8-3 Record
Am I the only one not at all angry about our record or season so far? This is the season we all expected to happen this year, or maybe Harbaugh's 1st or 2nd year. I see no shame in losing to Wiscy or PSU on the road, the way we did, with the tools we have. The only loss that upsets me is the MSU one.
If we finish the year 9-4, even that is a major success to me. Not to mention, we still have an opportunity to finish 10-3 (as well as 8-5). Any way you put it, the trajectory of the team is outstanding.
Apologies for the hot take, mods delete if necessary.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:31 AM ^
The season has gone exactly the way I thought it would, with the exception of the loss to msu.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:43 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:56 AM ^
Yeah and honestly, if Peters plays against MSU we probably win. I still don't get how JOK beat out Peters. JOK cannot play in the Big Ten.
November 19th, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:16 PM ^
I don't really blame O'Korn, he is trying his best, but I think JOK proved to be quite inferior to Brandon Peters as a QB. Therefore, some are upset about JOK being ahead of Peters when it is clear JOK could not handle being a QB at Michigan.
November 19th, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:55 PM ^
From what I have gathered, John is one of the better leaders and persons on the team. Just a very good guy that loves his teammates. Obviously a hard worker, he's had adversity, he does his best and when he leaves the field he does great things in the community. Michigan will get the talent it needs at every position, but it's good to have people like JOK on the team too. He's proving a better person to attach the Michigan brand to than Braylon Edwards.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:33 AM ^
The overall record is about what I thought but the ineptitude from the QB position for the majority of the year has just made for a really ugly season.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
It wasn't always pretty but with Speight we averaged over 400 yards and gave up just over 200
November 19th, 2017 at 10:46 AM ^
I was extremely encouraged by Brandon's performance the last four weeks. Training wheels and weak opponents, yada yada, but the average S&P rank of defense that he faced compared to Wilton was 39.75 (RU, MINN, MD, UW) to 74.75 (UF, CIN, AF, PUR). I know that BP had the benefit of an offense that was 4 games more experienced, but he also did not get 3 games of Tarik Black. His Passer Rating would rank 4th in the conference if he qualified and his best performance came against the #1 defense in S&P. He's going to be a good one. I hope that his injury allows him to get back on the field quickly, and he should begin bowl practice as the first string QB. He has performed admirably.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:53 AM ^
and taking into account it was his third start playing the number 5 team in the land at their place, I am geeked for the future. Unfortunately, the future isn't now; we will have our day, no doubt in my mind.
November 19th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:36 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
The way we lost to MSU was frustrating, but it was not something that leaves me with concern about next year. We committed 5 turnovers in awful weather. Two extremely young teams played a very close game in awful weather and one of them fumbled three times while the other didn't. Unfortunate, but nothing to panic about for the future. I would love to play them right now with Peters at the helm.
November 19th, 2017 at 12:18 PM ^
And it's clear that O'Korn is what he is, a backup and not a starting QB. When he plays for extended stretches it generally doesn't work out.
November 19th, 2017 at 11:49 AM ^
RR and Hoke went a combined 46-42 after 7 seasons.
JH is 27-8, with mostly Hoke's players. That's a 0.771 winning percentage which is better than the Moeller/Carr era (0.758).
If Michigan had only turned the ball over four times and won that damn MSU game, Harbaugh's winning percentage (0.800) would be higher than Bo's (0.796). Agian, this is mostly with players recruited by Brady Hoke.
November 19th, 2017 at 12:03 PM ^
Yeah, the "Hoke's players" thing is an important distinction to make. The players from Harbaugh's first two full recruiting classes (which were both top ten) are first and second-year players, yet they still currently dominate the depth chart. There's almost nobody left from Hoke's impressive 2013 recruiting class (Kugler, Poggi, McCray, Hurst, Hill), and the remainder of the upperclassmen are from uninspiring Hoke classes when he was flailing near the end of his career. Next year is the first time we'll see a team with Harbaugh's recruits as upperclassmen, and that will be the 37th ranked hybrid Hoke/Harbaugh class. I think we can be very good next year. After that, the sky is the limit.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
It doesn't apply so much to this year, as most of the starters were recruited by Harbaugh. However, the majority of the starters in years one and two, were recruited by Brady Hoke, and were 5-7 before JH took over.
If JH can take a group of BH players and coach them to within 5 points of a final four, I'm looking forward to JH coaching a team that consists of JH recruited players.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
I think we're in agreement here. This team is mostly Harbaugh's guys, but almost all of our starters would be freshmen if they had redshirted. This team is uncharacteristically young. The future is very bright.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^
Your point essentially still stands, although the record will most likely be 28-10 (.737) after next week. So a tick below Carr/Moeller standards.
