Inevitable Notre Dame Comparison
Brian I'm sure will do this full justice soon, judging by his comments yesterday, but I'll start. This is a debatable point to be sure, but looking to next season I think there is legitimate reason to believe that our season this year provides LESS optimism for next year than if you were an ND alum after last season. Three reasons for this. First, last year ND was already playing with their Freshman QB of the future and there was reason to believe QB play would radically improve. We will have a freshman starting all year. Second, ND had the #2 or #3 recruiting class coming in, after a top 5 the year before. Third, Defense. New D-line, returning meh LB's, and question marks again at Safety.
On the other side, 10 returning starters on offense. The possibility of big improvement for said LB's. An unexpected freshmen/sophomore breakthrough somewhere. General collective snapping into place within the new system. Easier schedule. And we don't have Weis as our coach.
For now, my rational brain tells me next year could be similar to ND's this year. 7-5 ish. I think we're really looking at year three, as some have stated all along, as the year we return to expectations.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:55 PM ^
I think you are forgetting, because of the post-loss depression, just how horrid ND looked in all phases of the game last year. ND didn't stay close with teams for a half and then fall apart, like we typically did. They flat-out got ripped from start to finish in almost all of their losses (Navy being the one exception). And that was the case despite no QB injuries. They stuck with Clausen from week 3 on. They also never suffered any injuries at the RB position.
This year, four of our nine losses were by a TD or less: Utah (2 points), Toledo (3 points), Purdue (6 points) and Northwestern (7 points). MSU ended up a 14-point loss, but it was tied going into the fourth quarter. Against PSU, Illinois and ND, we were still within striking distance going into the fourth. In several of these losses, our best QB (Threet) was unable to finish the game due to injuries. We've also had to use four different tailbacks over the course of this season.
The thing that is most frustrating to me about this season is that I really felt we were making strides, but that they were masked by the injuries to Threet and others. The offense really looked good in the first half against PSU, but then Threet got hurt. Minor, Brown, McGuffie and Shaw all had their moments, but all missed long stretches due to injuries. The WR corps variously missed Hemingway, Stonum, Odoms and Mathews. And of course the OL constantly had to be shuffled. If there was ever a season in which we needed to avoid the injury bug, it was this one, but the opposite happened.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:56 PM ^
think going 7-5 wont be good. 7-5 will be great bc it means RR is getting his players and the players are learning. plu CW is in his 4th year, while RR will be in his 2nd. that will be good.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 PM ^
The reason to be more optimistic though is that we were actually in a bunch of the games we lost this year. We were leading going into half time in a lot of games or at least the score was respectable. This is the first year for RR, not the 3rd like it was for Weis. The list goes on...
Now I don't think all this means that next year we will be playing for a BCS game, but I do think we have more to hope for in a couple years than ND does at this point.
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:05 PM ^
ND just lost to 2-8 (now 3-8) Syracuse. Does this mean that ND blogs have to post a picture of a crying child?
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 PM ^
And the biggest reason for optimism: unlike Weis (who just lost to Syracuse!), RR is actually a proven commodity as a collegiate head coach.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 PM ^
Michigan is going to have a much improved offensive line next year. They will have guys with plenty of experience and an additional year in the system. It's going to get better, but I wouldn't expect a miracle as you are looking at either the tandem of death known as Threet/Sheridan or a freshman.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 AM ^
I know I'm a partisan, but this comparison has seemed open and shut to me from the start. Weis was in his third year at Notre Dame, his program should have been coming into his own. Only the slightest vestiges of the Willingham era were left in South Bend. By all rights 2007 should have been the season we saw Weis's team take the field. And we did. And it was historically awful.
Michigan in 2008 was in its first year under a coach who historically does not achieve much success in his first year on the job. Not only that, but a bizarre combination of attrition and injury had left the team lacking any semblance of experience on the offensive side of the ball. Even more (!) the roster was filled with players who fit into the previous administration's system, but were a duck out of water in the zone-read option.
Both seasons are historic lows for the two proudest programs in NCAA history, but the reasons behind them are entirely different, and I think they reflect much better on Michigan than Notre Dame.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 AM ^
I am going to memorize this and recite it after all the likely times this gets asked to me about this comparison.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 AM ^
I've seen no indication that Threet is not going to start at Michigan for the foreseeable future. In fact, I'd expect that he comes in to next season the starter barring a miracle over the summer.