Angelique predicts Michigan to finish 10-2 (7-2)

What? 2016 and 2018 both had two loss reg seasons...

I don't think our receivers have had the opportunity to look like a Manningham or Breaston yet, hopefully that changes with the new system this year.  I certainly think they're capable of reaching that level.

No Jake Long, but our interior OL is as stacked as ever, and scheme should cover our lack of a Hartesque RB.

As far as the defense goes, you are right we have nobody near that level.  However, I still believe in Don Brown, and he has shown that he can do big things on defense with far less talent than our D has now.  We were supposed to take a massive step back on D in 2017, and that defense was still stout.  

I'm a young Michigan fan, first game I went to as a kid was in '03 and I've been hooked ever since.  All I've seen is disappointing seasons and continuous losses to Ohio State, and even I'm confident that this is our year to break through.  We've had way too many quality teams since 2004 to be B1G championship-less for this long.  The ball HAS to bounce the other way eventually and I think this is the year it happens for us.

I think that Pep Hamilton was always slow to react to change on the fly, and fell back on to predictable play calling, when things outside the lines that he was expecting from a team were happening. I think he was that way because he is still a novice at coaching, and was moved up in the ranks prematurely. Michigan just did not have a sense of urgency, to go to war with Ohio St, when Ohio St was playing with more energy. He's gone now. Those bad two years are over. Period.

One thing that I liked with the 2016 Game is that Michigan came out of the gates with urgency, and was playing with more energy than Ohio St. The ball was moving! Turnovers really hurt in that game. Michigan probably should have won it.

We all said that two years ago and they chewed our faces off.  Different team I know, but if it’s at night it will be a bitch.  That place is a whole different thing at night.

I disagree. Despite the osu game last year, the team as a whole was a much better team than we have seen in the last 13 years, except for 2016. 2016 and 2018 were elite and very good teams, respectively, even though neither achieved their ultimate goal. This team has the potential to be better than both. I can't wait until the results on the field dispell this Michigan masochist pessimism.

She is actually a stenographer who does no additional reporting and just spouts convention wisdom. She’s just lazy. 

Fuck that. I'm going to keep predicting Michigan to beat osu. I truly think we have a better team than them this year (which was the case in 2016, at least) AND we get them at home, AND their legendary coach is gone, AND they put Mattison, a 70 year old positions coach, into the defensive coordinator role.

This fan base can be such a fucking chore sometimes. If you can't have optimism now I don't know why you watch.

Totally agree. I've been saying for a couple years to myself I won't believe they will beat OSU until after they do. 

But then last year Michigan banged out 10 straight wins, beating some pretty solid teams in the process, and OSU barely beat some shit teams... Giving me confidence that we were finally going to get it done. Nope. 

Yeah. people say that. But if we beat OSU and MSU and have a loss or two that keeps us out of the college football playoffs you'll be having the same people talk about how we choke yada yada yada. 

The only way the UM fan base will be truly happy is if we beat OSU and MSU and win at least one playoff game and maybe the national title. Everything else will have at least some fraction of the fanbase complaining. 

A 10-2 season would be “a failure” – really?  In the words of Gob Bluth, “Come on!”

Name the Michigan head football coach who has won as many as ten games in four of his first five seasons? (HINT: As of now, the answer is the same answer as the one to Jim Harbaugh’s question of “Who has it better than us?”) From 2000 through 2018, Michigan won at least ten games in only seven seasons, and both Lloyd Carr and Jim Harbaugh have three of those seasons.

It’s not like this team isn’t facing some significant challenges. Until we learn otherwise, Michigan is starting the season with:

• Two relatively inexperienced offensive linemen, and if the revised lineup involves shifting Ben Bredeson to one of the tackle spots, then that’ll be moving Michigan’s one player with some pre-season All-American mention to an unfamiliar position;
• A projected, three-man, running-back rotation that has a total of 82 carries for 468 yards and one touchdown among them;
• A defense missing five of its top eight tacklers from a year ago, plus having a completely revamped defensive line being coached by a new assistant, a new linebackers coach and some questions about the cornerback position opposite Lavert Hill;
• Its leading kick returner from 2018 sidelined while recovering from an intestinal ailment;
• As many as eight true freshmen who could see significant playing time (Zach Charbonnet, Mike Sainristil, Cornelius Johnson, Erick All, Chris Hinton, Mazi Smith, Anthony Solomon and Daxton Hill); and
• A schedule that includes games against six teams ranked in the AP pre-season top 20 (Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Iowa).

Although a 10-2 regular-season record might seem like "a failure" when measured against the wishes, hopes and desires of most MGoBloggers and probably every single player and coach on the Michigan football team, considering the challenges and the always unpredictable injuries that can plague even the best teams in the nation, there might be several ways in which a 10-2 season could be considered a success, especially if the only losses are to Wisconsin and Notre Dame and Michigan wins both the Big Ten East Division title and the Big Ten championship game.

I really don't understand this type of absolutism. Last year, osu was taken to OT by Maryland, and almost lost. If they would have, we would have won the big ten east and probably the big ten. In such a case, the season would have been a success, regardless of the results of the osu game.

Yes, I hate osu. No, it isn't the only metric to judge a season by.

What about 14-1 and a loss to an 9-3 OSU?