Adjusted season predictions

Wisconsin is ripe for a rock fight type game where we might be able to pull out a win.  They have also played zero top 25 teams, and the only team with a winning record they've beaten is Northwestern.  The rest of their schedule is Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.  If M doesn't crack the top 25 by the time they play, they won't play a ranked team until the B1G championship game. 

I think we make 8-2 into Wisconsin, which will be a tossup.  Unless we get a lot of bounces our way against OSU or the team makes drastic improvements by then, we'll probably lose that one by two scores or more.

7-5 at worst, 8-4 most likely, 9-3 is possible, 10-2 is pretty much pipe-dream status.

as my original prediction, 8-4.

we win out.

Beating Wiscy is entirely dependent on the offensive staff: if the first read is open for O'Korn, M can win.  If not, we're fucked.  Same for OSU with much less margin for error.  

I don't understand why anyone would consider WIsconsin or OSU a toss-up based on the results so far.

3-2 down the stretch, no way we beat OSU, we can get lucky against Wisconsin because their offense is bad.

College Football has no real predictive basis so I root for the best possible outcome.

This seems to be a year where November Chaos will be high and 2 loss teams are not out of it.

A loss to Rutgers, Minnesota, or Maryland would be a major disappointment.  So that gets us to 8 wins. 

Then I think we can play Wisconsin close because they aren't built offensively to attack our secondary the way PSU is.  I'll call that one a lean loss due to the road trip though. 

OSU is built like PSU in that they'll try to attack our secondary but I think Meyer plays too conservatively in big games and Michigan can keep it close.  I'll call that a lean loss because our offense is so miserable.  I really struggle to see our offense scoring more than 17 against Wisconsin or OSU.  

 

So I think 8-4 is most likely, if we can steal one from Wisconsin in an ugly big ten field position battle we might get 9 wins.  If Harbaugh gets us to 10 wins this season I'll recant all my criticisms.

 

8-4 with a decent chance at 9-4 with a bowl win. A loss to Rutgers, Minn., or Maryland would really cause a meltdown.

Losing the MSU game really mucked things up, otherwise it would probably be another 10 win season (with bowl) and that wouldn't look too bad in the end.

Pressure is building to win in 2018.

My preseason prediction was 10-2 because I didn't expect the offense to be incompetent.

OSU is a toss up?? As usual most of you are more optimistic than I am. I see 8-4 as the most likely and I wouldn't be shocked if we dropped one other one to finish 7-5. If we do get to 8-2, that Wisconsin game will be big as far as perception of our season, but they are better than last year and it's on the road in a very tough environment. I don't see it. Is Tarik Black back by then possibly? That could help.

I was thinking this was going to be a 8-4, 9-3 season due to all the people we lost on defense and our offense was going to be our strong point due to RB, QB and a more seasoned line...boy was I wrong. However, I still think we will either be 8-4, 9-3. 

I think OSU has us beat on a talent level that scheming cant overcome at this point in Harbaughs Michigan career. Wisky will be a toss up game due to it being on the road, we match up pretty well with them.

Pretty comfortable win over Rutgers, followed up by closer and somewhat ugly wins over Maryland and Minnesota. I feel like we can keep the Wisconsin game close because their offense plays into our defense's strengths, but trusting our offense to get anything done on the road against a very likely top-5 opponent? That would be a no. That game strikes me as being a 21-7 kind of loss where Wisconsin can slowly chip away at the defense. 

Sure, throw the records out the window against OSU, but if OSU still has Indy and the playoffs to play for when they come to Ann Arbor, I pretty much expect a 2015 repeat where our offense gets completely shut down and OSU just runs wild the whole day, looking for style points by the end of it. If OSU loses to PSU and has only pride to play for, maybe it's closer. But I expect us to lose by multiple scores either way. The offense is a disaster with no hope for improvement in sight, and last week showed our defense is highly vulnerable to spread attacks. OSU's offense is arguably better than PSU's, and littered with far better athletes. We gon' die. 

My guess is the Holiday Bowl where we're either paired against Stanford, USC, or the football gods would also be cruel enough to put us against Arizona. And you know RichRod would sleep maybe 5 hours over the whole month of December game-planning for that. 

There are very few encouraging signs right now. There was a story about pumping a well or something. I could see three Ls and a 7-5 end. Wisconsin and OSU... seems you'd have to be a serious homer to pick UM in either. Calling OSU a toss-up seems absurd considering the record since forever and the current states of these teams. And of the three games we are all expecting Don Brown to simply gift wrap... I think something wonky will happen. Well, if you consider the Os turnovers as wonky. They're usually a sign of a bad team doing bad things. I don't see the light until Harbaugh comes to Jesus on some of these off-season hires and general hierarchy. One of the most unbalanced UM squads I can remember watching. And the "youth" excuse is always one of the lamest blanket comments in sports. Much of that dreaded youth is in the D. The O stars a 5th-year kid at QB (who's had years under the tutelage of the professed QB whisperer) and a number of experienced kids on the line and in the backfield. None of that talent looks well-coached or maxed-out. The truth hurts. And the final record will likely hurt too.