November 19th, 2017 at 4:18 PM ^
can get worse
November 19th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
If, before the season began, you told everyone that:
1. Wilton Speight would break his back in the first 4 games
2. Our leading receiver would break his foot in the first 4 games
3. We would replace our original RT starter for under-performing
...then I am guessing that the vast majority of people would not have predicted that we would win more than 8 games. A majority may have predicted that we would lose more than 4 games! I think, given every circumstance surrounding this team, if we can win 1 more game (OSU or the bowl) that this season will be a fine one. It's not going to go down in history, but 9-4 this year is still right on track in my book.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:57 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
Wisconsin didn't push us around. They returned a punt for a TD. DPJ didn't quite get a toe down before going out of bounds in the end zone.
Wisonsin had zero offensive points in the first half and Michigan should have been up 14-0 (or maybe 14-3, they would have had a short field on an average punt return.)
Michigan, with their RS FR QB, played the no. 5 team on the road even and lost because of a few toss up plays went in Wisconsin's favor.
November 19th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
Agreed. UM looked straight up like the better team for much of the game. I think our perceptions are a bit tainted by Wisconsin moving the ball freely at the end of the game while our offense flailed, but neither was the case until after we were down to our third-best quarterback. At that point, the offense couldn't convert a first down and the defense couldn't stay off the field. It was set to be a very close game before that happened.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^
We averaged 1.6 yards per carry; Wisconsin averaged 4.6 yards per carry. The Badgers looked like the better team.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:54 PM ^
The post said, "for much of the game." Wisconsin had about 90 yards in the first half and we were literally doubling them in yardage at that point. In the game, they had one touchdown drive on offense before we were treated to Sheridan 2.0. Sure, we weren't running the ball well, but we were passing well enough to win and Peters was on pace for a very solid passing day. When there was no prospect of scoring and the offense couldn't stay on the field, the defense started to give way likely due to a combination of exhaustion and loss of will.
November 19th, 2017 at 5:54 PM ^
Prior to the PI on Kinnel (5:52 to go in the 3rd QTR)
Michigan was winning 10-7, despite the DPJ missed TD and the W punt return.
Wisconsin had 95 total yards of offense, Michigan had 196 total yards.
If that PI had not been called, Wisconsin would have been looking at 3 and 14 on their own 19.
That was the turning point of the game as the Badgers end up scoring a TD on the drive and never looking back.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^
were 9-3. I said (and many others did as well) that there were too many questions on the 0-line and general youth to expect better than 9-3. So if we lose next week and finish 8-4, considering we are on our 3rd QB, how is that a disaster? It's disappointing yes, but nothing more than that. Certainly not, as many said yesterday, an indication that the program is in trouble or going in the wrong direction. That's just ridiculous.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:47 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:58 AM ^
But most preseason expectations are assuming full-health (which is risky to assume given the game but it's what most of our brains do). The PSU game was competitive in the first half with a backup QB and hurting WR corp, then they pulled away. We were taking it to Wisconsin until the PI call and then BP gets knocked out.
If you showed someone these results in August with no context, then yes most people would be pissed. But, given everything we know now, I don't think it's rational to be upset that the games played out the way that they have. It's gone pretty much as expected.
November 19th, 2017 at 12:26 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 11:16 AM ^
If you had told me that we'd be playing O'Korn for long stretches at PSU and Wisconsin, I probably would not have expected us to keep it competitive. I was at the IU game last year. It was not pretty to watch*.
*(The offense, that is. Watching the snow come down during the 4th quarter was beautiful.)
November 19th, 2017 at 6:00 PM ^
We weren't competitive "the entire 4th quarter" against Wisconsin because our third best quarterback was leading the team at that point.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:43 AM ^
Would it be better to lay a stinker against Maryland or Minnesota but actually win a game you are not supposed to? I think so. But some bad luck and very untimely injuries have us where we are. Is luck a thing? Should we "just win"?
A lot of offseason hype, recruiting victories and coaching talent has turned into a pretty mediocre team for two years. Of course Harbaugh should be here as long as he wants, I believe.
If you bought into the Harbaugh hype, you have to be bitterly disappointed so far. If you find perspective in where Hoke had the program and add in vast amounts of bad luck and injuries, you seem to have more perspective. I can understand both sides.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:50 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 11:03 AM ^
It depends what you mean by "bought into the hype." I'm still buying the hype in that I think he's an excellent coach. But I thought this would be a challenging year due to the relatively poor 2014 and '15 classes. I'm happy with what I've seen so far of the classes Harbaugh himself has assembled ('16, '17).
If by "buying the hype" you mean that we weren't going to pay any transition costs and just be a machine that never needed to rebuild, well, that wasn't too realistic. We might get to that point - 2017 might end up being Harbaugh's worst team here - but a season like this year's was likely given the roster he inherited.
November 19th, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 10:46 AM ^
I don't know if I'd say "major success" but this season had the potential to be an FSU-style disaster given the QB situation and we averted that, which is something.
November 19th, 2017 at 11:08 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^