Rittenberg's Best Case/Worst Case
UConn lost by 2 to UNC
Pittsburgh by 3
WVU by 4
Rutgers by 4
Cincy by two points, 45-47
So....that's 5 losses by a total of 15 points
So I wouldn't take the game in stride at all, it could be a tough one
Next year will be tough, but we are going to be really good beginning in 2013.
| Year | W | L |
| 2008 | 3 | 9 |
| 2009 | 5 | 7 |
| 2010 | 7 | 5 |
| 2011 | 9 | 3 |
| 2012 | 11 | 1 |
| 2013 | 13 | -1 |
Man, if Rich can just make it to 2014 this team has a chance to do something GREAT.
I think the 2011-2012 team could be epic.
Missed.
I too see them having -1 losses in 2013.
| 2013 | 13 | -1 |
This is the part where we stomp OSU so badly that they lose the next year's game, too.
I hope the -1 loss in 2013 is because of the ND game. They owe us one for that phantom TD in 2002.
I think his best-case scenario is good, but I really can't see this team going worse than 6-6, even if all hell breaks loose. The only "worst-case scenario" I can see that could end up in Michigan losing ten would involve an amount of injuries so absurd and specific as to defy logic and history.
If Rittenberg is going to swing so wildly in this "series," he might as well do what the poster who calls himself "Red Greene" did, but seriously instead of humorously. Maybe "Red" can take his job.
We could really use that early confidence by beating Wisconsin. It's too bad it won't come early enough for the first 10 games on our schedule.
By the time the UConn game rolls around, I'm going to be curled up in a fetal position somewhere far away from the television, with my laptop, live blogging the game on Mgoblog, but with a second screen (with something innocuous and unemotional like Zappos) at the ready. At this point, I have a very low threshold for pain.
zappos is very emotional. i was very happy when i saw they sold a pair of shoes i had been looking for, but when i got them, the company had changed the styling and the front was all round. they looked like shoes a foreign exchange student from uzbekhistan would wear, or someone with one leg shorter than the other.
Free returns!
I just bought the best. shoes. ever. from Nordstrom (they are maize and blue and are my new Football Saturday shoes):
http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3108886?cm_cat=datafeed&cm_pla=shoes:women:…
...kicks. I hope no one steps on them on football saturdays. I'd hate for them to have to experience you going all "MGoJen" on them.
...that's quite a compliment!
Like others said, his best-case seems pretty accurate, and like most said his 2-10 seems a bit steep. That being said, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for this team to win 4 games. That would be my worst case. An early loss to UConn and ND and the wheels could fall off fast. I think Michigan has plenty of confidence, but all the buzz around campus about RR being gone after the season and what not could potentially kill anything this team had going for it. I don't think it will happen, but I also don't think 10-2 will happen, but I think those are fair best/worst case scenarios.
Also, I'm pretty sure Rittenberg's range wasn't as wide with most other teams. I know people are making fun of how huge of a difference 2-10 and 10-2 are, but there really just isn't much known about this team. RB is unknown, if Molk isn't 100% how much will that effect us, our D is filled with question marks, we don't have any WR that have been played really well for a full year. I really don't think we have many safe bets anywhere. We don't even know really what we are up against in UConn and ND. ND might be the only team with more question marks than us. Outside of the Michigan fanbase and blogosphere, all those unknowns are even more unknown, and probably not as optimistic (whether any of us like to admit it or not, homerism is often very subconcious, and makes us, me included, typically think a little better of our team then maybe they actually are). Therefore, I think his worst case isn't that bad for somehow who is a bit more outside looking in than most of us here
Does anyone else feel less confident now about this team than they did after the OSU game?
I thought our team would make big strides and the spring game showed me that they possibly have in 2 areas: offense and run defense. Our secondary still looked atrocious, though. I expected guys like Emilien to step up and solidify a shaky backfield but it looks like there's little chance of that happening. Our young guns coming in this fall are really going to have to contribute for us to have success. 10-2 is still possible IMO, but it's more of a longshot than I thought it was last year.
Run Defense= Able to stop Sparty, Royster, and Clay
I think Penn State is a big unknown this year as well.
PSU, to me, is going to be all Royster. Stop him and you stop the offense.
It's a good thing journalism isn't getting lazy....
I think our secondary didn't look that good because the offense is THAT good. I truly believe 10-2 is in the cards this year. While the defense may lag, there is no team on the schedule other than OSU that can outscore us on paper.
I also thought that maybe our offense is now so dual-threat that it will be very tough for anyone to defend. Plus Woolfolk didn't play at all. This is one of the problems with judging your team based on a spring game...
Don't use the Spring Game as your guide to anything that may or may not happen in the fall. Recall:
- It wasn't the #1 O vs. the #1 D. The #1 O played pretty respectably in the Spring Game, all things considered, but the #1 D was still scored on by Tate and the #2 O.
- The #1 D was under-manned in the Spring Game. We need Woolfolk back there.
- The '09 Spring Game saw Tate shred the "D" -- those were the same guys who ended with significant playing time last year. Crawl into a fetal position if we see lots of guys from the two-deep.
Worst case scenario must include season-ending injuries to Tate and Denard. I guess that would also have to include Devin, but, for the sake of fun, lets say DG ends up as the starting QB.
That, paired with improved defense and the right kind of players at all skill positions, is still better than the DEATH-QB'd team of 2008, thereby improving over the 3-9 of that awful season.
I will be far less surprised to see the Wolverines reach the Best case than I will be the Worst case. Its just not going there again anytime soon.
You'll have to get in line behind the crowd coming from Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork carrying Rich Rodriguez with the anvil already chained to him.