Three Predictions for the Michigan Wolverines 2022 Football Season
I’m going to get negged to Bolivia for this unnecessary thread but what the heck, I’m stoked for Michigan football, the return of college football, and predictions are fun.
I’ll start with my own:
1. I predict Michigan’s secondary will finish as the best in the Big Ten. We have a lot of talent in the secondary in Turner, Green, Johnson, Sainristil, Moten, Moore along with some athletes coming in. Combined with one of the better DB coaches in the country in Clinkscale, I think we finish the regular season with the top rated secondary in the Big Ten. Lofty prediction, probably but we have the talent. If nothing else, I feel better than I did in 2020.
2. I think while we lose production at edge, the interior defensive line will be improved. Expecting a breakout year from Mazi and one of the younger guys like Grant or Graham to step up. Elston will have these talented guys ready come fall.
3. Michigan will beat MSU this season. Hard to replace the production of Walker at RB and get that many favorable calls. Not sure adding Amir Speed immediately fixes what was perhaps the worst secondary in the Big Ten. Michigan also seems to have a chip on their shoulder regarding last season’s game against MSU and wants payback. It’s rare opposing teams get three in a row on Jim. Michigan to put Sparty back in their place.
Bonus–Three non-Michigan predictions:
1. Auburn cans their coach at the end of the season and hires Freeze. Something something, Freeze beat Alabama and Auburn wants a guy that can handle Saban.
2. Minnesota finishes in the top 25 and makes a push for winning the Big Ten west. Tanner Morgan was at one time an NFL Draft watch list QB. With super seniors Morgan and Ibrahim, the Gophers are an interesting team to watch in the West.
3. Clemson rebounds and wins the ACC and secures a playoff spot. Even after losing both coordinators, Clemson still has a solid defensive line that will give them a formidable defense. There’s a question mark at QB but Uiagalelei isn’t far removed from tearing it up in Lawrence’s absence and the number one QB ranking out of high school. Either way, he has another number one QB behind him in Klubnik pushing him for the job.
August 17th, 2022 at 11:37 PM ^
Michigan beats msu by 28.
msu loses at least 5 games.
August 18th, 2022 at 12:32 AM ^
There are two games every year that have my ass puckered up tighter than a snare drum: MSU and OSU. It doesn’t matter how bad Sparty looks in the lead-up to the game, they always play us tough as hell. I’d love to just crush their spirit and win by 28, but I’ll just be happy for the team to walk away with a win.
1. Ronnie Bell ends the season with the most receptions, but Andrel Anthony has the most receiving yards.
2. Both Corum and Edwards rush for over 1000 yards. Edwards has > 500 receiving yards.
3. Michigan sets a single game sack record against Penn State, but Clifford still finished the game.
Bonus extra spicy hot take:
4. Every week there will be at least one thread about how much people miss Jim Brandstatter and Dan Dierdorf calling games on the radio.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:47 AM ^
About bonus extra spicy hot take above. I love Brandy and Dan. Great Michigan guys. Distinguished careers. But Brandy could not do play by play. Never should have been asked to. And Dan was still a good analyst but he was tired and in pain. You could hear it in his voice. I will miss them both but I will not miss their broadcasts.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:20 AM ^
“Every week there will be at least one thread about how much people miss Jim Brandstatter and Dan Dierdorf calling games on the radio.”
And those who start such threads will be roundly mocked and ridiculed.
August 17th, 2022 at 11:40 PM ^
1. Michigan goes undefeated until losing the national championship to Alabama. McNamara starts every game.
2. The defense ranks better than last year's in points and yards against and turnovers forced (though not sacks)
3. JJ enters the portal (see item #1)
August 18th, 2022 at 2:23 AM ^
#3 makes me sad
August 18th, 2022 at 2:44 AM ^
If anyone leaves, it’s going to be McNamara.
August 17th, 2022 at 11:46 PM ^
I'll give you a corresponding three non- Michigan predictions as well.
1. Auburn fires Harsin but replaces him with Urban Meyer
2. Nebraska wins the B1G West, reversing their record in one-score games from last year. Michigan destroys them in the conference championship game, however.
3. NC State wins the ACC, ending the most agonizing P5 title drought.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:25 AM ^
Meyer will be going to FSU, He doesn't want the saban smoke.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:59 AM ^
After that Columbus restaurant footage and all the lying that surrounds Urban I want to believe he is poison and nobody will touch him. I also want to believe that unicorns exist.
August 18th, 2022 at 10:17 AM ^
There will be some program out there that is desperate enough to call him. FSU and Auburn are two I can think of right off the top of my head. They will be so tired of losing that they will be willing to sell their souls for 5-7 years of glory before he inevitably flames out again.
