Washington Post thinks Michigan might make the playoffs. This year.
The gist of the article is that our defense is awesome and MSU isn't that good.
The Big Ten sets up well for Michigan this year, with three home games against Northwestern, Michigan State and Ohio State. And given how Ohio State has played on offense thus far, that game is also not projecting to be quite as lopsided as it did in the preseason.
EDIT: MSU not that good?
September 30th, 2015 at 9:13 PM ^
September 30th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
September 30th, 2015 at 4:22 PM ^
O LET DO IT
September 30th, 2015 at 7:11 PM ^
Dorsey?
September 30th, 2015 at 7:08 PM ^
second spit take of the day
September 30th, 2015 at 4:24 PM ^
Nooooooooooooooo. Let's act like we've had a quality win before and not go all Notre Dame on everybody with our expectations.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
I totally agree. This is too much. Michigan played a good game on Saturday, the defense looks good. It does not have to be "we are totally going to kick State's ass and this defense is at least 2006 good if not 1997 good." I was really impressed with the BYU game but the level of response is disproportionate to the acheivement.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:05 PM ^
I also agree.....
Our defense has put up good numbers, but still is lacking in certain areas including turnovers and sacks. I see a top notch defensive backfield, but the linebackers are OK, a bit short on speed, and while I believe our D line is good, I still want to see how they do against better competiton,
And the O is still lacking in many areas.
Do we have the potential to be a good team? Absoutely. But going to the playoffs suggests we will beat MSU, OSU and probably Wisconsin and, while stranger things have happened, I don't see that scenario as being realistic.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
how many people saw making the playoff as realistic for OSU last year after they lost to VT at home? Teams do improve you know. Harbaugh-coached teams tend to improve more and faster than most.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:22 PM ^
No argument whatsover....good coaching is huge as we learned from the last four years, and Harbaugh and his staff are excellent, but that only takes you so far. As I said, I see us as a very good team, but as a playoff team? That's a stretch.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^
You never know. Our two toughest opponents are at home, and talent wise we aren't far off from them. We have a coach that's among the very best. Beyond that, I don't see any other team that should pose much of a challenge.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:59 PM ^
September 30th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
what we thought in the pre-season.
Preseason, we wouldn't have expected to sweep
- @Maryland (home game?)
- @Minnesota (27-24 winners v Ohio U)
- @Indiana (nuff said)
- @Penn State (led SDSU 27-21 in 4th)
Now I do.
Others have begun to say that the MSU game is winnable. Further, MSU's Oregon win looks a lot more pedestrian after Utah destroyed Oregon in Autzen. The home slate, in order of increasing difficulty
- Rutgers -- W
- NW (OK, tougher than preseason, M slight fav)
- MSU (M only a slight dog now)
- OSU (OK, M a significant dog)
Then there's the B1G championship game against an opponent fromt the West that will be weaker than MSU & OSU.
So that's one rabbit out of a hat (OSU), three tough wins, and five taking care of business. Likely? No. But it's no longer crazy talk. Just a very possible long shot.
September 30th, 2015 at 8:44 PM ^
October 1st, 2015 at 2:47 AM ^
Easy there. So far we lost the only road game we played.
And it is too early yet- Michigan hasn't had that game or two every team has every season where they play down and the underdog plays over their heads.
October 1st, 2015 at 9:34 AM ^
Can't believe I am even saying this but I too am growing weary of all the praise. We had a good win against a decent team with some key injuries. We had a couple of dominant wins against medicore teams and a quality loss against a good Utes team. I expect them to dominate the Terps, so a big win there isn't going to blow my skirt up. Lets see how they do against Northwestern and then MSU over the next 3 weeks. Then we'll have a better idea about what this team might do.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:40 PM ^
Are you serious? I feel like it would be an upset at this point if we didn't win the national championship. Name one team outside of maybe the Patriots who has a chance against us?
September 30th, 2015 at 8:39 PM ^
I like the way we would match up with the Patriots. I think the Packers may give us a little more trouble. I could see them hanging with us until late 3rd or early 4th quarter.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:51 PM ^
so the "return to glory" pre order was a bad idea?
