December 6th, 2021 at 12:47 PM ^
In 1940, France prepared for a reboot of World War One. In 2021, the pundits figured on a repeat of 2020.
It's human nature to call guesswork prediction.
December 6th, 2021 at 1:05 PM ^
How dare you! The Maginot line will hold!
December 6th, 2021 at 2:52 PM ^
The Germans decided to go around it through the Ardennes
December 6th, 2021 at 3:52 PM ^
Yes of course, but the Maginot line is still standing, while the Nazis are... ok well the Nazis are still around too, but the point is if Napoleon wanted to win the war, the Maginot line would have repelled the Spanish armada.
December 6th, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
I mean, yeah, 7-5 seemed very realistic at the time. Hell if you told me we'd lose Ronnie Bell for the season in the Western game, I would've said 7-5 was optimistic.
December 6th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
They pretty much summed up what most of us were thinking
It's pretty remarkable that we have a first time D coordinator, in the first year of his scheme, turning things around so much.
IN particular, a group of middling DTs took a huge leap, the poor CB play from last year was completely turned around, and the scheme was downloaded and executed far better than we could have even dreamed
And despite a couple key departures on the OL, and losing Ronnie Bell, we cobbled together a functional passing game and really great line play
December 6th, 2021 at 1:01 PM ^
Over the course of the season, I've noticed that fans like to think in extremes. Maybe it's because we've had a stretch of general mediocrity (although that's in the eyes of the beholder; Harbaugh has a solid winning record). Everything is great or it's terrible. There's not much in between, not much reflection without an immediate judgment (e.g. qb throws behind the receiver, he's deemed to be "terrible" as opposed to his pass being terrible). Maybe it's just the language of sports fans but when we're winning yet still making mistakes, that's no reason to suddenly to go all Chicken Little. If anything, this team has provided plenty of evidence this season of being able to overcome mistakes. Maybe everyone needs some cognitive behavioral therapy to learn how to relax and not jump to conclusions every time a player makes a mistake or the team has an unproductive drive.
December 6th, 2021 at 3:47 PM ^
Couple of counterpoints:
This is a football message board, frequented by the most fanatical of fans. So, over reaction is to be expected. Also--the heat of the game is intense and I don't know about you, but watching a game is not for the faint hearted or those who are super cool and all nonchalant to a lot of us who are raging lunatics during the telecast.
You don't get why people do that? Well, many people don't get how a game can be watched, if you are watching a team you love, and only get to do so once per week for 13 weeks, without being completely and maniacally into it.
It's what we do. And we don't need therapy, and I'm not sure what "cognitive" therapy would do since that concentrates on actual learning and brain skills, not the emotions, which get the best of us BECAUSE WE ARE FUCKING CRAZY
And that's why we're here.
December 6th, 2021 at 8:42 PM ^
In a 12 game season I see three levels of competition against 4 A teams, 4 B teams, and 4 C teams. For me, the preseason prediction was either 4-8 or 8-4 because if you can beat one of the B teams then Michigan would beat them all. It is more complicated than that but I couldn't predict a loss to just some of the middle tier teams
December 6th, 2021 at 1:03 PM ^
I think you're looking too deep into it.
4 months ago, there were a lot of landmines in this schedule, very tough road games, and an Indiana team that everyone was hyping.
They don't look at Michigan and say "can Michigan be 9-3 if everything goes their way?". They look at all games across all schedules, choose the favorites, and whatever your team's record is is whatever it is.
Not sure why everyone is trying to play the disrespekt card so hard.
December 6th, 2021 at 3:50 PM ^
I agree--the team wasn't looking so sharp at the end of the previous season, either, and as many rightly and sensibly said: I will believe it when I see it. As it unfolded, many more became believers as Michigan kept proving itself to have righted the ship. It's pretty logical to me.
December 6th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
At this point, this year has a 1997 team vibe to it. Disrespected pre-season team bands together and climbs way above expectations.
Rooting for them to climb the rest of the way.
December 6th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
Thats better than half you the people on this board predicted.
December 6th, 2021 at 1:12 PM ^
I was 9-4/10-3 thinking that tough road wins were not happening. The 7-5 never made sense to me with the amount of talent still on the roster. There was a non-zero number of people on this board almost hoping for a .500 record and subsequent coaching change.
December 6th, 2021 at 1:21 PM ^
Preseason predictions are often silly. ESPN always does preseason Heisman predictions, and it is rarely even close to future reality. I fail to see the point of it, honestly. Below are the predictions from ESPN "experts".
David Hale: Sam Howell, North Carolina
Chris Low: Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma
Alex Scarborough: Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma
Dave Wilson: Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma
Bill Connelly: Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma
Ryan McGee: Breece Hall, Iowa State
Mark Schlabach: Bijan Robinson, Texas
Current frontrunners and Vegas odds:
Bryce Young, Alabama -3000
Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan +2000
Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh +2500
CJ Stroud, Ohio State +3000
Matt Corral, Ole Miss +5000
Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State +5000
Will Anderson, Jr., Alabama +5000
Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati +15000
December 6th, 2021 at 1:43 PM ^
That's fun to see. Thanks.
December 6th, 2021 at 1:49 PM ^
I bought into this team after their win at Wisconsin. They went up there and stole their jump around excitement and burried the Badgers. Right then I knew something was different about this team.
December 6th, 2021 at 8:50 PM ^
Correct best answer. Washington game was in doubt (preseason) and Wisconsin was AT Wisconsin and after last year . . . Beating those two and all of sudden (please don't remind me that Washington didn't pan out) it was game on to win the Big 10.
Someone on this board mocked me (how seriously?) for shedding a tear for Iowa's loss to PSU as I was looking forward to handing Iowa their first loss (in the Big 10 Championship Game). The poster suggested that I was talking about 2022. I now cackle with glee.
December 6th, 2021 at 2:21 PM ^
Just thinking about if nico and kwity would have stuck around, Those 2 weapons would have made us even more devastating
December 6th, 2021 at 3:48 PM ^
Predictions were notoriously difficult ahead of this year given how weird 2020 was, but man, reading through my Phil Steele magazine is a bit cringe to say the least.
Here's Phil Steele's surprise teams for 2021 i.e. teams he expected to exceed expectations considerably and have 'big years': Washington, Wisconsin, USC, Utah, Miami, LSU, Texas, PSU, Arizona State, TCU, Oregon, Iowa.
Of course it's not *all* bad news, as Utah, Iowa and even Oregon had pretty good seasons. But 33% of the supposed 'surprise teams' will have a new head coach next year due to underachievement, Texas likely would have as well under different circumstances. Wisconsin, PSU and ASU didn't have terrible years, but also not great years by any stretch.
Other teams very overrated: Iowa State, North Carolina, Florida, TAMU, Stanford.
Michigan was underrated of course dramatically, but so was MSU it has to be conceded. And in the Big 12, Baylor got no love ahead of the year either.
December 6th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
I came in to this season with zero expectations. It has worked out just fine.
December 6th, 2021 at 7:34 PM ^
This post prediction is kinder than a recall the vast majority of people posting on this board. Only the wildest optimists were predicting 9-3 or so, and they were mostly ridiculed. The consensus around here from the vast majority (or at least the most vocal majority) was the Michigan would be lucky to have a winning season, and that Michigan would remain mediocre and trail OSU (and a few others) as long as Harbaugh remained. The general negative attitude of the board has been more discouraging than the performance of the team in recent years.
I do not recall anyone predicting B1G East or B1G titles (most predicted 3rd or 4th in the B1G East), and while I hoped for more, I had to promise myself not to be disappointed with a winning season.