NBC Sports: Jim Harbaugh and Year 3 at Michigan
Towards the end: "Harbaugh entering Year 3 as Michigan’s head coach will do so starting the year with a younger roster in need of experience. Ohio State is a better team. Playing at Penn State in a revenge game could be difficult. Playing Florida in the opener should be a challenge. Michigan may not really have a shot at winning the Big Ten in 2017, and most will give Harbaugh a pass for that. That’s fair, but the pressure for winning big in 2018 will be high."
I will say this, though. Lucky for us, my predictions usually suck.
You would not survive a minute with Harbaugh.
Trolls gonna troll.
That's a strong contender for dumbest CFB column of 2017 and it's barely July. Impressive work.
The pressure will be high and they will be locked and loaded to do it. Notre Dame doesn't have a prayer for that first game. Harbaugh's fourth year and this staff with all this talent? Holy shitballs Batman!!! I better have a Corona and settle down. Have to watch my blood pressure with all this grilled food and potatoe chips.
the more sensational the headline, the more clicks you generally get.
There was a really good show on National Geographic that chronicled the competition between Pulitzer and Hearst, and even Joseph Pulitzer (who has the prize named after him for journalistic excellence) engaged in sensationalism and not-so-kosher tactics to sell more papers.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/american-genius/episodes/hearst-v…
Most people on Mgoblog aren't worried about the trajectory of the program because after having Coaches Hoke and Rodriguez, Coach Harbaugh really is the Messiah. 20 wins in 2 years, 1 bowl win and 1 very close bowl loss, and 11 drafted players (school record) is light years ahead of where the program was under the 2 previous coaches. Just wait until his chosen QBs are running the show behind a dominant O-line to complement the defense and these d-bags will have to move on to Coach Harbaugh to the NFL b.s. rumors.
I expect Michigan to win every game they play this season. That should always be the expectation. There is no rebuilding at Michigan.
Who's ok with losing games? I don't think anyone here is. Either way, it's not fair to compare our situation to Ohio State's. While they were young, they weren't as young as we'll be this year, because the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes just weren't up to par with what a championship caliber program needs. That's why most of the production this season will come from sophomores and freshmen. We'll be younger this year than OSU or Bama have been in any given season.
This is scripted, right?
Brought this up a couple of weeks ago about how M fans have this non-stop tendency to pick a specific year and say, "(insert year here) is when everything will line up."
Nothing is ever perfect in college football. Teams you think will be great fall short, teams surprise, players get hurt.
Bottom line, if this guy is the god-like figure that people portray, in Year 3, I expect them to get to that BTC. This whole business about already anticipating 3-4 losses is nausating.
Never said I'm okay with losing. Just giving an honest assessment. I could be like everyone else and say "15-0 National Champs baby!" but I keep it real. You can imagine how I felt having to watch Lou Holtz predict ND games...
2015: This is Notre Dame's year!
2014: This is Notre Dame's year!
2013: This is Notre Dame's year!
2012: This is Notre Dame's year! (He was actually almost right on this one)
2011: This is Notre Dame's year!
1899: This is Notre Dame's year!
15-0, National Champions.
But fans cannot have it both ways. We can't portray Jim Harbaugh as the fucking diety to end all dietys, and then say, "Well, I expect us to win 8, 9 games."
That shit is over. If this guy is the savior, in his third year, he should get the team to the BTC.
"If this guy is the savior, in his third year, he should get the team to the BTC."
And if he doesn't, are you looking for a new coach?
Back off the rhetoric a bit... You're statement is every bit as off base as FSKLLSK (or whatever the hell that name is) marking down 4 losses because Hoke would have lost those games. Try a different approach - expect the wins. If they don't happen, take a neutral look at how the team performed. Did they play hard? Did they compete? Did the coaches put them in position to succeed? If those things happened, and the other team still won - congratulate the other team for a good win and move on. If those things didn't happen? Then its time to complain...
I am not looking for a new coach.
But enough fo this soft-serve bull shit from the fans. He has most of his guys in the system. No year will ever be perfect. The narrative of heaping massive praise on the guy, but coming back and laying out all these excuses in his third year is ridiculous.
A lot of people are saying on July 3rd that, "I expect 3-4 losses." If that does come to pass and JH loses to OSU again, people are going to be pissed. Not, "Fire the coach" pissed, but time for results pissed.
I am past the point of "did they play hard" by about 10 years. We are not watching pee-wee football.
"You're statement is every bit as off base as FSKLLSK (or whatever the hell that name is) marking down 4 losses because Hoke would have lost those games."
I don't recall myself bringing up Hoke in this thread. Hoke is long gone...
