pre-season prediction thread. I'm complaining.
I guess you are. I was going to say "fuck it 14-0" but that would have been wrong. 15-0 it is!
to be a good sports commentator on ESPN ;o)
10-2, this is the year we beat Ohio State and due to that, go to Indy.
Who are the other losses to? I assume one has to be Florida, because with 2 Big Ten losses there's no way we go to Indy.
I say 9-3, losses to Penn State, Wisconsin and a team we shouldn't lose to, like Air Force. My way too early 2018 prediction is 15-0.
This is the first real Harbaugh team. In spite of all the losses we have really talented and athletic replacements who have received superior coaching from the day they arrived in Ann Arbor. The loss? Probably Wisconsin. I'm not buying Penn State.
11-1 wouldn't surprise me either. Why aren't you buying Penn St? After we curb stomped them they went on a tear and return just about everyone. Yeah, I know they caught an absurd amount of their 50/50 arm punts from McSorely but Joe Moorhead is the real deal and Barkley is the best RB in the conference..
AND it is at Penn State, at night, in a white out. Not an ideal place for a bunch of youngsters with no real experience in hostile environments, no matter how talented. I do think we have OSU's number this year though.
PSU is way overhyped for sure.They're definitely not a top 5 team, but I feel like a lot of our fanbase is completely writing them off after last year.
Yes, we have Harbaugh now but he has still not won a big road game here yet. Last year's experienced team collapsed in a hostile road environment against a less than stellar Iowa team. PSU isn't elite but they're better than Iowa and Happy Valley is an intimidating atmosphere.
I'm just saying it seems a bit premature to write off Penn State just because we beat the crap out of them last year.
Sparty troll. Sad.
My prediction is going to be painful if it comes true got us at 10-2 undefeated going into the last two games and we fall short to Wisconsin and OSU.
I don't get the Florida game being a toss-up in so many eyes. They have NO offense and could very well be without their top WR.
Our lack of depth on D (my biggest concern this year) shouldn't be an issue against them. OL should be addition by subtraction and at the very least the run blocking should be an improvement. We have a returning QB who played very well before his injury against Iowa and a stable of talented RB's.. WR is a question but I'm sure two of Crawford, McDoom, Johnson, Schoenle, DPJ, Black, Collins and Martin will step up. Even less of a concern if Perry is active by that game.
I'm not saying it's gonna be a blowout like last time but I just don't see Florida being one of the teams that gives us a ton of trouble. Honestly, Air Force worries me more.
Feels similar to 2016 Ohio State at Oklahoma.
Ohio State was favored by 1 in that one, and I believe they were an underdog during the preseason for much of the same reasons Michigan is a pick 'em against Florida -- lost a ton of talent on both sides of the ball and were going to be starting a bunch of guy who had never played much in the spotlight.
And then Ohio State kicked the shit out of them.
I don't think it will be a blowout, because unlike Ohio State, Michigan doesn't have two cupcake games to warm up with before going on the road. That, and I haven't seen anything in the last decade to make me think Michigan is going to blow out a power 5 team on the road. I'm just barely to the point where I feel OK predicting a win against teams with a pulse on the road.
UM had OSU's number last year but a few OSU fans snuck on the field, dressed as officials, and screwed the guys over.
#stillpissed
Mine arrived today!
My gut tells me we'll lose on inexplicable game. Hope it's just the Chipotle talking.
the first one, go from there.
... Our OL and DL are each 1 injury away from the CLIFF.
... Entire D, entire receiving corps, and OL combined return, what, 3 starters? Has that kind of team ever made it to the playoffs or a NYD bowl? It's young but super-inexperienced
... Preseason scheduly has some sneaky ok teams that might not beat us, but that will push us, so while that's trial by fire, it's also going to expose weaknesses, possibly wear us down a bit more than usual etc.
While I think we have more talent than 9-10 teams on our schedule... it's so young. We're going to trip up somewhere along the line. We can't weather injuries like last year. That smells of a four-loss season.
Excuses are liked here ....
How dare you state facts?!
Starting isn't the only measure of experience, playing is experience even if it's not in a starting context, believe it or not. Michigan is nowhere near as inexperienced as people are making out because we have a ton of guys who got snaps last year and some for two years.
One of last years freshman only played a couple of handfuls of plays but he told me that made all the difference for him and his comfort level, his understanding that he belongs out there, and in getting over the initial awe at the crowd and being out there etc. Now he's been focused on playing football on a football field, wherever, whenever, and tearing it up!
Didn't anybody watch the spring game? Think how many guys looked like absolute weapons, game experience or no, that are going to be additions to this team. Black, Eubanks, Gentry, Kahleke, Bush, Washington. There are a ton of guys that are going to make names for themselves that you're not counting on. There are a number of guys coming in as frosh that weren't here until the summer and some of them are going to contribute and some might even being pushing to start.
The offense is going to shock people!
Hurst isn't on the experienced list because he wasn't a starter, is he a weak point? Rashan, not a starter,, big hole then, right?
One of our Dline starters told me that Peters has looked as good as the spring game every day, but that he thinks he's 3rd still!!! I mean if the other two are truly playing better than what he showed we're gonna be a hell of an offense!
I think the improvements in many areas are going to outweigh learning curve mistakes. I think we blast Florida and then have a long stretch to get the kinks out and make mistakes but live through them and learn from them and get it together by the time we have test at Unhappy valley, and we're going to silence the sicko's.
After that it's a matter of not getting big heads or ahead of ourselves and maintaining focus every game. They might run the table or slip up, but I'll go on a limb and say we have enough to overcome mistakes in several games and come up big when the chips are down in tough games and go 11 and 0 riding into Indy, and then there are too many unknowns to predict anything else yet.
Do we have to beat Wisconsin twice? We don't know anything about what kind of years the West champ or other playoff teams will have or who they will be if we make it that far.
We will beat OSU at home this year.
Tough losses at PSU and Wisconsin. Maybe a loss to Florida as part of the growing pains of a very young team.