Top 5 Michigan Football Teams Since 2000
What are your favorite UM football teams since the new millennium? This is my personal top 5:
1. 2003- Loved our ability to basically run the ball at will, Braylon was Braylon, and our defense was awesome.
2. 2006- So close to winning it all, but losing two in a row sucked a little for me. Anyways, the offense led by Mike Hart was great, and the defense was amazing until our defensive coordinator couldn't game plan for a spread team.
3. 2004- Couldn't believe this team had gotten as far as it did. Freshman quarterback and a running back that wasn't even 5'10 leading our team to the Rose Bowl? I would of laughed in your face if you told me that at the beginning of the season. Plus Braylon coming back as a senior was nice.
4. 2015- First year of Harbaugh. Started off a little slow but ended up beating the SEC East champions in their own backyard 41-7. Doubled their win total from the previous year as well and had a streak of 3 consecutive shut outs.
5. 2011- People may say this year was a fluke but I don't care. We had Denard, beat Ohio State for the first time in what seemed like a 100 years, and won a BCS bowl game (Sugar Bowl).
Don't think I'd make any changes to your list, other than maybe putting 2006 first?
I LOVED the 2006 team, but we had so much potential to win it all and we dropped the last 2 games to teams that I hate. That is why they are my #2.
Edit: The 03' team won the BIG 10 championship and the 06' team didn't, so that is another reason why I like the 03' team more.
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Neither did I. Never had the true faith in Henne. I blame John Navarre and Chad for part of the decline. Their play as a Michigan QB and poor character in games had to have been a hinderance. I wouln't have liked to play with them. I am a true asshole though so remember that.
We had the talent to win, but not the coaching. That roster is absolutely loaded and compares very favorably with the rosters of both USC and Florida. It was atrophy on the sidelines that cost us, and that is part of why that season left a bitter taste in my mouth that I have yet to clear out.
The Cap One bowl the next season was a clear demonstration that, when coaches were willing to get creative and use the talent they possessed aggresively, mid-90s Michigan could compete with any team in the country. They simply declined to do it.
Against USC in that Rose Bowl, Michigan fielded players in almost every position that had as much skill and as much future potential as USC. Sure, USC had Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith. Michigan had future pro bowler Leon Hall available to cover, David Harris patrolling the middle of the field (fun fact--a discussion this week prompted me to look at PFR's total value ratings for past seasons, and the year that Darrell Revis was competing for Woodson for DPR, Harris tied Revis for the best rating of any defender in the League that year) and LaMar Woodley rushing the passer. On offense, Michigan had an all-decade RB, a future #1 overall offensive lineman, a future multi-season NFL starter under center (way too much under center if you ask me) and the best trio of receivers in the country.
Michigan lost the last two games because it was soundly outcoached. As they lost many other games throughout that decade.
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I disagree. I thought they were both the two best teams all year. The Game was played Nov 18th while Florida and USC played their last games of the season two weeks later on Dec 2. While Mich and Osu had an extended of time off, Florida and Osu did not. 2-3 weeks off is a really long time in sports and I think that derailed the focus, conditioning, and that "grinding" attitude that they had going on.
I think the results would have been much different has those games been played at the end of the season instead of 8 weeks later.
I also believe this was the crux that moved The Game up a week to the Thanksgivning weekend to lessen the time off for the bowl season.
1. 2016 - Second year of Harbaugh. Smashed MSU at home and won a tight game against OSU. National Champs.
1. 2006
2. 2003
3. 2004
4. 2011
5. 2000
Honorable mention HOT TAKE: 2007--perhaps the best -team- of the bunch. When you think about what that team put together after the first two games, the injuries to key players (Henne basically trying to throw off one leg and a ripped-up shoulder after, what, the first quarter of the Oregon game, etc.), and they still manage to pull off the rest of that season. I'll take the heart of that group of guys over anything else.
Why when 2007 comes up do you always say ''screw the first two games look what they did after those!'' The 2007 big ten was weak and we had more talent than any team easily say Ohio State. They should have gone through the big ten exactly like they did until Wisconsin and OSU.
Lost @UCLA by 3 because Henson was hurt and a RS freshman Navarre started.
That Purdue game I've always remembered for a couple of disturbingly bad calls, most notably the Purdue player that was FIVE YARDS OFFSIDE on an onside kick that directly led to the Boilers getting a FG right before halftime. That's a minimum of a three point swing and as much as a 10 point swing if they rekick and we score before halftime. In a one-point loss. Ouch.
Lost to Northwestern on a fumble running out the clock.
We could have easily swept the regular season that year.
If that's not bad enough, look at the 2001 season where Henson left early. Three regular season losses, BUT:
A five point, super fluky loss to Washington where they scored 14 points in like 2 seconds
A two point loss to sparty and a six point loss to OSU at home.
Yes, the bowl game was a disaster no matter how you slice it, but I can't imagine how we would have lost any of those three regular season games with a senior Drew Henson at QB instead of a second year John Navarre.
