Uof〽️ 10-1 heading into the “Game”

*would have

Exactly!

I was pretty optimistic about an 8-4 record at the beginning of the season.  The team certainly performed above my expectations and the football community should be proud.

This needed a thread?

Decided against starting a thread for this so I'll drop it here.  A PSA brought to you by mGrowOld:

Screw the pain.  Go Blue!  Bring me a hammer.

Let’s overtake these assholes!!! Fuck Ohio! 

razor thin margins between being 11-0 and 7-4.

I had them at worst 7-4, at best 9-2 at this point in the season. Based on the way they have played this year, if they play up to the level of their opponent, Michigan can win this game.

I had us ending up 10-3 after bowl season at the beginning of the season. This isn't nearly as surprising if you weren't committing seppuku after the covid season. The team has been recruiting well and has shown it to be at the 1b tier of the big ten east since Harbaugh first came on board.

Go blue! Let's finally take one home!

A complete and unfettered ref fuck-job from 11-0...

My honest pre-season prediction was 6-6 so I'm beyond happy and have been enjoying this team every single time they take the field. This is one of the most fun seasons I can remember. If we end the year with a bowl win to go 11-2, I will refuse to acknowledge the part of the fan base that still chooses to deride the program. This has been a incredible season, revel in it. Go Blue. 

Who *woulda thought we’d be a football school again?

I certainly did not.  Enjoying some road victories for once.

10-1 heading into The Game with all of your goals still in front of you. Probably should be 11-0, but it is what it is, and at worst it looks like you could end your season in Pasadena. 

If you told me that was happening before the season started I would’ve told you that you were effing nuts. They’ve exceeded all expectations here. Regardless of the result on Saturday they should all be proud of themselves. 

No one predicted this going into the season. It has been a pleasant surprise. But i said it when the season started, this was the only game on the schedule that matters. I was ok with an 8-4 season if it meant beating ohio state. Jim Harbaugh needs this win to finally shut up all the haters. Yes that includes me. I own up to my actions and i will be the first to admit i was wrong WHEN we upset the buckeyes this weekend in the big house. I cant wait!!

Under Harbaugh, 10-1 ended up being 10-3 as in the 2018 season. He's lost his last 2 games the next year while not 10-1. 

I don't mean to throw cold water on this and I'll go one game at a time so here's hoping that THIS YEAR, they break that drought!

I just want to beat OSU so damn bad. I've only ever seen it once. Devin Gardner's heroics and 2016 were so damn heartbreaking. This team would be my favorite team ever if they somehow pulled it off, especially after last year and all the shit they've gone through.

Huh?  What?  We're done.  Congrats to the team on a successful 10-1 season!  Unfortunately we're not quite in the top 4, so now we get to wait and find out what bowl game we're invited to.

 A ton of players poured their heart and soul into this program and deserved to go out on top.. but something about Aiden Hutchsinson. Maybe it was the surprised come back and everyone was so sure he played his last game for Michigan last season.  But man if Michigan pulls this off Saturday is hope there's two men carried off on the shoulders of their teammates. Aiden & coach Harbaugh 

I honestly don't even think we would need to win this Saturday in order to boost recruiting. If we could simply win a frickin bowl game for once and go into the off-season with 11 wins (a Harbaugh first here at Michigan) and actual positive momentum for next year I think that would REALLY help.

People like to talk about Dabo taking 8 years to FINALLY get over the hump at Clemson, but they conveniently leave out that Dabo won 10 games in his third season and never won LESS than 10 games since then until this year. So yeah, he didn't win a national championship until year 8, but he won 10, 11, 11, 10, & 14 games and THEN year 8 he won 14 games and the national championship. You really think he would have gotten over the hump if he followed up his first 10 win season with an 8 win season? Then 10 wins, then 9 wins? Then 2 wins? Lol not a chance. He consistently won 10+ games which allowed him to build a championship caliber team. That's called building momentum and that's how you start drawing better recruits.

Winning 10 games then following that up with downer seasons constantly will kill any and all recruiting momentum. If Harbaugh can simply start winning 10-11 games (even with a loss to OSU every season) every single year then that alone would set this program apart from the rest of the conference (sans OSU) and that's how you finally get over the hump. It's his constant downswings that's torpedo'd our chances at taking that next step thus far.

I fully expect to lose and lose big on Saturday...but to me beating OSU this year was never a realistic, attainable goal anyways. Winning the bowl game, getting that 11th win, and carrying positive momentum into the off-season for the first time since the end of 2015 is the attainable goal I hope we achieve at the end of this season.

I honestly think we've done enough to stabilize recruiting.  Kids want to feel like they are going somewhere where they will "have a shot" to play for it all.

We have that shot this weekend.  So we're one of maybe 10 teams that can say that.  That should be enough to convince a lot of kids this is a good program if they like the other stuff.

Obviously a win, a Big Ten title, and a playoff appearance would be stratospheric.  But not every kid can go to OSU or Alabama.  And after them and maybe 3 or 4 other schools, are there really better situations than ours?

This will also get better for us if there is playoff expansion, because we are one of the teams that will benefit the most from it, since we won't be completely blocked by OSU every year.

It’s really odd you look at the Iron Bowl and Auburn still beats Bama here and there. For Michigan to struggle for 20 years now it’s really head scratching. 
 

Before the season began, I predicted 7-5. I am very happy to have been so wrong.

That said, expectations for me certainly began to shift after we won in Madison. Wait...we WON that game? Hmmm. Well...maybe things might go a little better than I thought they would. We won in Happy Valley, too? Well, shit. Maybe Jimmy is truly onto something here. 

I gotta admit that now, finishing at 10-2, while still a VERY good season, would be a disappointment, though.

It's all there, right in front of us. Can we actually TAKE it, for a change? Remains to be seen.