September 30th, 2015 at 6:19 PM ^
If you go to the games aren't you going to cheer your throat raw? Is that what reserved 'we've done this before' people do? Unless your are one of the bluish-whitish haired folk, probably so. If you are one of our older grads, please forgive my youthful exuberance.
September 30th, 2015 at 9:04 PM ^
Wanting Michigan to win every game is not the same as expecting them to win every game.
September 30th, 2015 at 6:45 PM ^
But that is the best I can remember Michigan playing. It wasn't the blow out part that has me gitty it is the fact that they looked good everywhere. Even in 97 I don't recall as complete a game is this, though some could argue Penn State game was close. If we can improve every game I think we can play with anyone.
September 30th, 2015 at 8:50 PM ^
Penn State was much more impressive. They were #2, a talented Senior-laden team, at home, in mid-November fighting form.
BYU was injured, tired, led by a freshman QB, playing 2 timezones away in the morning.
BYU is not nothing and we dominated them. It was a quality win. But let's not start name-dropping some of the greatest Michigan wins of all time as a comparison.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
Michigan has a long way up the rankings to make top 4 for the playoffs.
Still, we can dream, right?
September 30th, 2015 at 4:39 PM ^
and we end up beating them, we would make HUGE ground in those rankings
September 30th, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^
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September 30th, 2015 at 6:36 PM ^
I want Sparty ranked #2 coming into AA. It'll make the victory over them even sweeter.
September 30th, 2015 at 8:04 PM ^
While I don't see that happening, that would be a great upset. That's the kind of upset that sets a program back years.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
If we win out, we'll be a 12-1 Big Ten champion on a 12-game winning streak with wins over OSU and MSU. That would be a playoff résumé, no question. I can't imagine we'd be snubbed if that happened.
Whether we can pull it off on the field is the question.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:46 PM ^
If we win out, wouldn't that put us in by default? Winning the B1G in that way, with our only loss coming on the road in the opener with a new staff? There's no way they could keep us out.
Not at all saying that will happen, but if it did, that would be pretty nice.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:01 PM ^
The rankings are IRRELEVANT at this stage. If Michigan were a 12-1 B1G champion, we would be in 95% of the time (there remains a remote chance that the SEC, ACC, B12, and P12 finish with undefeated champions). Winning all the games, however, remains a tall task.
September 30th, 2015 at 10:50 PM ^
the rankings are actually irrelevant at any stage.
October 1st, 2015 at 12:53 AM ^
We will be ranked around 18 in both polls. If we upset number 2 sparty, we will jump up to around number 10. If we win the remainder of our games before taking on OSU we will be around number 8. If we upset OSU at number 1 we will be in the top 5 probably number 3 or 4 by that time. If we win the B1G we could be 2 or 3. So, yes we would make the playoffs!
September 30th, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
was #22 after week 4 last year.
September 30th, 2015 at 8:06 PM ^
Seriously? Wow. That is one heck of a coincidence.
September 30th, 2015 at 8:49 PM ^
If we win out, the only way we wouldn't make the playoffs is if the champions of at least two of the other four power conferences end up being undefeated, and I'd say we'd still probably make the playoffs if only two of those are undefeated. If three are undefeated, it would depend on the other one loss team. If all four are undefeated, it would be pretty doubtful.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
is one of the most intelligent and insightful departments in sports. They are always dead on.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
Ha - you're funny. This article has some holes in it that lead one to believe the author may not have all his facts straight.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
Agreed, but I thought they said that we would make the NFL Playoffs.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:54 PM ^
They will get there before the Lions.
September 30th, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
I know you are being sarcastic, but the article cites the addition of Wayne Lyons as one of the factors that has helped the D exceed expectations thus far. Lyons has played in 2 games and recorded 2 tackles. For me, that undercuts the Post's sports reporting in this case... ;-)
September 30th, 2015 at 5:21 PM ^
September 30th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
but I'm thinking we'd need to be about 5-6 more games down the road before having any of these expectations.
September 30th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^