Pre-Fall Camp Season Prediction Thread 2017

Submitted by SBo on

For me, it's anywhere from 9-3 to 12-0, the three losses coming from Wisconsin, PSU, and OSU. Most likely, IMO would be 10-2 with losses against two of those three. I really hope we can beat OSU this year.

jdemille9

July 15th, 2017 at 7:44 PM ^

11-1 wouldn't surprise me either. Why aren't you buying Penn St? After we curb stomped them they went on a tear and return just about everyone. Yeah, I know they caught an absurd amount of their 50/50 arm punts from McSorely but Joe Moorhead is the real deal and Barkley is the best RB in the conference..

AND it is at Penn State, at night, in a white out. Not an ideal place for a bunch of youngsters with no real experience in hostile environments, no matter how talented. I do think we have OSU's number this year though. 

jdemille9

July 16th, 2017 at 2:58 PM ^

PSU is way overhyped for sure.They're definitely not a top 5 team, but I feel like a lot of our fanbase is completely writing them off after last year. 

Yes, we have Harbaugh now but he has still not won a big road game here yet. Last year's experienced team collapsed in a hostile road environment against a less than stellar Iowa team. PSU isn't elite but they're better than Iowa and Happy Valley is an intimidating atmosphere. 

I'm just saying it seems a bit premature to write off Penn State just because we beat the crap out of them last year. 

GoBlueTom

July 15th, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^

My prediction is going to be painful if it comes true got us at 10-2 undefeated going into the last two games and we fall short to Wisconsin and OSU. 

maize-blue

July 15th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

10-2. They split the 4 tougher games. I'm not sure who of UF, PSU, Wisc., and OSU they beat. Anyone of those four they could beat and also lose.

jdemille9

July 15th, 2017 at 2:30 PM ^

I don't get the Florida game being a toss-up in so many eyes. They have NO offense and could very well be without their top WR.

Our lack of depth on D (my biggest concern this year) shouldn't be an issue against them. OL should be addition by subtraction and at the very least the run blocking should be an improvement. We have a returning QB who played very well before his injury against Iowa and a stable of talented RB's.. WR is a question but I'm sure two of Crawford, McDoom, Johnson, Schoenle, DPJ, Black, Collins and Martin will step up. Even less of a concern if Perry is active by that game. 

I'm not saying it's gonna be a blowout like last time but I just don't see Florida being one of the teams that gives us a ton of trouble. Honestly, Air Force worries me more. 

 

I Like Burgers

July 15th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^

Feels similar to 2016 Ohio State at Oklahoma.

Ohio State was favored by 1 in that one, and I believe they were an underdog during the preseason for much of the same reasons Michigan is a pick 'em against Florida -- lost a ton of talent on both sides of the ball and were going to be starting a bunch of guy who had never played much in the spotlight.

And then Ohio State kicked the shit out of them.

I don't think it will be a blowout, because unlike Ohio State, Michigan doesn't have two cupcake games to warm up with before going on the road.  That, and I haven't seen anything in the last decade to make me think Michigan is going to blow out a power 5 team on the road.  I'm just barely to the point where I feel OK predicting a win against teams with a pulse on the road.

NowTameInThe603

July 15th, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^

Strongest position is Dline and that will win some games though depth isn't deep. There is a pretty big drop off to the next best position group (rb is solid but I don't think there is a game changing talent in it to make a significant difference in close games). Which is why I'm going 8-4.

superstringer

July 15th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^

... Our OL and DL are each 1 injury away from the CLIFF.

... Entire D, entire receiving corps, and OL combined return, what, 3 starters?  Has that kind of team ever made it to the playoffs or a NYD bowl?  It's young but super-inexperienced

... Preseason scheduly has some sneaky ok teams that might not beat us, but that will push us, so while that's trial by fire, it's also going to expose weaknesses, possibly wear us down a bit more than usual etc.

While I think we have more talent than 9-10 teams on our schedule... it's so young.  We're going to trip up somewhere along the line.  We can't weather injuries like last year. That smells of a four-loss season.

Brimley

July 15th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^

Booo!

For realz, threading the needle to lose 4 seems highly unlikely. I still think we lose one of the tough Big matchups and one what the fuck but otherwise will have a terrific season. Dudes are young but very talented and a lot of this year's starters do have playing experience.

Honk if Ufer M…

July 15th, 2017 at 9:54 PM ^

Starting isn't the only measure of experience, playing is experience even if it's not in a starting context, believe it or not. Michigan is nowhere near as inexperienced as people are making out because we have a ton of guys who got snaps last year and some for two years.

One of last years freshman only played a couple of handfuls of plays but he told me that made all the difference for him and his comfort level, his understanding that he belongs out there, and in getting over the initial awe at the crowd and being out there etc. Now he's been focused on playing football on a football field, wherever, whenever, and tearing it up!

Didn't anybody watch the spring game? Think how many guys looked like absolute weapons, game experience or no, that are going to be additions to this team. Black, Eubanks, Gentry, Kahleke, Bush, Washington. There are a ton of guys that are going to make names for themselves that you're not counting on. There are a number of guys coming in as frosh that weren't here until the summer and some of them are going to contribute and some might even being pushing to start.

The offense is going to shock people!

Hurst isn't on the experienced list because he wasn't a starter, is he a weak point? Rashan, not a starter,, big hole then, right?

One of our Dline starters told me that Peters has looked as good as the spring game every day, but that he thinks he's 3rd still!!! I mean if the other two are truly playing better than what he showed we're gonna be a hell of an offense!

I think the improvements in many areas are going to outweigh learning curve mistakes. I think we blast Florida and then have a long stretch to get the kinks out and make mistakes but live through them and learn from them and get it together by the time we have test at Unhappy valley, and we're going to silence the sicko's. 

After that it's a matter of not getting big heads or ahead of ourselves and maintaining focus every game. They might run the table  or slip up, but I'll go on a limb and say we have enough to overcome mistakes in several games and come up big when the chips are down in tough games and go 11 and 0 riding into Indy, and then there are too many unknowns to predict anything else yet.

Do we have to beat Wisconsin twice? We don't know anything about what kind of years the West champ or other playoff teams will have or who they will be if we make it that far.

AA Forever

July 15th, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^

We were only 10-2 last year with a lot of of NFL-draftable seniors, so it's hard to see how we project to that good or better at this point, particularly when our schedule is, if anything, a little tougher. Other than maybe QB, there is not another position group on the field where we will clearly be better than last year, and with LB, DB, WR, TE, there's a lot of development that has to happen to even be as good as last year. Not likely that things are going to work out well at ALL of those positions.

Anything better than 9-3 as a most likely finish requires a lot of finger-crossing.