If Drew hadn't tried the baseball thing, we're probably at least playing in the national title game that year. I don't think we would have been quite good enough to win it (never know,) but the perception of our program (and OSU's early in Tressel's tenure) is totally different if we'd have gone 11-1 instead of 8-4.
I've always believed that if we'd won that 2001 game against the Buckeyes, they wouldn't have won it all in 2002 because they wouldn't have had the composure to beat us in a game where we outgained them by a significant margin. Remember how the past decade plus had gone for the Bucks, so you can imagine how much we'd have been in their heads. And if we'd beaten OSU in each of his first two games, Tressel's career takes a completely different path. That '01 game has had ramifications to this day.
If things had changed early on when Tressel got there and UM was still dominating the series like it had for that long? You have to be kidding me. The buckeyes probably woud've canceled their football program entirely. Just shut it down. So demoralized they coudln't even handle it! Laugh my f-in ass off. I wonder sometimes if this whole decline of Michigan football was somehow setup behind the scenes. Like the perfect storm idea. Michigan's small decline on the timeline lead to the strenthening of the B1G allowing their resurrgence to the top to be legendary and unmatched through the ages. No one touched them for years. I can see the headlines now!!
this game as the most important game for spread offense because it shows the coaches that they can win games with lesser talent running spread offense.
The thing is Michigan has better athletes lining up across the board yet they couldn't stop Northwestern offense. They refused to adjust and think they'll just out-talent/out-execute them which is maddening.
2007 was so painful, but ending the year beating Florida and Tebow made the year much better. That team was loaded with talent and it goes to show how much injuries and bad coaching can really hurt a team.
I don't think the 2015 team would beat any of those early 2000's teams.
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Let's remember the good times.
No question, Jim. Tremendous win.
THE HIT
I'll never forget that.
"It was at that moment that he knew he fucked up"
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didn't get drafted is he's not athletic enough to play S. He refused to move to LB until it's too late.
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- 2003
- 2006
- 2004
- 2000
- 2015
2012 was a good team. Our best 5-loss team ever. Held back by idiotic playcalling.
Should've beat ND. Could've put Gardner in against Nebraska. Would it seriously have been worse than Bellomy?
One TD in the second half beats OSU in 2012. One. Instead we did nothing and still have a goose egg for division titles (would've been a co-championship if we won that game).
Couldn't agree more on 2012.
Honestly, the 2012 team likely would have beaten the 2011 team head to head. We just had a much harder schedule and a TON of bad luck go our way (as opposed to 2011 where we had an easy schedule and a ton of good luck go our way), but 2012 was a solid season.
Bad luck? You mean bad coaching?
Yup, that too. lol
Precisely.
Hot taek coming: I know I may incur the wrath of some RichRod haters, but I feel like the coaching that season (removing the program management componentwas the worst in-season Michigan coaching job in well over a decade.
Obviously, there were several teams that performed worse than the 2012 team, but most of those teams (2008-10, 2013-14) were sunk by years of errors (Carr's poor mid-2000s recruiting and the pro-style to spread conversion, RichRod's aversion to OL recruiting and defense in general, Hoke's inability to player development flaws). 2012 was probably the ideal point in time when the offense still had the RichRod talent (e.g. Denard), and the defense was in its 2nd year under Mattison. 2012 could have been a Top 5 team, but in-game coaching lost both @Notre Dame and @Ohio State. In retrospect, all the signs of the eventual outcome of Hoke's Michigan career were obvious that season.
"2012 was a good team. Our best 5-loss team ever."
For my money, 2005 was the best 5-loss team:
Two of those losses ended on stupid BS plays (Minnesota we gave up that huge run when they were just trying to run the clock out and get to OT, and Nebraska when Ecker didn't PITCH THE BALL TO BREASTON! in one of the worst officiated games I've seen to this day.)
All five losses were by 7 points or less. Two were by a field goal (the Minny game and one of those perfect, offense-goes-into-a-shell-in-the-second-half Carr games vs Wisky.)
We beat #1 ranked and otherwise undefeated Penn State that season.
The guys on that roster are by and large the same ones that came back in '06 to win 11 straight. They might not have quite had the star power of those late 90's teams, but had more talent than pretty much any team since. That 2012 team was low on future NFL players, and the guys that came back in '13 didn't accomplish much
I'll bet no one thought this thread would involve people debating which 5 loss team was best. You're welcome!
PSU was #8
I'm talking about coming in.
In any case, whatever their rank the next week or at the end of the season, we were the only team to beat them that year. PSU fans are still upset about the national title we "stole" from them when Carr either rightfully got the officials to put two seconds back on the clock or made the officials invent two seconds from thin air because they liked him, depending on what version of the story you prefer.
They wouldn't have played for one even if they had gone undefeated. USC and Texas were #1 and 2 all year.
2006 has to be my favorite.
However, 2000 is probably most special. While I vaguely remember the 97 NC (I was 5), this was the first year I knew what it meant to be a Wolverine fan.
3 losses by a total of 7 points. Absolutely ripped my heart out.
Stomping OSU in Columbus - absolute euphoria.
I still to this day can't believe Anthony Thomas fumbled against Northwestern.