCONN, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa

Win 3 of 6 against: ND, PSU, MSU, NEB, NW, OSU

11-3. Losses at Northwestern, vs Ohio, and vs Ohio again in the B1G title game. Michigan heads to the Capital One Bowl and finally knocks off an SEC foe.

If we do that (a huge IF with ND and ohio at home this year), I see Michigan going 11-1 and making it to the B1G championship game.

I believe the offensive line is going to be a superior group to this year's line.  Redshirting all those freshmen offensive lineman is going to pay off handsomely in 2013.  They will be young, but have a year of college under their belts, plus a year in the system.  They also have more talent than this year's group had, so if we can coach them up, this offensive line will be a handful for everyone they face.

I am bullish on how good we will be 2013.  The Brady Hoke era is going to soar starting this fall.

10-2 big ten champs



Losses to ND and PSU

I'd feel a lot better if Lewan was coming back and if I had some sense of where the rushing yards will come from.  It would be nice to have someone to catch the ball other than Gallon and Funchess too...I think you have to put the defensive backfield down as a big question mark as well, though I think there's reason for hope there.

but other than Lewan which is a big loss, and perhaps Kovacs and Roh on D who else are we losing that has people concerned?

9 wins is the floor. I feel like OSU and Notre Dame were given too much credit this year, and next year when we're starting to build up a lot of talent, I could see us winning both those games too. Same with Nebraska.

I'd say 10-2 is likely.  The team that showed up in the Outback Bowl would've gone 10-2 this year, beating ND and Nebraska.  Next year the defense will only get better and I can't imagine that the O line will get any worse given the coaching staff.  All in all, 10-2 looks likely.

Plus i pretty much got used to the idea of having Devin back there after the last 4-5 games.

Some of you are funny. Jim Jones would be so proud. 

I don't think we will lose at home though nebraska/osu/ND will be tough...

i see us losing at NW and the big ten championship game

jdon

5 for sure wins: CMU, Akron, @UConn, Indiana, Minn

8 losable games: ND, @MSU, @PSU, @NW, @Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Bowl game.  I think we lose 2 road games, a home game and the bowl game.

Under Hoke we are 14-0 at home, but only 5-7 road/neutral site.

I am very optomistic about the offense if the lineman can step up. Kalis is going to be a stud, I think. And DG slinging the ball to Gallon, Funchess, Dileo, and Darboh and Chesson coming up is going to be fun to watch.

I expect a Big Ten championship with a rematch against Ohio State. And I think we can beat them twice. 

13-1, hopefully 14-0. 

Just think about this season... 4 of our 5 losses were within 2 possessions and we could have easily, had we made adjustments, won those four games.  I see us only getting better offensively with D-Gard leading the attack, and the D-line and secondary only improve with time... 2 losses at most... We win all 3 rivalry games for the first time in a while. I'm definitely optimistic about next season.

9-3.

Not including the Big Ten title game, my prediction for 2013's record is based on:

• CMU - W, nothing much to say
• ND - W, toss-up goes to us at home cause they got the luck in the 2012 matchup, although they still may be due because of our 3-year luck streak
• Akron - W, the highlight will be seeing Bowser Bowden roaming the sidelines
• @UConn - W, still hope they move to a bigger venue
• Minnesota - W, tougher game but still a win
• @Penn State - W, Penn State has to find another QB again and loses a lot on D but they get that sick WR back
• Indiana - W, tougher than people expect, still a year away
• @MSU - W, fuck these guys
• Nebraska - W, give it to us at home but they're supposedly good next year?
• @Northwestern - W, toss-up as I really like their QB options and defense is not sucking anymore
• @Iowa - W, AIRBHG demands all your ACLs
• OSU - L, we should've capitalized this year as they will be better in 2013 before we round into contender form in 2014

So I guess I am way optimistic or think the schedule isn't too bad. It's the "all marquee opponents at home but MSU" odd-year schedule that throws me off; I probably count home field for more than it's worth.

Being more realistic, we'll probably drop 1-2 of MSU, PSU, ND and Nebraska and sit at 9-3. Hope DG gets a 5th year but who knows what that schedule will look like right now.

The way-too-early lines, if you just go from the latest Sagarin numbers, would break down something like this:

Games where Michigan would be favored by more than 10 points: Central Michigan, Akron, UConn, Minnesota, Indiana and Iowa. Based on what I can see now with these teams, we're very likely to have six wins just there.