Now, would he take those jobs? I don't know. But there is at least one major program out there that will be so desperate to win that they will call him, claim they are "doing their due diligence," and that if he's hired, that Meyer has learned from his mistakes and is a changed man, will follow strict guidelines, blah blah blah.
Eventually, you get so tired of losing that you're willing to do what is necessary to win. Whatever will shut the fans up, shut the boosters up, and get everyone to fall back in line. Because as the AD, eventually your ass is on the line too if the football team isn't winning. You might figure "well if I don't hire a winner I'm going to get fired anyway."
August 18th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Look no further than the political situation in this country to see proof of that.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:51 AM ^
As a Tallahassee resident who enjoys dropping in on the Seminoles games from time to time, I pray this does not come to fruition.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:11 AM ^
Urban would never to go the SEC West, much less a school that plays second fiddle in the state to Alabama. He hates losing even one game and a rebuild at Auburn would have him pull the "medical issue" card after one season
August 18th, 2022 at 12:01 AM ^
1. Michigan has two 1000 yard rushers and two 1000 yard receivers
2. The defense is best in the B1G and top 3 nationally
3. Undefeated season, including beating Clemson (who beat Alabama) in the CFP
August 18th, 2022 at 7:08 AM ^
One of the 1000 yard rushers is a 1000 yard receiver and goes to New York.
August 18th, 2022 at 12:15 AM ^
"Clemson rebounds" From a 10-win season.
1. Corum and Edwards are the best RB tandem in college football.
2. Michigan makes the CFP again after a double digit win in Columbus and win over B1G West champion Minnesota.
3. McNamara and McCarthy split starts 50-50 over the course of the regular season.
August 18th, 2022 at 2:47 AM ^
Unless it worked out that way due to injury, #3 would never happen. Only a fool would operate a team like that.
August 18th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
I'm assuming if McCarthy became the starter at any point, McNamara would be gone. He wants to start and has proven he's good enough to start for a Big 10 team. Given the reverse doesn't appear to be the case (yet), the only way McCarthy becomes the starter is if they feel confident with one of the other QBs to back him up.
This only applies when the 2 QBs are basically even. If one of them pulls far enough ahead, it's a different calculation.
August 18th, 2022 at 12:22 AM ^
Yes the secondary will be improved however unless we figure a way to get the QB via blitz packages, overall the Defense will not match last years D. The loss of Hutch and Ojabo will just be too much to overcome!
August 18th, 2022 at 7:29 AM ^
Having Hutch, Ojabo and Hill back would be wonderful but Minter, Elston, Helow and Clinkscale will devise and deploy devastating schemes to wreak havoc from every direction. The summation of talent on this defense is as good or better than last year.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:42 AM ^
Even with elite Edge players Michigan came in behind State in sacks. The reason is team defense. This is where Michigan improves this year. Several players will share the TFLs and Sacks giving us an improved overall performance.
August 18th, 2022 at 2:06 AM ^
My guess is we lose one of the 3 games, MSU, PSU or OSU. My guess it would OSU. Then there may be an upset. 10-2. However, if one of QBs go off the charts and the offense scores a lot of points, I could see an undefeated season with a potential national championship. If we get a lot of injuries, which I hope not, I could see a floor of 8-4. But, I'm excited about this team and season.
My predictions are: TAM will beat Alabama and win the west but lose to GA in the SEC championship game.
The surprise team will be Pitt who will beat Clemson.
Frost will be fired at the end of the season with only 5 wins.
August 18th, 2022 at 2:51 AM ^
1. Donovan Edwards is a Heisman finalist
2. 11-0 Michigan @ 11-0 OSU to end the season, Michigan gets a stop inside the red zone on 4th and 1. Both Michigan and Ohio St reach the CFP along with Clemson and Alabama. UGA slips up vs UT and then to Alabama.
3. Jaylen Harrel has a big year and reaches double digit sacks.
Outside of Ann Arbor:
1. MSU limps into a bowl game at 6-6.
2. I share some of the clemson love, they bounce back big time and return to the CFP undefeated.
3. ND goes 8-4 and this insanely early celebration for “number 1 class” in 2023 starts to fall apart a little bit, it seems de-commits have already started.
August 18th, 2022 at 4:30 AM ^
No way 2 big ten teams make the playoffs. Pete Finebaum is a misnomer. Pete is an actual nuclear bomb that will detonate if two Sec teams don’t make the playoffs.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:19 AM ^
Make it so.
August 18th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
RR, wishful thinking….
August 18th, 2022 at 9:38 AM ^
I like Jaylon Harrell.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:08 AM ^
1) Corum Is in the Heisman conversation late in the season with 4+ TD game vs MSU and several other big games. *Personally I'm most excited to watch Corum this season. The nagging injury and not being 100% late In the season. Being The #2 guy last year and Edwards right on his heals this year. I think the Kid is walking in with a huge chip and he's gonna crush it!