Your reasoning for predicting losses is based on previous teams that lost. Those previous teams were coached by Hoke and Rich Rod. You didn't bring him up by name, but you relied on his "long gone" results to predict future results.
With an NFL coaching staff being young isn't hinderance...lacking talent would be moreso,a hindrance. Looking forward to this season...methink we're going to be surprised with what this team brings to this upcoming season.
And the Sporting News top 25 is out Michigan #9
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/news/preseason-college-footba…
Specifically his offensive line recruits stunk or flamed out. Thus our current issue where our starting OL is a really good guy who's been bounced between LT and C, two true sophomores, a true freshman or fifth year senior who hasn't been able to crack the lineup yet, and a true freshman or an undersized redshirt sophomore.
Everywhere else I feel like we're basically fine. Could use some more depth at DL and the corners are talented but unproven so that's a little scary, but I'm basically confident in them.
Maybe the OL comes together and this is the year (would be nice given OSU is here), but next year feels more likely.
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3 of the last four Big Ten winners are Michigan State (twice) and Penn State.
The 4-5 years before each of those schools won their respective championships included at least a few recruiting classes as bad or worse than UM's in 2014/2015.
We don't need to have OSU level recruits in all of our most recent classes to win the Big Ten.
If Franklin and Dantonio can do it with a poor class or two, Harbaugh needs to be able to as well.
I know our recruiting is going to pay off, but it's just frustrating seeing how far behind we were after the hoke / RR era's. Thank goodness for Jim Harbaugh's love for Michigan. Had Harbaugh not come home I'm not sure we would ever get back to the big time. In just 2 short years Harbaugh has really turned this ship around and made Michigan a destination again for the best recruits.
But Tressel kept the team stocked in talent. This was not the case at Michigan with RR and Hoke. Harbaugh is in a true rebuilding project. But if anyone can win the B1G with young players it will be Harbaugh. You will not hear any youth excuse from Harbaugh! If not this year then in the next two years the tables will turn and Urbz will be on the losing end. Urbz will get all stressed out and become ill once again and will be forced to retire.
To Win Every Game This Year.
If you Expect to win, You Win.
Sorry to be a smartass, but the team's performance depends on MY expectations as I watch from 300 miles away? I expected to beat Iowa by 30 and look how that turned out.
For the record, I agree with the HTTV roundtable consensus of 10-2, which is a damn fine year. That said, I'd obviously love for the team to exceed my expectations. Whether they do or not is zero percent correlated to my attitude.
I think we're going 11-1 to 12-0 next season and winning the big ten. I think our team will be better than last years and we'll see that the talent we had last year has become the standard. I am so excited for all of the names on this team, I feel like this class will win a national championship and multiple big tens. I think we're faster and more athletic than we've ever been and we finally have a coaching staff that is willing to mold gameplans to the skill of the players and take risks. I think we will struggle in the playoff this next season (similar to OSU last year), however
And I am sure I will get the complete smackdown of the board.
But it means Harbaugh has a lot of work to do and the whole aura of invincibility is no more.
I'm not arguing with you, but could you elaborate on us having the best roster in the B1G?
at pretty much every position group. We're talking about proven talent, not potential and wishful thinking. Penn State, too, though they are not as far ahead.
1) Ohio State
2) Penn State
3) Wisconsin
We need to win 2 out of the 3 to have a fighting chance at the title. If we finish 3rd or worse in the division with another 10-2 record, the expectations for year four are going to be conference title. Period. There will be talk in the media about Michigan not (yet) competing for a conference title if we aren't in that conversation this year.
I recall seeing data mentioning that all the elite coaches had won a conference title by year four. At $5/million a year, Harbaugh needs to be in that conversation. Otherwise, revise your expectations. The game at Kinnick was really the first time I started to have a bit of doubt creep in about Jim - that's a game we absolutely have to win, with the roster we had last year. Ohio State will have parity with us with respect to talent for forseeable future, so yeah in 2016 sucked, but I figure we will have their number this year. We have to start beating Ohio State. It's time.
Year three is when you know how great they can be.
There are no excuses this season. He has most of his guys in the system. By the midway point, those freshman will be seasoned. Time to get it done.
Sadly the most important position is the weakest. Speight has a 3* ceiling and I think he has reached it. Hasn't won a game outside of the state of Michigan as a starter (Rutgers dont count). 4 losses this year.
You should probably not watch football then if it makes you depressed. And stop posting while you're at it.
Harbaugh's first full class will not be seniors until 2019. We should win the B1G and make the playoff during the 2019 season. Who knows if the young OL and secondary can gel through the season we could win the B1G this season. Just looking at the B1G, I see no power house teams in this conference. 2018 could be a great season as well.