Phil Steele predicts UM to CFP
Title says it all
His preseason book is out
he predicts Bama winning National Championship
I think Chase was a lather, rinse, repeat guy. Your system is a bit soapy.
Why? Because Phil Steele predicts us to the CFP? We have a good team this year. Elite offense and well above average defense. That is a recipe for great success in college football.
I'm having a strange sense of deja vu...
I don't see the defense being championship material.
And the offense while talented, is a new system being run by a rookie...
If we make the playoff, it will be one hell of a coaching job...
Seemingly that rookie will actually be trying to score points, which should be a pretty big advantage.
He’s going in with the belief that touchdowns are worth more than field goals.
I was pretty skeptical but apparently the math checks out on that.
Underrated comment.
Phil Steele agrees with you. It will not be championship material. But, apparently, it will be CFP material.
Has Oklahoma's defense seemed Championship level any of the last 3 years? Fact is, in today's game offense is dominant. Top level QB talent and systems designed to exploit that combined with the way PI is called means that a top offense will always beat a top D. We finally have modern spread coaching to pair with elite receivers and top level QB talent. The defense only has to be above average and we can be playoff bound.
Oklahoma's defense has been a tire fire the last 3 years culminating in one of the most embarrassing Power 5 units I've ever seen (those kids on that defense knew they sucked).
But they've gotten away with it because they average 50+ points a game and play in a worse league. I don't see the 2019 Michigan offense completely offsetting an "above average" defense in the Big Ten. The D is going to have to contribute more than that.
How many high powered offenses does the B1G have? Only Ohio State really, and that depends on how good Fields is. Penn State has a new QB and is another year removed from Moorehead. Notre Dame is a good offense, but not elite.
Will our defense regress this year? Most likely. But they'll regress to somewhere around 25-30 level at worst and with a coordinator that is living in the current year and not 2008, that should be enough to with the conference and go to the CFP.
It's about time we see "one hell of a coaching job." Been long enough.
On offense I worry about not having a great RB, though we haven't had one in quite a while. On defense we lost a lot of talent on the DL and LB. I suppose the younger players could step up and do well this season. I still see us losing a few close games this season and not winning the B1G east. I think we are a season or two away from winning the B1G and making the playoffs.
It's college football, losing talent is the name of the game. The offense should be elite this season, with Patterson, DPJ, Collins, Martin, and a senior laden OL, teams will have a very hard team stopping the passing attack. The question becomes is can the defense come together as the season progresses? You would think Ambry and Dax become plus contributors in the secondary, and hope the DEs (Hutchinson, Paye, Uche, Villian, CMU grad transfer) can step up and fill the void from Chase and Gary. Special teams should be a plus as well.
That leaves RB, MLB, DT spots as question marks with DT being the only spot where we don't have a couple of different options to fill the void left from last season (basically hoping Kemp and Dwumfour can hold up). Brown has shown the ability to scheme around a lack of DTs (see 2017), and maybe one of the freshmen or Jeter can step up.
All in all, this team seems like it is more like a 2016 or 2018 than a 2015 or 2017. They have a lot of talent and just a couple of holes. The schedule sets up nicely, getting OSU at home and Wisconsin early in the season while they will be breaking in a freshman QB. While the last ten years have made it stupid to predict Big Ten titles or playoffs, this is a team that should win at least ten games, has a shot at 11, but has too many big games to win all 12. 11 wins, assuming the loss isn't to OSU, should put us in position to go to Indy.
I'm trying to think of another Martin. Oliver left last week for Iowa.
Ricky?
Agree 100%
As much as I want to see it; I don't see it. The fuckery that has been present in the games against msu and ohio is always on my mind. The first half fail against ND is there as well. We all want Michigan to take the next step, but that can only happen after beating the nuts down south. There is also that Indy BIG championship thing we haven't even visited yet. So....yeah
I'm not worried about anyone in the west division. May be IA and WI would be the tougher B1G west teams to play. NE will probably become a big concern in a few seasons.
The man knows how to get clicks, I'll give him that.
How do I click a magazine?
Alabama to win it all ? way to stand out from the rest...
Hey, he's pretty accurate when it comes to us! Last year, correctly predicted in July that we would play in the Peach Bowl. LINK.
His CFP predictions last year were Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington, so he was only 50% right last year. And he went WAY out on a limb and predicted that Alabama and Clemson would meet in the title game.
Hooray! Let the bullshit begin!
Hell yeah, buying my CFP tickets right now! No let down coming this year, that's for sure!
*uncontrollable sobbing begins*
I predict Phil Steele is wrong more than he is right. But in this case I would love for him to be right.
With Urban gone I expect to see a lot of this in the lead up to the season.
For the sheer amount of information crammed edge-to-edge in tiny type, I think Steele's publication is far and away the best value of any of the college football mags.
This does NOT apply to his predictions—his record isn't nearly as good as he tries to present, and nobody should buy the mag for them.
Nice prospect.
The idea of Michigan making the CFP under Jim Harbaugh is really difficult to imagine.
So much would have to go right, and that's just not been my experience of recent Michigan football.
Harbaugh or no Harbaugh, outside of one lightning-in-a-bottle season in 1997, this program seems to have been stuck on the threshold between good and great for the better part of the past 70 years. For most of that time, it was tolerable because at least we were beating Ohio State and/or winning the Big Ten more often than not. But now we're not even doing that anymore, whereas Ohio State has racked up Big Ten titles and national championships and has us firmly in its rear view mirror.
