Michigan's schedule & predictions

A lot of this.

I say 8-1.  Only loss is to Penn State.  Shock OSU, beat Wiscy for the 2nd time in Indy: B1G Champs!

All hinges on Milton and the secondary. The OL got a huge boost with Mayfield coming back, the RBs will be good to great, and I think the wideouts will be fine even without Nico. But how much has Milton progressed? Did he get the job because he made a quantum leap in progression over McCaffrey, or did you get it because McCaffrey seriously regressed? Milton sure has a high ceiling, but he hasn’t really looked the part in the time he’s been given. 

And then the secondary.....yeah I don’t know. If Ambry doesn’t come back then someone has to step up. Right now it’s Dax and.....Dax. Everyone else back there, so far, is just a guy.

Doomsday scenario: 4-4, we beat Rutgers, MSU, IU and Maryland but lose to everyone else. Best case is 7-1, where Milton really looks the part and is Harbaugh’s first legit QB, Ambry comes back, but they lose again in Columbus. 

I’ll take the median and say 6-3. Lose to OSU, Wisconsin and Minnesota, but beat a top-10 Penn State team to give the season a “high moment.”

7-1. M loses to OSU because I've come to expect this.

11-0.

I really like the OL and RB depth. Even without Nico, there's enough talent and experience on the outside to employ the Gattis offense to good use.

Joe Milton will be an effective decision-maker to go along with his golden gun arm.

Depth at DT and CB is a concern of course, but I like the fact there's some new blood on the defensive coaching staff to lend fresh eyes for game planning.

Okay, okay, so this being Michigan they're much more likely to go 5-3, but a guy can dream!

5-3

I say 5-3 -- Ls @Minny, @OSU, and one of Wisc or PSU at home. Could be 4-4 if we drop @Indiana.

I hope the Milton chatter is real, but we hear it every year. Add to that OSU's superiority and JH's wonkiness in so many ways, and it'll be another meh season.

Bring on basketball.

7-1 with a shot at 8-0. Our defense is always good and the offense expects to be better with Milton starting and making plays for them. Our roster is better than everyone we will play except for osu. That game will be played with no fans and in the cold and possible snow. Defense and turnovers will win that game, so we at least have a shot.

if you think we will lose to Minnesota, you should be begging for Harbaugh to be fired so we can hire Fleck. Top to bottom, our roster is significantly more talented than theirs.

Kinda nuts that there's a month-plus to go. . . Wonder what that will mean for how they play.

I have to agree with the OP. 
I can see 3-5. 
And I can also see 6-2. 

But I will go 5-3. 

We may just have the best pair of DEs in the nation. Our OL has some experience and those who dont have a great OLine coach. And I keep keep saying Michigan is due for a great QB to develope.  Willi Joe Milton look like shades of Cam Newton?  7-1. 

Ohio State draws the two worst teams in the West with Nebraska and Illinois as their cross-over games ?  FUCKING BULLSHIT

Michigan draws the arguably the two best teams in the West in Minnesota and Wisconsin ?  FUCKING MORE BULLSHIT.

I thing we should dump the B1G and go GDI like ND.  FUCK THE BIG TEN.

Like I said before I knew the schedule.

5-3

Worse than that then Milton is struggling.  Better than that he might be the real deal 

5-3 in the first eight. That's about our recent historical Big 10 performance and no reason to expect it to change this year. 

Michigan goes 5-3 in 2020

Hard to say really... brand new QB, 4 new OLine starters... Haven't seen even a scrimmage, so i have no idea if Milton is going to be ok, much less great.

Going to say 5-3, but would not be surprised at 4-4 or 6-2 with the lack of information.

the only thing i am convinced of is losing to OSU.

Overview: 

I expect this to be Harbaugh's best team to date from a talent and scheme standpoint. Milton will be the best QB we've had since...I don't know when. We're a bit light on experience in some locations, and a little thin in terms of depth at a couple of positions, but the transition from a 1990's style team to a modern team is almost complete. 

@ MN will be a challenging opener, but without fans, I'd expect to win. Game might be close early but with more talent, Michigan should start to pull away in the 3rd quarter. 

MSU may not even be capable of fielding a team. It appears they are in Red/Red Covid stages per the B1G rules. If Sparty does show up to play, they'll be in disarray. We'll crush them. Biggest risk is our players catching Covid from them.

@Indiana...they always play us tough, but by three games in, everything should be starting to click. 2 TD Michigan victory. Indiana will expose, again, some holes in our D. I'm just thankful they're not the game prior to Ohio State again.

Wisconsin tends to flip-flop blow-out games with us depending who is the home team. Without fans, maybe a little closer but Michigan wins. Our offense wasn't ready for prime time when we faced them in 2019. Seems to be now. Wisconsin will also be short some practice time. Covid is running wild on campus.

@Rutgers will be a good chance to play all the backups and give the starters a week to heal up. Advantage this year for us that there are no redshirts to burn. If Milton plays more than the first half, something is very wrong.

Penn State follows a similar pattern to Wisconsin WRT home games. I suspect they're very over-rated in the preseason magazines. Will be a good, but not great team. We only narrowly lost to them in a white-out last year after an epic first half meltdown. Michigan with a 1 to 2 score victory at home.

Maryland will be another good game to get the back-ups some reps and heal up the starters before Ohio State. The Terps are improved but shouldn't be a real issue.

@Ohio State....the buckeyes are a semi-pro team, not a real college team. They cheat on an institutional level and the powers that be just don't give a sh*t. It's like asking Michigan's baseball team to beat the Mudhens in an exhibition game. Can it happen? Sure, like maybe once out of every ten games. It's a La Nina year, so the game will may be played in the snow. That might help to even things out...

5-3? We'll beat one of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Penn State, maybe 2? OSU thrashes us.

Is 5 wins bowl eligible in this format? Are there bowl games? This is weird.