2) ) Jeremy Gallon will no longer come up on Google search " Last Michigan 1000 yard receiver" insert Ronnie Bell
3) Michigan , Bama, Baylor and clemson In the playoffs
Bonus
4) Ryan day leaves for the NFL
August 18th, 2022 at 7:51 AM ^
I saw Blake's interview in the B1G bus trip series. His effervescent personality is a most pleasing and delightful thing-what a charming young man! I wish him good health because, if so, he is going to have a monstrous season.
We Michigan faithful have, over the years, come to an expectation that our favorite team will lay at least one giant egg each season-in addition to getting trounced at the end. With the character of this team, and following last year's table-flipping, I have a very difficult time seeing this group falling into such a hole. I respect the challenges the opposition will raise but I believe that our boys will be up to the task. The OSU game should be a special one-what interscholastic sports is about. I hope both teams do themselves proud and we are treated to one of the best contests ever-win, lose or draw.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:36 AM ^
"I hope both teams do themselves proud and we are treated to one of the best contests ever-win, lose or draw."
I prefer redemption for 2016 (JT was short) and Ohio gets jobbed.
August 18th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
I certainly hope you're right! However, the expectation for egg-laying is well-earned. Even as glorious as the 2021 season was, there were still some eggs that UM was able to overcome:
Even the PSU result wasn't what you would expect from a CFP team against a 7-6 team.
So it still seems reasonable to expect a less-than-glorious performance (or two) along the way. I just hope that this year's UM team has the same resolve to not let those performances turn into Ls.
August 18th, 2022 at 10:39 PM ^
Being a CFP team doesn't mean that you play your best every game, it means you find ways to win even when you don't play your best.
August 18th, 2022 at 8:37 AM ^
Ryan Day to the Chiefs. Reid retires.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:22 AM ^
- Michigan beats the pants off of OSU in Columbus to finish the regular season undefeated.
- Northwestern wins the B1G West and loses to Michigan. 41-3 in the B1G championship game
- Scott Frost gets fired after the season
August 18th, 2022 at 7:36 AM ^
Michigan defense improves in national ranking at least 5 spots. Its about the team not about having the most elite players.Wisconsin and Iowa play team defense without elite nationally recognized players. State recorded more sacks than Michigan as well last year.
Edwards has more combined yards than Blake at seasons end. This is largely due to the fact that his touches improve and he had 7.98 yards per touch last year and Corum 6.5.
Jenkins is the beast on the D line recording more solo tackles by far than the other two interior linemen.
August 18th, 2022 at 7:47 AM ^
One of the gimme games at home will push us to the limit. We night even lose. Eg Illinois, Maryland...
We will blow out either psu or msu
We will be considered the second best team in the big ten but will not go to the b10 title game.
August 18th, 2022 at 8:10 AM ^
"1. Auburn cans their coach at the end of the season and hires Freeze. Something something, Freeze beat Alabama and Auburn wants a guy that can handle Saban."
Brian Harsin in the SEC is....yeah, no, that wasn't a good idea. That said, where does Alabama go from Saban, as the man will turn 71 this coming Halloween (appropriate somehow)? Does anyone have any weird guess at this one?
August 18th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
Dabo Swinney is an Alabama alum with special connection to Alabama because he was a walk-on who ended up starting for Alabama and even was a part of an Alabama national championship game where he caught the go ahead TD pass. He still loves the program if him showing up at a ceremony for the national championship despite having a game with Clemson that week is any indication.
They throw money at him and make him say no.
August 18th, 2022 at 8:33 AM ^
If Cristobal does well at Miami then that certainly makes some sense
August 18th, 2022 at 8:27 AM ^
1. The Cade/JJ discussion will get annoying before the end of Sept.
2. After OSU, Nebraska will be the closest game on the schedule.
3. Michigan will score 50 at least 6 times this year.
August 18th, 2022 at 8:51 AM ^
1. Mazi does an Alan Branch against Penn State. Poor Sean Clifford.
2. Donovan Edwards becomes the next Marshall Faulk, but faster.
3. M has the best special teams in the nation.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:14 AM ^
1. My "Guy" TJ takes over the starting role on the edge.
2. Edwards has himself a year, with 1000 yards rushing, 500-600yds receiving.
3. JJ ends up getting more snaps at the end of the season, but both are instrumental in leading us to The Game as an 11-0 team.
4. I will attend my first game since 2004, the first time with my two boys, and I am truly excited!
August 18th, 2022 at 9:23 AM ^
1. JJ is the QB1 by the time we reach OSU, by hook or by crook. No offense to Cade. I like him a lot too. The offense is more pass happy than we've seen in years past and the pass is used to open up the run. Edwards and Corum have many games with more receiving yards than rushing yards.