So until we prove otherwise, we're basically Iowa with more money and a bigger stadium. Iowa fans don't talk about making the CFP, and we shouldn't either.
Harbaugh has been a time Uofm 4 season, 2 of them he was playing OSU with the playoffs in the line. So basically you are saying you can’t imagine him beating OSU. Clearly Harbaugh is in the cusp of the playoffs. Let’s see if this Ian the year he finally makes it.
Would it really? A call or play swinging the other way here or there against OSU and they likely make it in 2016.
Michigan has either the 1st or 2nd best roster in the Big Ten.
The team that probably has them beat on talent they get at home with a rookie HC and new QB who quit his last school because he got beat out for the starting job.
Their other two big rivalry games are also at home.
So long as they don't look completely miserable all season long (a la OSU last year), they should be able to withstand one road loss during the regular season, hold serve at home and beat an over matched West opponent.
Its never been more likely that Michigan makes the playoff.
The problem is that we've been hearing some version of this for a depressingly long time, and it has never actually panned out.
Not really. This fanbase just loves to moan. We had playoff expectations in 2016. We were one screw job away. We had some people calling for the playoffs last year, but most people thought we were a year away with another 10 win NY6 year. That was what happenned, but the manner in which it occurred just crushed everyone's spirits.
So this will be the third year in the last four that we have some playoff expectations. It's really not that bad.
We would still have had to beat Wisconsin to make the playoff in 2016, everyone seems to forget this.
Any year we beat OSU is likely a CFP year. Watched the 2003 game highlights on B1G Network last night. Chris Perry willed that win. Our guys have to want it that bad to beat the Buckeyes.
Honestly that's one of the last few times we've come in as an underdog in a big game and won. Besides that and maybe ND in 2006 and Florida in 2007 we've fallen on our face pretty much every time since.
Tbh, even when we're favored in big games, we almost always lose. That's why I'm thinking 6-6 will be a miracle.
Hang a banner.
Seems like this is a prediction is probably based on the assumption that a) the B1G as the best conference out of the B1G/Pac12/Big12 and b) projecting that Ohio will take a step back under first year Ryan Day. Michigan has been the best team in the B1G after Ohio St in the Harbaugh era, so it makes sense to pick them as the most likely to take advantage of any misstep in Columbus.
That makes sense on paper (who else would you pick to win the B1G if not OSU - Wisconsin? PSU?) but for that to pan out, basically everything would have to go right, i.e.:
1. The offensive transition is seamless, and Gattis is able to unlocks the considerable talent on the offense with few growing pains.
2. Michigan finds at least one quality RB from a group of guys with little or no college snaps coming into the year.
3. Michigan is able to reload on defense and Don Brown is able to find guys to step in and replace Rashan/Chase/Bush/Long AND fix the issues that led to getting shredded in Columbus.
4. Michigan doesn't suffer any major injuries at QB or thin position groups like DT, safety, RB.
With so many open questions, odds are that some will go our way but a few won't.
Pending further info, I would predict another 10-3 type season.
I think QB is one of the few positions where we could handle the starter going down without a huge downgrade.
I like the talent at QB, but given the lack of proven experience, it would be hard to say with confidence that there's someone else that could give us CFP-level QB play without any hiccups.
Its possible, but hard to say for sure.
I'm not sure that either of our top two QBs could be assumed to give us CFP-level play with any sort of confidence. Shea looked very solid last year, and did Dylan as well though slightly less poised. If they both take to the new scheme both should be well above average but nowhere near early season Heisman front runners.
Any injury at RB, in comparison, could potentially tank our entire season.
Phil Steele is excellent and is usually pretty good at his predictions. As a huge Michigan fan who lives 1 hour from the Clemson campus, I expect Michigan to be better than they have since Harbaugh's arrival? Why? Because Harbaugh's evolution as a coach has been astounding and his hiring as an OC is remarkable. Michigan has been on the CUSP of being real good for three years out of his time in AA. It has not been fair to compare him and OSU/Urban Meyer because Meyer walked into a situation in Columbus in which BOZO the clown could have won a national championship. Tressel is the one who built the Bucks into a national powerhouse and Meyer simply kept the pump primed with recruiting and NO DISCIPLINE just like he did in Gainsville. Harbaugh walked into a much worse program and has done a great job at quickly putting Michigan back into the conversation in college football.
I think Harbaugh’s done a great job building a solid program, too. The team needs to get over the last few hurdles - I think last year they might have, but for injuries to key players.
You could see in the Indiana game that the team was not capable of playing its best football.
Bozo the Clown tried...and he went 6-6.
The results OSU saw under Meyer were 100% a direct result of Urban’s coaching ability.
Don’t underestimate the effect a coach has on a program.
No doubt. Meyer is a great coach BUT you cannot deny that Tressel built OSU into a NATIONALLY competitive program long before Urban came to Columbus and he knew that when taking the job. Tressel stopped Michigan's recruiting in Ohio and took them from the 'Let's get to the Rose Bowl" mentality to the "let's win a national championship". This is what separated them from Michigan who wallowed in their arrogance after 1997. Michigan should have won a couple more national championships under Carr. What really caused the separation was the hiring of RR and Hoke. I love how all of the RR apologists finally shut their mouths when he was fired from Arizona. He was the worst fit for Michigan and finally people saw the true RR with his crap in Arizona. Harbaugh had quite the mountain to climb and he is almost there. He will win one and ti will be sooner than later.
How do you do that when you dont beat OSU?