Looking ahead to 2021 season

7-5

People always cited injuries for Michigan's issues this year... well, some of those injured guys won't be here... Mayfield, Paye, Hutchison will be gone...who knows who else?

to me, a big sign of whether there are 'culture issues' is activity in the transfer portal...

This assumes no major staff changes.

I'm expecting Harbaugh to be back, with a new DC, recruiting coordinator and a 10-2 regular season record.

I wouldn’t feel comfortable about any of the B1G to be honest which is infuriating in year 7 of one of the highest paid coaches in the sport.

If Harbaugh is the coach, I’ll just go ahead and start looking to the 2022 season.

Eleby from Western has the tools to shred this defense.  

Washington is going to be really good with an emerging qb as well. 

Could be a very ugly non conference. 

Doom. Paine. Suffering.  At least maybe there won't be any nauseating false hype before the season. Michigan football and the cancers that shape the program will continue to be champions in their own minds in search for the right "Michigan Man" to relive the years of Bo (who never won a Nat'l Championship). They'll happily be mediocre as long as they can pretend to be noble and that they "do things the right way" even though they exploit their student athletes like all the rest. Hail to the holier than thou.   At least be like Clemson and thump your Bible with one hand and pay the bagmen with the other like a real college program. OSU and other programs don't even try to hide it. When your already in the brothel there's no need to pretend you're chivalrous.

If JH is here 5-7. Maybe they get lucky and go 6-6.

Assuming a flip flop of going to MSU and getting Indiana at home...

I'll say 5-2 at home, loss to OSU and then one of Northwestern or Indiana (that feels kind of sickening to type going in to year 7 of what had such high hopes).  

2-3 on the road, losing to Wisconsin, Penn State in what you would assume is a night white out, and then either Maryland or Nebraska.  

WMU QB will light this pathetic defense up. Dude is good. Yet somehow Michigan hasn’t been able to find a good QB besides Ruddddock.   
 

Edit: looking back Shea actually wasn’t that bad. Dude was a gamer and came to play against MSU. 

MSU next fall in AA? I don’t think so.

The 2021 season? The MBB and hockey teams have the potential to be really special!

If we return the same coaching staff, I expect nothing. 

How can you look ahead when you don’t know who the Coach will be, what players will be back, what commits will stick/decommit, will 2021 allow full crowds again...you don’t have a full picture...you only are going to further torture yourself with no info.

another 9/10 win season... I'm not complaining.  

Undefeated.   Natty.  

8-9 wins

If Harbaugh is still the coach fuck this athletic department. Were already a laughing stock. That would pretty much show we are ok with mediocre. 

A very Hoke-like 7-5. Sporadic, inconsistent offense that fails to produce in key situations against good opponents, a frequently sieve-like defense, buffoonery on special teams, and a general air of disorganization.

Can we ever get Wisconsin off the schedule for the love of God.

I think they will have an unexpected bounce-bank year next year. That could mean a few different things lol. If harbaugh is back I think you have a year similar to last year with some "wow" moments to kick off the year against lesser teams, some crap the bed moments, and one or two big time wins ie ND last year but the year ends 8-4 or 9-3 and there is a lot to be desired. The pundits will say "great work" and we will say "ugh". 

If a new coach is hired or maybe (huge emphasis on maybe...more like highly unlikely) if Harbaugh totally cleans house and gets in touch with his inner Harbaugh they pull off a 10-2 year or a really good looking 9-3 where you see major hope and improvement ie no blowouts, well prepared, etc. I just don't see that happening with JH as coach. 

My question to  you all is how much to completely reinvented staffs help? I mean on defense you need a total re-do from coaching to recruiting. I'm not talking about playing musicals chairs I'm talking delivering pink slips to half the coaches. Does that make a major impact?

I haven't watched a game since MSU and will continue to ignore this because covid ball is a waste of time.  

That said:  5-7 if harbaugh is the coach.  4-8 if there is a change.  Reason being, I think they are in for a lot of defections either way, but massive transfers and a complete overhaul of coaching staff probably swings a winnable rutgers/nebraska/maryland game to a loss.

Wins:

WMU, NIU, Rutgers, Nebraska, Maryland 

3-9. Honestly, I can see us beating Western, Northern Illinois, and Nebraska. Washington, MSU, Northwestern, OSU, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland, and Penn State are all better coached than us right now. Rutgers would probably beat us, if we played the game again,.

I said 6-6, and thought to myself, man, I'm being a pessimist.  Then this morning I was thinking, we're 2-4 now with 1 of our 2 wins being a triple OT game vs Rutgers.  Maryland would have been a pick em game.  OSU a loss.  So at best 3-5, maybe 2-6.  Let's say in that scenario we win the crossover game, 3-6 season, same as a 4-8 season under regular circumstances.

Why would we go from 4-8 to 7-5 or 6-6?  What's the thing that's going to push us to improve so much if the staff remains the same?  Defense is flat out bad this season, going to be better without Hawkins, Paye, Hutchinson, Kemp, and McGrone?  Offense is bad too, Mayfield is obviously gone. Eubanks too.  Vastardis and Mason will likely be gone too.  Offense returns a lot, but Gattis just isn't the guy to lead our offense.  The offense has gotten worse in each season under Gattis.

I just assumed that yeah, we'll beat MSU, well MSU just beat us and looked better than us and they lose less than we do and have better coordinators.  Same thing with Rutgers, they will improve.  Penn State was bad this year, still beat us soundly.  IU will be better next season, ditto with Wisconsin.  Maryland is no longer a pushover.  

So where are we getting these 6 wins from that I predicted?  Not going to come from Ohio State or Wisconsin.  Nor IU or Penn State.  Northwestern will be better than us next season.  Washington should be really good next year.  A trip to Nebraska is a game we could win.  

Maybe 4-8 or 5-7 is a more realistic look at next season.

This thread is depressing.  Searching my brain for glimmers of hope.

Yes, a bunch of young guys are getting experience this season with a couple that are standing out as future good/great players.  But as a whole I don't get the sense that we will be vastly better.  QBs have been average to bad with moderate ceilings.  JJ coming next year but he will be a true freshman so I am not expecting much.  OL should be fairly good so the running game might be good.  Defense is lacking big bodies on the line.  Linebackers not inspiring any confidence moving forward.  Corners and safeties will be average at best, especially if Don Brown is still here.  We best hope Hutch returns.

In the end this crappiness is about recruiting, roster management and player development.  All three have not been good and we are now paying the price.  The program is not good, is falling further behind OSU every year, loses to shitty MSU teams, has trouble beating average to bad B1G teams, lose to legit ranked teams most of the time.  I am not really looking forward to more of the same shit.  Time for a coaching reboot.

Team should be solid. Thinking 8-9 wins. Have the pieces; they’re just incredibly young.