Does anyone feel like this season's gonna be different?
I just feel a completely different energy this time around. Harbaugh seems to be acting completely differently in a good way, there are all of these incentives in everyone's contract, and the offense is loaded with talent.
If Michigan can get past Washington and Wisconsin, the team will have so much momentum and will start getting into the playoff talks.
I'm so optimistic about this season a friend offered me 2-to-1 odds on 8.5 wins with the agreement that if a game is cancelled for any reason it goes down to 7.5 and I took him up on it.
Nope. You’re deluded and have learned nothing from the last six years. The coaching staff is a mess, the roster is a shambles and we are no closer to having a championship level QB than we were when Harbaugh got here.
Optimistic about normalcy in football coming back. Absolutely.
Michigan football excitement? Ehhh. Luckily, we don’t hear pump up stories coming from the camp to hype us up. Since these last Harbaugh years, it’s a prove it to me before I get excited. We don’t have nearly the talent like we did and defense will be very questionable. This almost feels like the dark times with Hoke at the end of his career, however there is still a little spark of belief with Harbaugh. Whether we see it is unknown.
Get your checkbook ready.
I think it'll be a reversion to the norm, like 8 or 9 wins doesn't seem unreasonable. But I don't think any of "win the big ten, beat OSU, make the playoff, have only one loss" are on the table.
For over a decade now, I've wanted every season to be different, and I maintain that wish now, so obviously, I would be ecstatic if this coming season were in fact different, though my baseline guess on admittedly mere intuition, which of course is not worth much, is that this is an 8-4 team at best right now.
Not at all. We do not have a squad this year and Harbaugh is still Harbaugh.
Not so much. 9-3 is the absolute ceiling, with 7-5 the likely outcome. I’d be shocked if we make it to the second half of OSU game within 21 points of the lead.
It’s bittersweet for me as I feel it’s time to move on from Harbaugh but yet I’d love to see a good season.
My dad just died. I’ll miss watching the games with him. Not a lot from my end other than that this year. He sure did hate Ohio state though, so fuck them.
Damn. Sorry for your loss.
Go Blue!
Believe!
nope
I feel optimistic going into every season, until reality intervenes. The biggest difference from my past is that I can much more quickly pivot to hopeless resignation than before, and it doesn't hurt quite as much.
I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you must be really young. I think it all rides in our QB play and our defense. Our D will need to improve a lot for us to be competitive against quality teams. I’m still burning from the MSU game last year.
I'm so optimistic about this season a friend offered me 2-to-1 odds on 8.5 wins with the agreement that if a game is cancelled for any reason it goes down to 7.5 and I took him up on it.
Assuming we're talking regular season here, I'm fairly confident in 7 wins. I am not at all confident in 9.
I just feel a completely different energy this time around. Harbaugh seems to be acting completely differently in a good way, there are all of these incentives in everyone's contract, and the offense is loaded with talent.
I mean in some ways the season has to be different with so many different staff members. But, there are so many question marks. On offense it's the o-line and the QB. I'm confident in Hart and the RBs. I am questionable on if the o-line can make holes, pick up blitz protections, and keep McNamara upright enough to have the balance necessary on offense to let the RBs do their thing. We can't just run into stacked defenses. I also question the play calling. And, the defense is a giant question mark pretty much everywhere minus Hutch, Hawkins, & Dax. I do like the way Green improved over last season and I think Ross will have a bounce back season and I'm really high on Colson. But, we desperately need Mazi & Hinton to show up and a second CB.
Hold your monkey poop, Gomer! We ain't even got to camp yet!
Ah yes the annual this will be different season. Dude is on year 7 already and hasn’t done jack shit but get laughed at. OP should guest host Ace’s feelings ball podcast….
and hasn’t done jack shit but get laughed at.
Oh, the horror! He's getting laughed at... Are we in 3rd fucking grade again?
OP should guest host Ace’s feelings ball podcast….
I'm amazed that people are still taking potshots at Ace. WTF did he do to you personally? Just let it go already.
Nooooooopppppppeeeee
I'm always optimistic. Keeps me coming back for more.
If the OL can get fixed and create lanes for the running game, then we'll have a real step forward on offense. Lots of guys hurt last year, so hopefully health and better luck will be our friend.
QB health was a problem last season, but related to the OL issues above. Please keep the QB upright and clean.
On the D side, we just need to defend passes. With the new D scheme that places emphasis on the secondary, this sounds like a problem given the CBs on the roster. The LBs were a mess last year, so hopefully this system works better for the talent we have at that position. They should get better with experience, so game-to-game improvement should happen. Can they start at a high enough baseline and then improve enough to beat OSU at the end of the season? Would be nice if they could.
