CMHCFB

January 12th, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^

Agree, talent was there.  Poorly worded article, I think they meant the other 5 outlets did NOT include UM  

Elsewhere, however, the Wolverines aren’t receiving the same type of love. Five other outlets — a group that includes ESPN, The Athletic, Sporting News, Athlon Sports and Stadium’s Brett McMurphy — includes Michigan. In fact, the Wolverines failed to even crack McMurphy’s top 40.

Joined: 12/27/2018

MGoPoints: 1805

Perkis-Size Me

January 12th, 2021 at 12:59 PM ^

All based on the talent that's there. But yeah, I don't get it either. You're replacing multiple pieces, you have no idea who your QB is going to be for the umpteenth year in a row, your secondary outside of Dax is an absolute mess, and you have no depth whatsoever at DT. On paper, your defense figures to be even worse next year than it was this year. 

Barring a complete renaissance from the offense and either McNamara or McCarthy being the real deal, this team will struggle just to get to 8-4 next year. OSU is a guaranteed loss, Penn State and Wisconsin are both on the road and probably losses, Northwestern won't be a picnic, neither will Indiana (especially now that they have the monkey off their back of never being able to beat Michigan), and who knows if we sludgefart our way out of the gate against MSU again next year. 

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105760

mgoblue0970

January 12th, 2021 at 3:55 PM ^

I predict 5-7.  But the 4-1 start will have every one talking good things because the optics of 4-1 look good versus not having continuity at QB, a bad secondary, and no depth at DT.

W Sep. 4  Western Michigan     
L Sep. 11 Washington     
W Sep. 18 Northern Illinois     
W Sep. 25 Rutgers Scarlet Knights(HC)
L Oct. 2  Wisconsin Badgers     
L Oct. 9  Indiana     
W Oct. 16  Michigan State     
W Oct. 30  Nebraska     
L Nov. 6   Northwestern     
L Nov. 13  Penn State     
L Nov. 20  Maryland     
L Nov. 27  Ohio State     

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 18648

Guy Fawkes

January 12th, 2021 at 12:41 PM ^

Unranked to the ESPN early top 25 poll. With expectations so low this would be the opportune time to roll with McCarthy off the bat ala what Auburn did with Bo Nix. Sure he'll take his lumps and make mistakes but come soph-junior year he would have the experience to lead this team. 

Joined: 09/28/2016

MGoPoints: 1716

mackbru

January 12th, 2021 at 1:24 PM ^

I don't know how you see enough talent to be a Top 10 team next season. The D is severely undermanned at most positions, and god knows who they'll get as a coordinator. The offense does have offensive potential, I suppose, but nothing this year suggests a giant leap forward, especially with no established QB and a pretty daunting schedule. This team has 7-5 or 8-4 as a ceiling.

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 34145

1VaBlue1

January 12th, 2021 at 12:45 PM ^

I can see it.  Unless there's a repeat of the (apparently) bad blood in the locker room, the team should be good enough to win 7 games fairly easily, with another 1-2 wins possible with a fight.  Michigan, with 8-9 wins, is a #15-25 team based on name recognition alone.

The question I have is not whether Harbaugh is a good enough coach to get 8-9 wins - he is.  But rather, how many more transfers before the first game, and will any of the coaching changes be effective in changing the culture/attitude within the locker room?

My personal opinion is that Harbaugh would rather be somewhere else, and that fans will extend an exceedingly short leash for a repeat of commonly repeated issues (clock mgmt, stacked box runs, etc - you know the drill...).

Prediction based on flimsy evidence: 8 wins and a competition with Indiana and Maryland for 3rd place in the East.

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127087

1VaBlue1

January 12th, 2021 at 1:13 PM ^

Nope, no light to shine.  This is my thought based on how the season played out, what we saw from body language (players and coaches), the continued transfers out of the program, and the words of several 'insiders' about the state of things.

I mean, when the head coach has to go around the bench to encourage players to cheer a good play, there is something wrong in your locker room...

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127087

RGard

January 12th, 2021 at 4:11 PM ^

I was at the Michigan - Maryland game in 2015.  We sat right a few rows up behind the bench where the defense was sitting.

Durkin (then DC) had to go around the bench encouraging the defense to be more animated and cheer when the offense was on the field.  

Folks will sit idle if allowed.

Joined: 10/20/2014

MGoPoints: 57073

1VaBlue1

January 12th, 2021 at 1:16 PM ^

Trying to be optimistic?

But I do believe there is enough talent on the team to hit 8 wins.  If they look like 2020, though, all bets are off.  If they look like every other year, Harbaugh gets 8 wins.  I think we've seen both the plateau and the valley for a Harbaugh coached Michigan team, so more often than not we'll get something in between 10-3 and 2-4...

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127087

gm1234

January 12th, 2021 at 5:01 PM ^

Have people here not realized the need to stop including MSU in the win column pre-season? Seems every year we talk about how terrible they are and how we’ll win by double digits (I know you didn’t say either here specifically), and the game rarely goes that way recently. I mean isn’t Harbaugh only 3-3 against them?

Joined: 03/16/2020

MGoPoints: 3308

A Lot of Milk

January 12th, 2021 at 12:57 PM ^

So we feel good about our o-line. Highly rated running backs. I like our receivers even though I think they're a bit under sized and...that's it? QB room is unproven, offensive play calling has been terrible since Gattis has been here. Linebackers are starting over, d line was a mess, secondary was even worse. We don't even have a DC yet. 

But sure, that's probably good for #22 in the country

Joined: 02/17/2013

MGoPoints: 48609

azee2890

January 12th, 2021 at 1:11 PM ^

We return two of our three linebackers (Ross and Barrett) so not exactly starting over. D Line will return everyone except for Paye and Kemp (who hopefully will be replaced by a good junior season from Chris Hinton). Cornerbacks improved significantly over the course of the season and Daxton Hill should be up for a big year. 

The team this year largely sucked because we had a ton of new starters and we were super young. Now those new starters have experience and another year to develop. This is how teams get better. 

Joined: 07/13/2020

MGoPoints: 10850

azee2890

January 12th, 2021 at 1:33 PM ^

I guess that depends on if the new DC has a scheme tailored to the players he has or if he tries to teach players a scheme he already had in mind. 

Brown clearly had a very regimented scheme and did not play players unless they had a full understanding of his scheme even if they were more talented. That is why you saw so few underclassmen playing. Macdonald reportedly doesn't have a definitive scheme he likes to run so he might design a scheme based around the players skills and talents he has. 

Joined: 07/13/2020

MGoPoints: 10850