Games where Michigan would be favored by 2-10 points: Nebraska, Ohio State. I think we could take Nebraska at home. Ohio State probably is a good each way bet in Ann Arbor. Conservatively, 1-1 in this tier.

Games where Michigan gets less than a point either way: Penn State, MSU, Northwestern. Penn State's number is one I wouldn't worry about because I think they start a long slide in this coming season and should be highly beatable. We get MSU and Northwestern away, and those will likely be tough ones. I could see 2-1 in this group right now though.

That leaves Notre Dame, the only game in which, even with home field consideration, we would be thought of as the underdog (by a TD) by the numbers. That being said, the game is here in Ann Arbor and I could see this one being a game that, if we play as good on defense and don't turn the ball over quite so much, we could easily win. Much will depend on how we capitalize on ND's mistakes and mitigate ours.

I would think the 9-3 or 10-2 range would be feasible based on way-too-early numbers. We'll definitely know more going into the spring and late summer as all these teams work.

The back end of that schedule is rough.

I would be surprised if we lost more than 3 games.

11-2 and Big Ten Champions.  We will benefit from an easy pre-conference schedule to get new starters honed in on their technique.  Our D-line will be better, with Pee Wee ready to go and Black replacing Roh, our LB's will be killer, and our secondary significantly improved (assuming Countess plus safety replacements that work out).  That means a Tremendous defense.  The big question to me is the ability of the RS Freshman O-line to step in.  Again, the easy preconference schedule helps here.  I have huge confidence in Gardner with another off-season of prep.  Assuming Fitz healthy, Green/Smith able to contribute, Darboh/Chesson joining the mix at WR.  We should have a capable offense.  So capable offense + great defense = Big Ten champions.  

I'm gonna say 10-2 with a big10 championship which would allow us to play in the 100th Rose bowl. As it should be.

I think we can reach double-digits in wins.  If (huge "if") the young OL can gel, it can be a special season.  If not, a pretty similar year to this one, but with a couple more wins because the tough ones will be at home this time.

Lots of issues offensively

"Super-Cool".

Wait, did I do that right?

13-1 with a victory in the Rose Bowl.

13-1. Losing one stupid game we shouldn't.

I don't see Hoke losing a home game again next year. I would love to see another #1 #2 matchup game vs Ohio st at the end of the season. I can honestly see us 12-0 with the easy schedule we have but realistically I see 10-2 or 11-1 and that one loss will not be to Ohio st. We will beat them in Ann Arbor again. I have that loss or losses to NW, MSU or possibly ND. We'll have to see how much ND is bringing back.

• CMU - W
• ND - W
• Akron - W
• @UConn - W (closer than expected)
• Minnesota - W
• @Penn State - W
• Indiana - W
• @MSU - W (easier than expected)
• Nebraska - W (easier than expected)
• @Northwestern - L
• @Iowa - W
• Ohio - W

• BIG Champtionship - Ohio (again) - L

•  Captial One Bowl - Florida - W

Final record:  12-2

Preseason prediction accuracy last preseason (for 2012): 100%

Way early predictions for out years:

2014:  11-3 (no playoffs)

2015:  13-1 (lose 1st round of playoffs)

2016:  12-2 (no playoffs)

2017:  15-0 (National Championship)

2018:  10-4 (no playoffs)

A lot hinges on the O line. If they can marginally improve from this year (realize this will be hard and certainly unknown with mostly new starters) this may allow our offense to be more balanced.

Next year we should have a lot more of the personnel we need on offense but many of then will be new. Lots to talk and speculate about in the off season. Balancing this with a favorable schedule leads me to 10-2 expected record.

Notre Dame will take a significant step back, as will Penn State. MSU is probably a 7-9 win team, Nebraska is a 9-10 win team, and OSU might be awesome. We'll be heavily favored everywhere else. 

For us, the defense should be better and the offense might actually be better equipped to score in the games we need it to next season. It adds up to about an 8 win floor and an 11-12 win ceiling to me, and I'm usually a pesimist. I'd guess 10-2 with a title game appearance against OSU.

This assumes Derrick Green comes and either he or Smith can play well right away behind an offensive line that is pretty good by the end of the season despite early struggles.