What are you realistic expectations for the season now?

I'll wait until after the NW game to make any predictions. WMU and SMU won't tell us much. Who knows on Nebraska right now. 

Still fine with 9-3. But 7 wins is far more likely than 11. And 8 is probably more likely than 10. 

Our defense is still elite IMO. ND just made a lot of 50/50 plays and those should balance out on the year. Offense needs work but if we can get Runyan to be not a tire fire (not even average, just not a revolving door) or Hudson comes in and is better than our offense will take a big step forward from what we saw against ND. 

It's still 9-3 to me.  For as bad as they looked against ND, I also saw weaknesses in teams like MSU and PSU that make those games feel less daunting.  

"Nobody had this game penciled in as a loss"

I did.  A road game at ND at night.  That combination never bodes well for us.  On the flip side, in 1988, we went to the Rose Bowl and in 1990 we were #1 within a few weeks of that loss.  Things can turn around for us quickly.

I believe we will be 9-2 with a shot at Indy on the line in Columbus.  While people were busy looking at us play poorly, they must have forgotten that MSU almost lost to a WAC team and PSU almost lost to a Sun Belt team.  

Win every game. 

I really thought we were going to beat Notre dame by the exact score we lost by. 

So, after seeing us Saturday, I would say we are an 7-8 win team again. I don't see us beating MSU, OSU, Wisconsin or PSU. I have a real hard time seeing us go in and winning those games. 

It sucks, because it was so excited about this season. I do get the pleasure of taking my 7 year old to the Western game this weekend, so it would be nice to score a ton of offensive touchdowns. I think he would really get excited. 

Oh well. Maybe we will turn out to be great this year. I know the defense will be. I am for sure a Nico fan, so there's that. 

I'm going to say 7-5 with losses to Wisconcin, PSU, MSU, and OSU. Not because I want to wallow in self pity, and get all pissed off about the Notre Dame loss, but because I think those teams are better than us. Especially since we play 2 of them on the road. 

This is all feelingsball kind of stuff. I may be wrong, and I really hope I am.

The caveat, maybe Shea gets pissed off and just explodes on teams. Who knows.

I hope the team comes out strong against WMU. That would be fun. 

Go Blue, friends. Sorry we all had to suffer last weekend. Hope our season has some surprises in store for us, like an upset against Wisconsin, MSU and OSU. That would be nice. 

It's pretty much the same as what I had before: 9-3.  10-2 best case scenario.

You guys keeps forgetting what Michigan football holds in its back pocket once again this year.

And that one things is just how badly the BIG10 sucks at football.

After week 1 i see us 9-3 beating msu and psu. Wiscy looked good and osu looks elite. I hope the boys are ready because it is going to get much harder. 

8-4. Losses to ND, Wisky, MSU, and OSU. JH goes 1-8 against rivals in first 4 years. 

JH can’t seem to pull it all together at one time on offense. One position group is so bad that it drags down the entire unit. Last year: QB. This year: offensive tackle.  

10-2. Lose the first and last game and win everything in between.

Anyone with a pocket passer, Win. Anyone with a scrambler, lose. We have never figured that shit out,.

Was at 8-4 (5-4)

Now I'm at 6-6 (4-5)

Not inspired by that offensive performance.

Looking at all the toss-ups (not sure-wins or must-wins), I still think we can come out on top in some of them. ND was a toss-up that's now a loss, so we go on from here: 

@ND - L (was toss up)
WMU - W
SMU - W
Neb - W
@NW - 50-50 W (this is our one "this always happens" possibility for a surprise loss)
MD - W
Wisc - 50-50 W
@MSU - 50-50 W
PSU - 50-50 W
Rutgers - W
Indiana - W
OSU - 50-50 W

So in "certainty" games we're 6-1
We have five toss-ups. That's 2.5 wins, 2.5 losses. We go 8.5 and 3.5. 

I think our best hope is to have no more than 3 total losses, and all of them be NY6 or playoff teams (ND, Wisconsin, OSU); or beat OSU and still have a minimum of 3 losses besides. That would be enough to get us into the NY6 game against the Group of Five qualifier and give us a shot at another 10-win season with an NY6 win, which would be our best result under Harbaugh. 

I do think we're far better than we showed Saturday, as opposed to far worse. I don't think we'll be much worse than that this year, barring injuries, and some flukey and mistake-y things happened that hopefully won't crop up again. 

One more sign of hope: For at least this week, it appears Jim has taken time off from his podcast, which I really enjoy in the offseason but bothers me that Coach spends time on it the day after a game, even if it's a win. 

If Brandon Wimbush is the guy he was against us for the rest of the season, that is an elite team we just lost to by one score. The sky is not falling. I could still see 10-2. 

Still expecting wins of MSU and OSU

No expectations.

It would be nice to see the team play as if they intend to kick some ass.

We haven't had that mentality in years from this team. Truth is, they are soft.

We will endure more disappointment until they tire of getting bitch slapped by good teams.

Nothing’s changed for me. I still think we beat Sparty, and play OSU for the Big Ten East Championship.

9-3 with losses against two of the following schools:

• WMU
• SMU
• Nebraska
• Northwestern
• Maryland
• Wisc
• MSU
• *bye week*
• PSU
• Rutger
• Indiana
• OSU

I'm not as down on the team anymore.  I blame the ND loss on schedule and not exactly the team to begin with.  You simply SHOULT NOT schedule an away game with ND given our schedule... Just NO.

I think the critical game is at NW. Win that one on the road against what may be a top 25 opponent and this team develops some confidence. Maybe that confidence spills over into the Wisconsin game and we get a W there. In this scenario I can see us going 9-3 (losses to OSU and either/or MSU/PSU). However, if we lose at NW I just can't see us recovering to beat any of the four remaining big ones, in which case I think we'reost likely looking at 6-6, or 7-5 at best. 

8-4

None. Beat Broncos then we know we have a better team. Then on to the next week.  My expectations are gone. Drank too much NFL coach koolaid. Prove you can win one big game is my expectation. That may define the season.

My expectation is that Shea channels *2013 angry Taylor Lewan* and we cruise to some wins until PSU when he hobbles off the field in pain and disgust just as Taylor did in Happy Valley 5 years ago.  A middling 7-5 with humbling losses capped by an mgobatshit board igniting defeat to KSU in the Haribo Gummi Bear Bowl in Galveston, Texas on December 18.  

The second half of the ND game proved that the defense just came out over-hyped and that mindset led to undisciplined play in the 1st half.  This is still a top 5 defense and that alone will carry this team to an 8-4 but more than likely 9-3 season, with losses to Wisc., Northwestern and OSU.  Yes, they beat Sparty because the Karma Gods demand a Dantonio "after the fall" GIF!

How they get to 10-2 is by the offensive line taking the next 3 games to gel and settle in to "above-average" status that will allow the offense to do just enough ( 24+ ppg) to compliment a shut-down defense (13ppg).  In that scenario, they beat Wisc., and NW.

How they get to 11-1 is simple... they finally get over the hump of bad calls, bad luck, and recent history by arriving in Columbus, playing/coaching the game of their lives and pulling the upset to go to the B10 Championship.     .

11 -1 . 

10-2. I think we can win until the OSU game. Wisconsin is good, but I think it goes in our favor since it's at home and Shea will have some magic. 

"Nobody had this game penciled in as a loss"

Not everybody—I had it 23-21 Notre Dame. My season prediction before the game was 9-3; right now I'd say 8-4 is more likely unless we solve some critical issues on offense.