Way Too Specific Predictions: 2014 (with historical references)

We'll beat Appy State by someting like 45 points. We'll go into Notre Dame hyped and then lose, with Devin channelling Denard by throwing 3-4 picks. Everyone becomes glum, figuring we'll win our next few games, but lose to State. But entering East Lansing on the 25th, this year has a different feel to it. Michigan is 6-1 and has bludgeoned their last 5 opponents. In a battle of one loss teams, Michigan takes the upper hand in the East winning 24-10. 

Rolling through the rest of the schedule, Michigan heads into Columbus to take on an Ohio State team that never quite put it together after Braxton Miller's injury. With 3 losses, all the Buckeyes can do is attempt to ruin Michigan's chances at a playoff birth. After a tight first half, Michigan finds separation in the second, winning 28-13. 

In the Big Ten Championship game, with a title and a playoff spot on the line, Michigan throttles the surprise team out of the West, Iowa, 38-14.

I've already revealed too much. I'll leave the ending as a surprise. 

1-2 vs "big three", and hoping it's against MSU cause I'm sick of losing to those clowns. Loss at NW, because I think they are due to pay us back for our good fortune over the last couple of years. Lose by 10 to a SEC team in the cap one bowl, because outside of the sugar bowl, I can't remember their last bowl win

Michigan will beat Ohio State, but lose their Big 10 game to MSU and not play for the Big 10 Championship.

Michigan will win their Bowl game.

The OL will be end up much better than expected, and Magnuson will do a great job.

Hoke will get a contract extension.

Michigan will have the highest average star rating for incoming recruits in 2015.

Canteen will be Freshman of the year in the Big 10.

Clark, Ryan, Funchess, Peppers, Canteen, and Gardner will be all Big-Ten.

(I suppose these predictions aren't specific enough . . . c'est la vie.)

I might suggest you allow the winner to print this as the first place trophy.

10-3

There will be minor unease about the outcome of the Notre Dame game going into the fourth quarter, but a timely goal-line stand halfway through the quarter will put these concerns to rest.  Michigan ends the game in victory formation.

The weather for the Michigan State game will be acceptable, opening up the passing game for the first time in ages.  

I just have the feeling that we will go 10-3. I think one loss comes from MSU or OSU then another loss to Northwestern or Penn State. I think MSU gets some breaks in more than one Big Ten game, and that gets them to the B10 Chamionship again. We play in a good bowl game vs Les Miles and LSU, and they beat us by a touchdown. We are very heartbroken, but really proud of how they played and pumped about what returns in 2015.

At the end of the season we will look back and laugh at how panicked we were about the offensive line and running game. By the end of the year we are extremely excited about the players on the offensive line, especially Kyle Kalis (if he stays healthy) The running game itself does moderately well.

One of either Funchess or Countess return for another season... Those who Stay..

All together one hell of a season and Very emotional.

I will say 10-2 regular season. Originally was 9-3 but the braxton injury has me believing we will beat Ohio. Think we will lose to Notre Dame and MSU.

Way too specific prediction for the starting o-line for the Notre Dame game:
LT- Mags
LG- Kalis
C- Miller
RG- Glasgow
RT- Braden

0-3 on the road against our three main rivals (Thanks, DB). One road loss to a team be should beat. Bowl loss to a higher ranked opponent. Hopes will be high for 2015, but questions will still remain about Hoke and his staff. Stretch hope: 11-1 with a capable OL and a suffocating defense. Questions about Hoke and staff disappear.

I think we head into EL at 7-0 but drop that crucial game. We also lose a B1G game we shouldn't have, but not against OSU as we finally end the streak in Columbus. We miss out on the B1G East title to a tiebreaker with MSU. We go on to win our bowl game and have a big turnaround season, albeit one with no B1G Championship. No worries, that'll come next year.

9-3. Losses to OSU, MSU, and Indiana. O-Line looks better than last year but still not good enough to compete with OSU and MSU.

But we actually score a TD in East Lansing and have another close game with OSU but the homefield advantage pays off for OSU.

Defense has an off-day against Indiana, we lose on a Hail Mary by Sudfeld.

15-0 and Funchess wins the heisman.

Losses to ND, MSU, and OSU are all close enough that we can convince ourselves we got unlucky. Then the bowl game comes and we get matched up with a 10-2 SEC or Pac1X team and lose a not close game. The calls for Hoke's firing get louder and less justified, as the rivalry loses hide some very real improvements: - the OL goes from putrid to middling, and does so as a unit, showing the promise of an actually good OL next year. Burning Mone's redshirt doesn't do much in 2014 but pays off for 2015. - the defense is good but not great, but pass rush gels and our expectations for the D next year skyrocket. - Peppers almost lives up to the hype, being great and making freshman mistakes in the same game. - Our coverage is excellent but our run-stopping safety is adequate with occasional whiffs. My stance is that while I'm pessimistic on record, I'm optimistic on the underlying fundamentals of the program. We're bringing in talent and I believe we have the right coaches; that will start to pay off this year but be handicapped by the struggles on both lines that work themselves out as the year goes on.

