Time to Believe
I think this article is worth a read, and reflects where a lot of our heads are at after Saturday.
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/football/max-marcovitch-its-time-…
The way 2016 ended, and how 2017 went pretty much from Penn State on, plus incessant media talk about road and rivalry woes made a lot of fans wonder if things were really turning around. This was true despite the fact that 2015-2017 was, arguably, our best 3 year stretch since the early 2000s. I had to look it up, but the last time Michigan had double digit wins in consecutive years before 15-16 was 02-03. Anyway, sometimes belief requires more than numbers and logic.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
This was what I wrote before the season. I am content with my shot in the dark prediction based on nothing but me rambling:
August 7th, 2018 at 5:52 PM ^
I agree. Almost every report I read about Michigan says “One good quarterback away.” This is not just an mgoblog statement either. I also know this is true for any program, but I’m looking at the depth we are building now and am very pleased.
Now this is just me babbling, but if the OL improves to a top 30 unit this year, I’m not worried about our offense moving forward. If Warinner = Don Brown, then pay the man whatever he wants.
More babbling: I’m really of the opinion that this season is going to be something special. I also think the silence from Harbaugh on social media and in the press makes me think he does too. I’m imagining a “What’s your deal?” moment for him with Danktiano and a giggling with glee handshake with whatever fecal matter ends up coaching Ohio State this year. We are going to the playoffs and the road is paved. This is the year.
October 23rd, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
This is the best team in the conference. If they play their best game or close to it each week,they'll win out.
October 23rd, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
Good post Comrade. It is indeed time to believe!
October 23rd, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
Obviously I feel pretty good about the team right meow but one thing still worries me and that's our quarterback. Shea looks jumpy, doesn't stand in the pocket, holds the ball way too long at points giving up sacks, and misses wide-open receivers at points. He does have a way of improvising and utilizing his legs, but I think McCaffery has the same potential. Although a limited sample, every time Dylan McCaffery has led the offense, we've looked commanding. I just think he has "it" in a way Shea doesn't and, in my opinion, Shea will hold us back from a national championship.
That's really my only concern with this team. I think every offensive position group is improving, especially the line. The quarterback position still scares me though.
October 23rd, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
Did you say meow?
October 23rd, 2018 at 1:07 PM ^
Hey, I'm with the o.p. I feel great about this team right meow!
October 23rd, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
In years past you could say the only thing holding us back is the QB. But this year??
if anything, having Shea at QB will be the reason we win out
October 23rd, 2018 at 7:12 PM ^
I think offensive line was the largest problem in the past. I just don't see how anyone could watch Shea play and think that he's a confident playmaker who will eek out the hard wins. His play routinely screams otherwise, which is unfortunate.
October 23rd, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
Nobody is beating BAMA this year without playing a perfect game and having them play an average at or better game. They are simply superior to every other squad in the country...an historically great team. Shea or Mccaffrey, it would take a miracle game to beat them.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
How do we know that? Who the fuck has Alabama played? How many ranked teams?
One. One ranked team.
They looked great beating up on LA Lafayette though.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
I'm reserving judgment on Alabama until they get through Death Valley. Yes, they're good, but they really don't seem invincible.
October 23rd, 2018 at 7:02 PM ^
Bamas defense isnt up to their usual excellence. This is the best offense theyve had in the Saban era though.
October 23rd, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
I disagree. I don't see how anybody could watch Patterson play and come away with confidence. I think his play screams otherwise; he's jumpy in the pocket, misses open receivers at points due to this jumpiness, and takes unnecessary sacks due to holding the ball. I'll give it to him, he's performed well enough, but I think he's a Jalen Hurts while McCaffery is a Tua, a guy who just has "it" opposed to "decent enough".
October 23rd, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
Pump the brakes just a bit.
Let's handle PSU first.
October 23rd, 2018 at 4:05 PM ^
Beat Bye!
October 23rd, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^
I will admit I was a doubter following the loss at ND. I honestly thought our OLine looked so horrid that there was no chance we could truly recover. I was also quite sure that we’d likely lose 2-4 of Wisconsin, MSU, PSU, OSU after getting our hopes up with wins over lesser teams. I am happy to say that I was way wrong and am at about 80% belief right now. If we can turn this win into a TRUE program mindset changer, lookout! If we come out strong and handle PSU like we’re capable of I think that gets us rolling too hard to be stopped, including the trip to OSU. This has turned into such a fun season and I’m excited to see what’s coming next.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
I'm still not sure what to make of the offense. I know the baseline stats are pretty good, but their drives feel consistently choppy, especially in the passing game. I'm still surprised they don't use more screens or deep in/crossing routes, a la the Moeller/Carr offenses.