Michigan football will always remain my top priority and love compared to any other sport. Nothing comes even remotely close. If I was offered a World Series ticket to watch the Tigers play a game or a ticket to watch Michigan play the University of Buffalo at the Big House, I'm taking the Buffalo ticket. I sincerely mean that.
The pomp and circumstance of gameday in Ann Arbor, the chills I get walking into the big house, they're all great. And they'll remain great. As for what the product on the field this year will be....I wish I could get excited. But I can't.
Last year completely kicked my ass and I STILL can't get the taste out of my mouth. We looked legit like one of THE worst teams in college football. We let a shitty MSU team throw for about a billion yards on our secondary. A shitty Wisconsin team coming off a covid outbreak was up three touchdowns on us before you could blink twice. A shitty and winless Penn State team beat us. We had to go into an overtime shootout with Rutgers. How can anyone look back on all that and have high hopes for this season?
I can't remember a time in my life where I was less excited for college football season to start. At least with RichRod, the futility was so new that I could foolishly talk myself into thinking it couldn't possibly get any worse. I can't put any sort of spin on things this time around. I desperately hope the team proves me wrong.
I'm in the same boat. I'd love to feel optimistic for this year but I just can't
I can see the Kool-aid stand and some folks are there in line. Optimism is good. Hopeful is even better. The new assistant coaches will make a difference. It's also good to see Harbaugh has a pep in his step. For me, it will boil down to decisions made during the game and what kind of adjustment can these coaches make that can pull out some of these surprise victories that we will need.
I am hopeful.
I guess it's just a different mindset.
I think optimism is good up until a point.
It would be like your SO promising you intercourse every night, and then they fall asleep over and over and over again.
Rather than waking up the following morning thinking "Yeah! Today is THE DAY!," I would approach it and think "It ain't happening, but if it does, I'll be happy."
I think constantly being let down, again and again, is a drain on mental well-being. I know it's just sports, but I remember how drained I felt as a teenager going in with just unabashed optimism.
I have an easier time having reckless optimism with Michigan basketball because they deliver. For the football team, it's either win a championship/beat OSU or it's worthless. That's the point we are at with this program; at SOME POINT, they have to do something.
No. It's still a Jim Harbaugh coached team.
They may tease but will ultimately disappoint.
Again.
I'm at the point where they need to show me something first. I've been sucked in too many times. QB play needs to be top notch and consistent.
Yes it'll be different. Hopefully I'll be able to get drunk at least 12 times this year
You know the quote from Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"?
Maybe we can say "Good Michigan seasons are all alike, every bad Michigan season is bad in its own way." And that's how I think this season will be different.
Honestly, the fact it's late July and this is the first 'mindlessly optimistic' thread of the off-season says it all. Normally this forum is in full "this year we're going to contend" mode by July as all the disappointments from the previous season have faded enough for the eternally optimistic to believe the spin coming out of the program.
I do, until it isn't. But I like your optimism. To prevent heartache again, I am in a wait and see mode. If we can beat Washington and then go on the road Oct. 2 and beat Wisconsin, I will officially let down my guard.
Just win
The thing that scares me a lot that generally doesn't get discussed is how bad Harbaugh has become in terms of an in-game coach.
His game management has become atrocious; he has no feel for when his team should speed up or slow down with regard to the clock. He bungles his timeouts game after game. The playcalling has gotten somehow progressively worse than when he came in. I remember when he first started, and we were seeing smart runs, well-timed play actions, unique formations that would catch opponents off-guard, and everything you'd expect from a well-coached regime.
Now, he's smashing a fullback that barely runs the ball forward and fumbling, or trying a pop pass on 4th and 1 from the 1 yard line. I don't know what the hell is going on anymore with this dude's coaching.
I remain positive they will in fact play football this year. I am not positive how that will turn out. I positively want them to win this year and if they lose, I’m positive I’ll get upset. Remain positive everybody.
We have a coach that the University decided was underperforming. Instead of firing him (as every other power program would), the University made him take a fifty percent pay cut. How do we as fans believe that our University is committed to winning given that series of events? I still haven’t found a single comparable set of loser decisions from other major Universities.
Lucy sets the football down and Charlie is running up to make the kick and…
Sorry. Not falling for it. This team is doomed.
Michigan football is most likely going to suck hard this year. The defense is likely to be as incoherent as the offense has been and it will be sad to see which side has less talent to try to make up for it.