12-0 Regular Season.

The O-line gels slowly but surely better. Devin has a record setting year. Funchess shines, our backs do well, and our defense is stifling. We win a surprisingly easy game in East Lansing. The finale in Columbus is a tough game, but the defense proves stout, and the offense has a decent enough day to take the win by 7 points.

We win the Big Ten championship by blowing out Nebraska in Indy, 42-17.

We make the four team playoff, and win against the Pac 12 champion, Stanford with a late field goal.

Inexplicably, Dave Brandon has put the team in new uniforms for the NCG, with blue chrome helmets whose yellow chrome wings are lit with flashing LEDs.

The flashing LED helmets are ruled not in compliance with NCAA rules, and Michigan forfeits the NCG since the regular helmets are home in Ann Arbor.

Brandon gets fired, and spends $7000 of his own money the following season on skywriters, who write "Brandon was a better AD" in the sky over the stadium for the first few games.

15-0, Win the National Championship

Jabrill Peppers wins his first of 3 Heisman Trophies

Tennessee fans are upset because they think Jabril's Heisman should go Peyton Manning.

Urban and Dantonio leave Ohio and MSU. 

Hoke is elected Governor but turns it down to sign a lifetime contract.

Only a small fraction of the MGoBlog complains that we could've won by more.

W, App St.: It's a win, but everyone expecting a big number on offense will be disappointed. I'm seeing one of those typical early season games where lots of basic runs are called. A few offsides/holding penalties thwart drives, but Appy can't do anything against our suffocating defense. Let's make it Michigan 20, App St. 3, with a late FG for them to avoid the shutout.

L, ND: Yes, they lost a few players to academic cheating, but after they forfeit wins from prior seasons, M easily reclaims the all-time winning PCT record. Golson runs for 12 yards and throws for 1 TD and is the media's new Heisman front-runner. M 9, ND 13.

W, Miami(OH): Sluggish, 12:30PM start. Offense gets going in the second half with bombs to Darboh, Funchess, and Canteen. M 35, M 6.

W, Utah: were they any good last year? Let me check. 2-7 in the PAC, OK, let's mark that down as a win. M: 31, U: 9

W, Minnesota: I'm actually bullish on the Jerry Kill era, but this one is a B1G home opener. Brady will not let the Gophers pull the upset. Lots of running from both teams. M: 17, M: 8

W, Rutgers: I saw the B1G Network had a 24 hour, welcome to the B1G day for Rutgers. I thought a half hour special should have been sufficient. M: 38, R: 0. Big day for Funch and Darboh. Folks start talking them up as a tandem, a la Gallon and Funchess.

L, Penn State: Hackenburg hackenburgs. M fans leave the stadium in stunned silence. M: 19, PSU: 20

W, MSU: After the devastating loss at home against PSU, the team regroups and shocks the world. M's suffocating defense gives STAEE a taste of their own medicine. M: 24, MSU: 6

W, Indy: Michigan shows they have adapted to tempo and thoroughly destroys Indy, M: 49, I: 3

W, NU: another away game at Northwestern that seems like a home game. No heroic efforts needed this time. M: 33, NU: 13

W, Maryland: A couple bombs to whoever their stud WR is are the only things marring this game. M: 56, M: 14

W, OSU: Ohio's talented RS Frosh QB makes a few RS Frosh mistakes. Funch dominates on the outside and Butt is a beast in the middle. M: 19, Ohio, 13

So that puts us at 10-2. On to the B1G championship game.

W, Iowa: have you seen their schedule? Iowa gets there, but M exposes them as a fraud. M: 38, Iowa: 17.

So we're at 11-2. MGoBloggers are clamoring for a playoff spot, but the overall weakness of the B1G lands us a #5 seed, i.e., just outside the playoff. So we play Southwestern West Virginia State University, or some such team in a bowl game only we care about. M: 31, Opponent: 3. At the end of the season, a 12-2 Michigan team is widely considered as the 2nd best team in the country, and M fans everywhere wonder what if we had only beaten those damn Irish (or made that FG against PSU). If this is familiar to you, it's because it's happened before. History has a way of repeating itself.

0-12 fire borges

finishes 4th in the nation with a 46.4 yard per punt average.  Weirdly, however, Michigan is only 19th in net punting.