No arguments with the results to date, though, and honestly if they close out with wins in Columbus and Indianapolis, I don't really care what happens in the playoffs.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
I think the biggest thing is that Shea sometimes just has to trust in his own ability a bit more. In the last two weeks he took sacks when he had guys downfield, but didn't pull the trigger for some reason.
October 23rd, 2018 at 3:33 PM ^
Shea is playing it overly cautious, which is a good thing. Or would you rather have OKorn? Fact is he's playing it perfectly, since the 2nd Qtr of the ND game. He is new here with new teammates and there is a trust factor that grows over time. Come OSU you will see more aggressive throws.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
People overreacted to the 2017 season. If you took the big-picture view, that year figured to be tough given that we not only lost 80% of our starters from the year before, but our subpar 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes were that year's upperclassmen. That meant having to fill gaps with lots of freshmen and sophomores and that's not usually a winning formula. And then the QB injuries.
If Speight had gone the whole season, I think we may have scraped out 10 wins. We were in every game in the 4th quarter except PSU. With O'Korn it was tough sledding.
I get that people have been starved for success for a long time and transferred their pent-up frustrations onto the '17 team, but it wasn't fair.
Now that this year's team has three full Harbaugh classes in it, we see a depth of talent that we haven't had before. It's out there for us.
October 23rd, 2018 at 3:36 PM ^
Speight beat MSU in EL when they were strong. A shame he got hurt because things would be much different otherwise, enough so that perhaps Shea wouldn't be here.
And OKoen deservedly got benched at Houston and it shows he couldn't handle it here . With a healthy Speight or Patterson last year and we would have done very well.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
Quite frankly I was never not a believer...the anti-Harbaugh narratives were ridiculous to begin with. We were approximately 1 game underperforming expectations last year, and considering we had 3 different starting QBs and some very young OL and WRs, it's not hard to see why.
Then there's the whole "we didn't beat a team with a winning record besides 7-6 Purdue!" bullcrap. It's not Michigan's fault most of their opponents were losers. Because that literally means that there were only 5 other teams that fit that criteria...and guess what guys? Three of them were top 10 opponents, and MSU (the fourth) also got to 10 wins and was #12 when we played them (and needed 5 turnovers and a monsoon to beat us by 4 points) The worst loss was against South Carolina in a meaningless bowl game. So yeah, the team wasn't good enough to beat top-15 teams last year. But somehow it got stretched to the "winning record" thing as if Harbaugh was suddenly incompetent when all it meant was the schedule turned out a bit easier than originally anticipated.
Same thing with the rivalry crap. Of course Harbaugh needed to turn things around...but I hope we see now that he CLEARLY has the superior program to MSU. 2-2 with an asterisk on one loss and an unlikely 5-turnover debacle with JOK as the starter in the other. Same thing with OSU...0-3 looks bad, but he made a competitive game with our 3rd stringer QB and basically beat them in 2016 if not for some reffing malpractice. 2-5 don't look so bad when it's some incredibly bad luck and inches away from 4-3.
So yea, it's time to believe. But it never was time to stop believing in him.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
I would argue that belief, in this case (and most if not all cases?), is strongly supported by the numbers and logic. The only reason we spend so much time in the BPONE is because a few things that have defied logic and numbers ("the punt", Iowa, "the spot", QB woes, etc) went against M the past few years.
Michigan is the number 4 team in the fancystats (S&P+ and FPI). FPI gives M the fourth best chance to reach the playoffs. ALL the numbers suggest that M would be favored at OSU if they played right now. They all favor M to win the conference.
The numbers say believe. Belief in this case requires us to get out of our irrational BPONEs and recognize that this team is flat out good.
October 23rd, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
I believe they’re gonna clobber Penn State.
One game at a time.
October 23rd, 2018 at 4:49 PM ^
+1. People don't use the word "clobber" enough.
October 23rd, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
Its a word I bet Ufer used more than once.
October 23rd, 2018 at 3:04 PM ^
10-2 is my baseline every year. Beating State 3 out of 4 years and winning 2 out of 4 against OSU.
October 23rd, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
Moeller was right .winning the MSU game is more important because it sets the stage for the Game.
October 23rd, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^
This team is on a mission. B1G title + CFP finals ... need to win outright to get there. Go Blue !!!
October 23rd, 2018 at 5:16 PM ^
A few thoughts on playing Bama:
- take some shots down field when in one on one coverage. Let’s take advantage to uber athletic wideouts
- get one on one match ups with UM’s RB’s vs their LB's
- get them in the championship game when they only have a week to prepare vs having a month to prepare.