2. The D is very strong against the run this year, as well as against the deep ball. The issues are containing mobile quarterbacks and stopping intermediate stuff early in the year as our ends and LBs adapt to not having Aidan and David killing fools 3 seconds after the snap. The D rounds into a solid if unremarkable unit that does just enough to get the win in almost every game.
3. We see the full Jay Harbaugh special teams with several trick plays on kickoff/punt returns including one in which Michael Barrett throws a pass to Donovan Edwards, who double passes back to Roman Wilson and takes it to the house.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:35 AM ^
It snows in Columbus on November 26th.
August 18th, 2022 at 9:56 AM ^
1) Michigan will routinely score 40 PPG, but Iowa will hold Michigan to its lowest scoring output in any game this season. I'm not predicting a win or a loss, but that game will be the most frustrating one to watch all season, and it will be a one score game in the fourth quarter. Kinnick is probably one of the top 10, or even top 5 hardest stadiums to win in, in the entire country, when you're coming in as a top-10 opponent. I don't know why, but Kinnick has a way of taking so many top opponents off their game. If Michigan was playing Iowa in Ann Arbor or a neutral site, I'd call that an easy 2 TD win for Michigan right now and not think twice about it. But its at Kinnick so its going to be a nailbiter.
2) Michigan will enter Columbus with a trip to Indy and possibly the CFP on the line. Whether they're undefeated or have one loss already, no idea. More likely that they already have a loss, but they're still going to be in a position to play for all the marbles.
3) Ronnie Bell comes back and gives the offense another gear to kick into. He gives the passing attack the balance it wasn't getting last year. I don't know that he gets 1,000 yards, but if he doesn't he gets close to it, and generates some buzz as being an NFL prospect.
Couple of bonus Michigan predictions:
4) Losing Hutch and Ojabo will be felt in at least 1-2 games this season, and games that Michigan otherwise would've put away will be closer. It will cause Michigan to have at least one game come down to the wire that it otherwise wouldn't allow. Nebraska is a good candidate for that, especially if Scott Frost is still fighting for bowl eligibility and knows he has to win out to save his job.
5) Edwards and Corum are considered the best RB tandem in America. Corum will have several "Heisman moments" in September where he makes defenders look downright silly and puts up video game numbers. Production cools off a bit as they get into October against stiffer competition, but he's still putting up good numbers
Non-Michigan predictions
6) Scott Frost is gone by the end of the season. He has a talented team and still shows an offense with creative playcalling, but they still can't get out of their own way in the bigger games. They make a bowl game at 6-6, but the new AD decides he's had enough and wants to move in a new direction.
7) FSU beats LSU in Week 1, and ESPN spends the entire week running non-stop segments of "Ladies and Gentlemen, THE NOLES ARE BACK!" FSU enters week 2 ranked, gets beat by Louisville, and the season falls apart from there. Mike Norvell is gone before the season is even over.
8) Georgia loses a game in the regular season. My guess is South Carolina. You look over the years and South Carolina seems to always play Georgia tough. Beats them fairly often as well. Georgia still wins the division but they take several steps back this season because the defense just isn't what it was last year. They lose to Alabama in the SEC title game and miss the playoffs.
9) OSU loses a game it shouldn't in the regular season. To who, no idea, but there is frequently that one game where OSU comes in sleepwalking (Purdue 2018, Iowa 2017, Tulsa 2021) and either loses or almost loses when that game shouldn't have even been close.
August 18th, 2022 at 10:30 AM ^
If OSU doesn’t win the big ten again, they’ll can Day for Fickell
August 18th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
They'd be absolute fools to do that. Not much to gain by doing it, but a lot to lose. No one can realistically ask OSU to do much better than its been doing for the last decade.
There might be some position coaches, maybe coordinators who could be on the chopping block if that comes to pass, but they would not fire Day after this season. That isn't to say his seat wouldn't be a smidge warm entering 2023, but short of a huge scandal or the team just cratering on the field, losing to Rutgers and then getting bombed by 50 vs. Michigan, Day is not getting canned.
August 18th, 2022 at 10:32 AM ^
Michigan predictions:
- Michigan tries to do the split duty QB thing until McNamara has a bad first half and then JJ takes it from halftime and then he has the wheel from there. I'm thinking this happens @Iowa.
- Corum & Edwards are the most dynamic RB duo in the country but we will sorely miss Haskins ability to perpetually get 2-4 YAC
- Michigan and OSU are undefeated when they meet
August 18th, 2022 at 12:00 PM ^
#1 makes sense. I can see where the Iowa defense mucks things up enough to make the game close for a bit to frustrate Cade. Then, JJ who maybe takes a few more risks, makes a couple big plays.