Ryan leads the team in tackles with 107, but the 2nd place guy fails to break 75 as there are too many over 50 to allow for another to be near the top of the B1G.

AJ Williams totals 7 catches, but 2 go for touchdowns.

Michigan's defense scores more over the year than Michigan State's defense.

Mason Cole starts every game.  No one notices.

Norfleet breaks off a kickoff return before the B1G, but gets tackled at the ankles at the opponent's 23 yard line.

Kenny Allen completes a pass this year.  It goes to an eligible receiver.

 

I'm rather surprised by the amount of people on this thread claiming we'll beat OSU. Yeah, they don't have Braxton Miller anymore, but we're yet to even find out if we'll be able to move the ball or have an even mediocre OL.

Until proven otherwise, I can't see us having anything more than an 8-4, maybe a 9-3 year.

We will lose to ND, and it'll perhaps be the most frustrating loss of the year. Much like 2012, our defense will keep us in the entire game and cause Golson to make some mistakes in his first true game back. However, the ND defense will wreak havoc on our grossly inexperienced O-Line. We'll lose an ugly 13-7 kind of game. We'll sit there saying to ourselves at the end of the game that if we'd had even just a mediocre O-Line, we could've beaten ND handily.

The O-Line starts making gradual improvements, and the team gets to 5-1 leading up to PSU. We win a VERY CLOSE game. Hackenberg is the absolute real deal and makes some damn good throws, but he does not have Allen Robinson to bail him out anymore. Nor does he have the home crowd at his back. Peppers puts the game on ice and picks Hackenberg off to shut down any chance of PSU beating us for a second straight year.

However, whether or not we are emotionally drained from this game won't matter the next week when we go into EL. Their defense might take a step back from last year, but they are still a better team. Its not a blowout, but we never really feel like we're in it, either. 27-17 Sparty.

Barely squeak by Indiana (again). In the end, their defense is just far too crappy to turn around in one year. 7-2 heading into Evanston, and yet, here comes that yearly headscratcher we're all used to. This is a team we should wipe the floor with, but Sieman somehow wills this team to victory after the previous two years of horrific luck they've had against us.

Stefon Diggs gets his the following week, but he can't do it all by himself. 8-3 heading into Columbus, against an 10-1 OSU team fighting like hell for a spot in the first playoff. Barrett had some growing pains throughout the year, and gets exposed as the freshman he is in OSU's lone loss to MSU. But as we're all accustomed to by now, he will somehow step up and play at his best against us. Michigan brings its A-game and keeps its close throughout, but in the end, we just can't stop Barrett. Gardner does everything he can to keep us in the game, and the O-Line has made noticeable improvements by now, but its just not enough. 31-21 OSU

8-4, drawing either Florida, A&M or Ole Miss in a bowl game, and I'm tempted to say we'll lose to any one of them. Hoke officially enters 2015 on the hot seat, and the calls for his firing get louder and louder. Recruiting keeps getting worse, and with all the chatter about 2015 being "our year," we forget that we have replace well over half our offense. Gardner is gone, and Funchess has a monster year which allows him to bolt for the NFL. We enter the offseason with more questions than answers.

• UM 31, App State 13
• ND 24, UM 20
• UM 49, Miami (NTM) 10
• UM 21, Utah 20
• UM 31, Minnesota 23
• UM 20, Rutgers 19
• UM 34, Penn State 30
• MSU 31, UM 20
• UM 45, Indiana 31
• NW 21, UM 17  (NW is so due against us)
• UM 34, Maryland 31
• (if offensive line competent) UM 27, OSU 24  (if offensive line still a shame) OSU 27 UM 20

Hoke retained, 2015 is the year - if OL is competent by end of year hype machine goes into overdrive on 2015 prospects.  If OL sucks by end of year, hype machine goes into overdrive on 2015 prospects but not until August 1st 2015 when everyone forgets how bad the OL was in 2014.

Devin will not change much from 2013 Devin.  Still have some very big highs, still some lows - still make bad decisions at times, but single handily wins a game or two.  Key turnovers continue to plague him and keep games against lesser foes too close for comfort, but defense bails him out better than in 2013. If OL does not improve he might miss 4-6 quarters of football through wear and tear this year as Shane is pressed into action.

OL prediction, pass protection is somewhere below average by mid year but not horrid.  Running game never really takes off except against the Indianas and Rutgers types.  OSU is ripe for taking as the enter The Game(tm) 8-3 but it all depends on OL.

Defense will return to top 20 form but issues at safety and DEs plague team.   DTs become strength along with linebacker.  Jury remains out on CBs as lack of pass rush from DEs not named Frank Clark deemed as problem by most of MGo.  A litany of PIs bring a cry of why MSU doenst get called for them but we do.

