2008 Season Record Predictions
Before Spring practice I was not enthused. Then (name redacted) left to join his BABY brother, and I was even less 'thused' I was thinking 6-6, maybe even 5-7 or 4-8 if we catch a couple of injuries. I was worried about bowl streaks, and non-losing season streaks, and spartans having another excuse to riot.
Then I started watching old WVU games. And I thought, OMG PAT WHITE and STEVE SLATON are the R0X0RS! We've got a comparable slaton coming in mcguffie, and some combination of brown, minor, horn, and shaw should make RB the team's strength. Unfortunately, we have nothing close to a pat white. At least not this year.
So I was getting more depressed. But then I started watching games from before the pat white era. Before miami and va tech had left the big least. And you know what I realized? Rich Rod is a pretty darn good coach.
I saw an offensive system that was creative, deceptive, and designed to mess with opposing player's heads. I also saw relative no-names busting 60 yard runs behind the blocking of absolute no-names and i thought, barwis is a god.
(Mike Barwis. All your recruits are belong to him. Mike Barwis)
So now I'm starting to feel pretty good about the upcoming season. I don't pretend to have any BCS dreams, but a winning record and a new year's day bowl are not out of the question.
So here's the breakdown. (% chance michigan wins)
1. Utah 75%
2. Miami Ohio 95%
3. at Notre Dame 90%
4. Wisconsin 45%
5. Illinois 45%
6. Toledo 100%
7. at Penn State 55%
8. Michigan State 60%
9. at Purdue 80%
10. at Minnesota 95%
11. Northwestern 75%
12. Ohio State 5%
Best case scenario is that, with a little luck, we go into the penn state game 6-0, the world is in love with rich rod, we unexpectedly cream the nittany pickers (because WE OWN, PENN STATE), and cruise to a nail biting loss to osu. 11-1 and in the rose bowl. (yeah right)
Worst case, all the QB's suck, the O-line sucks, and we can't stop the spread. We stumble to 5 losses in conference and even trip over our own feet against utah, making it 6-6 and barely eking out a bowl bid, which we lose for the first losing season in some 4 decades.
Most likely, we'll end up around 8-4 losing one we shouldn't and wining one we shouldn't. We end up in the citrus or alamo bowl and everyone is like, 'just wait till next year!!!' (funny, the more things change, the more they stay the same)
So that's my prediction a solid 8-4 and the sky's the limit for the future.
What do you think?
I pretty much feel the same way. There's no real way to predict what is going to happen. I went to two practices during the spring and the offense was very vanilla, however I know for a fact they were planned that way. Rich Rod is not one for showing his hand when there's a crowd with this new regime. I've talked with a few players and they all try to avoid the conversation about more plays in the playbook.
The other big thing that people in the media are forgetting, is the offense isn't the only unit on the team. The defense during the practices I attended were just awesome. I'll say this, the defense will win two games this year. They're swarming, playing man to man coverage and blitzing alot. It will be interesting to say the least. My prediction; 10-2 or 9-3
I think in many ways the changes will be an advantage to the Wolverines. For the first time in memory, conference opponents will have no clue what to expect of us. While there will be issues with learning a new offence, freshman starters etc., I believe this will be overcome by the lack of predictability.
Losses to Wisconsin, Penn State, and one other
Utah will be tough to watch bc of all the unknowns, but I can't wait.
Seeing predictions of 10-2 and such is giving me really bad scary flashbacks to BGS comments saying ND would go 10-2 last year because they just couldn't see losing to Navy etc.
7-5 is my number and I'm sticking to it. Utah, Wisky, PSU, MSU and some unknown.
I'm also seeing something in the 8-4 neighborhood; I'd break it down thusly:
1. Utah: Win
I think the team will struggle a bit with this game but pull it out. I'd predict a relatively ugly offensive performance, meaning this will be one of those games the defense wins for us.
2. Miami Ohio: Win
If this is the "game we lose even though we shouldn't," I'll feel almost as bad as I did after last year's season-opening debacle. Almost.
3. at Notre Dame: Win
A good college football coach might make this a tough one for Michigan. Good thing Charlie Weis isn't a good college football coach.
4. Wisconsin: Loss
Right now, I just have the feeling the Badgers are the better team.
5. Illinois: Win
On paper, we should probably lose this, but I'm still not a believer in Ron Zook. And I think the Illini will miss Rashard Mendenhall more than they think.
6. Toledo: Win
7. at Penn State: Loss
Man, it looks weird to type that. I think I'm just assuming that Penn State will be a tough place to play, even if JoePa last beat us when he was in his 30s (give or take a few years).
8. Michigan State: Win
I know there's a good chance we'll lose this one. I still refuse to predict that outcome.
9. at Purdue: Loss
This feels like a good candidate for the game we shouldn't lose but do. I have no real justification for that statement, of course.
10. at Minnesota: Win
11. Northwestern: Win
12. at Ohio State: Loss
Let's just keep expectations low for this one, so that we can either be pleasantly surprised by a win, or right about a loss.