Funchess will have a game with 213 receiving yards

Gardner will throw a TD with 11 seconds on the clock to win a game on the road

Michigan will win one game 45-10

J. Peppers will intercept one late against OSU to seal the win

<drops mic>

 

Hoke will wear headsets in parts of 8 games and long sleave shirts in two.

Tressel will be OSU's band director by the start of Big Ten season.

Brady hoke will not wear a long sleeve shirt once.

Norfleet unable to take one to the house. However, there will still be 50 times he ALMOST gets out of that shoestring tackle

Why the hell is everyone writing Msu as some guaranteed loss, there is no excuse for us to lose that game! Damn! Pisses me off thinking about losing to those guys again!

We go undefeated at home, starting a new streak.  At some point in the season the defense will have 14 straight quarters without giving up a touchdown.  All the MGoBloggers that are still in love with Northwestern (sheesh) are appropriately sent to Bolivia, after the Wildcats have another losing record in conference play.

Go Blue!

Undeafeated regular season, Rose Bowl victory over Oregon.

We come up short against LSU in the NCG.

My prediction is michigan will end up with a top 5 elite defense. The oline will show improvement in each game. Oh and enough with this fuck fest for msu. Since when can they lose 6 defensive starters and still be "better" than the elite d they had last year and idc how good narduzzi is. Last time I checked they're not alafuckinbama. Michigan beats msu and osu. We go undefeated and beat Lsu in the title game. Yes I can predict that bc it's my prediction and I truly believe this team will shock the world.

We lose to no one west of AA with fewer than 13 letters in the school's first name...

 

We lose to no one east of AA with more than 3 letters in the school's first name...

 

One purple headed monster explodes...

 

One Viking LB takes 2nd team All American honors...

 

2015 starts with a win and  an 11-2 finish to 2014

 

I'm not going to get so rosey as to predict an appearance in California. It definitely is possible but I'm not setting that as my expectation.

We do get a win in Columbus (more likely) or East Lansing which really goes a long way with me at least. That's what kicked off Beilein in terms of getting a lot of people to believe.

I really did have a great time following our basketball team in the infancy of Beilein's career here, and watching him progress with the team to get us back to the Big Dance after what was described to me as a pretty horrible time for the basketball program. Also, I was an out-of-state student from 2006 - 2010 so basketball was definitely a nice counterpoint to the football program. That "Aneurysm of Leadership" victory in Breslin Center though was pivotal in the shaping of the current state of the program.

In many ways Beilein, ironically since many people initially doubted him more than Rodriguez, turned out to be what many on this site wanted for Rodriguez and the football program: an offensive innovator playing an oddball system that found much success and brought our program to the epitome of the college sports world.

It feels like so long since we've won a football game in either of those places just like it once did in basketball. Hoke starts knocking down some of the doubts people have about his coaching ability with that signature road win that, in part, results from him making a critical game theory decision that proves to be one of the game's winning moments

I'll go with an overall record of 9-3, which for this year would be pretty good, since I'd rather be pleasantly surprised with a better record. This team has the talent. Make me a believer again, Coach Hoke.

Also, I will make an effort to not be as negative since after all at the end of the day this is just a game played by young adults.

Agonizingly close losses to ND and PSU, but tight road victories against MSU and OSU. Wrap up season with convincing win in bowl game over a quality opponent.

Offense sputters mcuh of the season, but defense is very solid to start and frequently dominant. Pipkins, Henry, Hurst, and Mone are difference makers. Mediocre special teams play is key element in losses.

Norfleet doesn't come close to returning a kick for a TD, but come spring 2015 people will be rhapsodizing about his kick returning ability once again.

*Edit: I originally predicted 8-4 with losses to MSU and OSU, but after watching the Michigan drill my logic has been overtaken by my emotion.

 

We score 45 points agains App State, 23 points against Notre Dame, 56 points against Miami, 21 points against Utah, 24 points against Minny, 55 points against Rutgers, 41 points against Penn State, 11 points against MSU, 44 points against Indiana, 24 points against NW, 31 points against Maryland, and 30 points against OSU. 

I'd be very surprised if we lose all 3 of the big 3 games, especially with the hits ND and OSU have taken. I think we'll win 2 out of 3. I really have no idea how good Maryland is, but they seem like they'll be dangerous. Understandably, no one's talking much about them. We will lose at least one game against a weak opponent. I wanna say 10-2, but 9-3 sounds more realistic. However, I'd be surprised and disappointed with 8-4, unless there are a bunch of devastating injuries. Not specific at all but oh well.

I long ago gave up on making predictions, so there's no point in making any now.

In the world of ever-changing college football bowl projections for the 2014 season, here’s the list of projections so far for Michigan: