We have the team and coaches to win the nat'l championship - prove me wrong
Widely picked to contend for/win the B10 and to appear in the CFP. Home schedule for our toughest foes. Elite senior qb and fantastic receivers/oline. One of the best d coordinators in the business and elite coaching staff with possibly the best HC in college football.
Fools Gold or CFP Chsmpionship contenders?
Is this First Take?
Hard hitting analysis here
Thank you!
I've come to this conclusion:
I like chocolate frosted donuts for breakfast. Tell me im wrong.
Sick bastard - keep it to yourself
Those are awful!! Worst chocolate in the business - cheap and void of flavor. Chocolate is overrated to begin with, but the chocolate frosting on donuts is just pathetically bad! I expect more from a Michigan man...
(I'm sure this take will be popular... Eh, probably not.)
'Chocolate is overrated to begin with.....'
As a chocolatier this statement breaks my heart...
Now the cheap stuff on most grocery shelves is worst than overrated..but have you tried a Madagascan, Ecuadorian or Vietnamese chocolate bar? Definitely worth a try...might change your mind.
Those are delicious.
Despite OP’s hard hitting (aka homer...like me) analysis, there is one must-have in order for Michigan to be in the vicinity of the promise land this season.
It is called LUCK...and lots of it, my little grasshopper.
I'm not able to predict our season with any confidence.
But I expect great things from this thread.
August 7th, 2019 at 11:31 PM ^
First of all...I hope your right. Like to the marrow of my bones.
But to prove you wrong...just look at Harbaugh’s record vs OSU and the absolutely atrocious level of play in our most recent Bowl games. Championship teams and coaches don’t look like that.
Lastly, again I hope you are right. Please be right and me wrong.
Championship teams and coaches don’t look like such, until they do.
Agreed. This year will be a telling year as to what kind of Coach we really have. One that is a super solid one, or one that can win the big game and bring teams prepared and motivated for Bowl games.
August 8th, 2019 at 10:20 AM ^
And if it doesn't happen this year, you will say the same thing next year.
August 8th, 2019 at 10:07 AM ^
I'm not a Harbaugh slappy by any means but I am continually frustrated by everyone (including a lot of UM fans) bringing up the 0-4 record against OSU. Yes, UM looked like shit against OSU in 2015 and 2018 but was completely screwed in the ass by the officials in 2016 (I will go to my grave considering that game as a win for UM which was taken by corrupt officials) and the monumental incompetence of John O'Korn in 2017.
UM would be 3-1 against MSU and 2-2 against OSU under Harbaugh but for incredibly bad luck (MSU/Blake O'Neil 2015), corrupt officials (OSU 2016) and the worst starting scholarship QB I have seen at UM in my lifetime (OSU 2017).
August 8th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
I am frustrated by fans that have lower the football teams expectations so low, that 0-4 vs. OSU, 2-2 vs MSU, 0-1 vs ND, 1-3 in bowl games, and 1-9 vs top 10 teams is considered acceptable.
August 8th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
Exactly
The 2017 MSU game was some incredibly bad luck as well. O'Korn led the offense in that game as well, during a downpour nonetheless.
Harbaugh was damn close to being 4-0 against MSU and 2-2 against OSU, Just imagine... Dammit, what did we ever do to suffer such misfortune?
The record of the last 4 games of the year during the Harbaugh tenure do not portend a season ending with a national title. IMO there is a culture problem and the bowl games are a symptom of that. It’s absolutely correctable and the new infusion of coaching talent can absolutely overcome the flaws of the past.
Completely new offense, lack of RB depth and big losses on the defensive side of the ball are enough to keep Championship dreams in check. On the other hand Trevor Lawrence won it as a freshman qb and that was unexpected. UM has a blue chip ratio over 50% and that’s been the Mendoza line since the playoffs began, anything is possible.
Consult THE KNOWLEDGE....
Sounds like 2007 all over again
Obligatory Beat MTSU post
You spelled Ohio State wrong.
August 7th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
So did you.
Cooler Pooper State.
Like 6 teams have more talent than we do and have actually proven it by getting there before. Bama, Clemson, osu, Georgia, and Oklahoma all have better odds. Hell Florida whooped our ass last year and returns as much as we do.
Clemson had to overcome Clemsoning to become Alabama's equal. (Clemson couldn't overcome Jimbo Fisher's FSU or Steve Spurrier's SCar...until it did. Dabo Swinney was considered a clown of a head coach. Things change.)
Likewise, Michigan will have to overcome its demons (which I call "Michiganing" and it encompasses everything from choking away a win to getting embarrassed in big games by quality opponents).
That said, I like the combination of talent, experience, coaching, etc. this team has.
Harbaugh can quiet a lot of critics if Michigan wins the Big Ten Championship against the 2019 schedule.
Harbaugh would quiet a lot of critics if Michigan beats a decent to good OSU. That's really what it's about.
Asking honestly- I agree with 4/5 teams you mentioned, but does Oklahoma really have more talent than us? They maybe equal/slightly better on the offensive side of the ball, but their defense? We have to blow them out of the water...
Agreed here. And while Clemson has clearly developed their talent much better than UM, clemson has not necessarily out-recruited UM (2020 a different story).
We're due.
Fields is not the passer Haskins was; neither PSU nor MSU have much offense to speak of.
ND will be a revenge tour special. Wisconsin is a one-trick pony. We don't have to go to Kinnick.
There's no reason we can't go undefeated until the CFP.
Then again, if we lose to Army, all bets are off.
"We don't have to go to Kinnick"
I laughed.
That place is a house of horrors for Michigan. F Iowa and F their voodoo-infested stadium. Even Urban Meyer succumbed to the black magic inside that stadium.
Lol. OSU lost because of the post partum fall out that was psu. Didn't matter who they played that week really.
It’s the pink lockers
I agree but I worry about Army. We’ll prob paste Mid Tennessee the first game and maybe not quite be “up” for Army. We’ll be up and prepared for all the rest but that Army game makes my hands sweat. If we get past Army, I’m all in for the rest of the season.
August 8th, 2019 at 12:59 AM ^
Worried about Army at home and not Wisconsin at Camp Randall? That's the kind of place where, on any given Saturday, it doesn't matter that you have the much more talented team.
August 8th, 2019 at 12:52 AM ^
No such thing as "due" in sports.
The army game scares the hell out of me. Army should scare the hell out of just about any team in the country.
Yea except fields can run and Devin bush is gone, so now we’re back to that problem
The players will decide on the field...things look and seem great but we'll see
Seems like there’s an army of teams standing in our way.
Magic 8 Ball says quit drinking and go to bed
not sure if it’s referring to OP or me
Well, OP is a giant douche that quotes 1980s eight ball predictions by memory and drank too much Zima
Not sure if its referring to you or OP :)
Ohio State.
We could win the whole thing, but a few other teams have equally good coaching and better talent, at least if recruiting rankings mean anything. There is a reason why Clemson and Bama are in the NC discussion every year. OSU's success over Michigan is not a fluke. As much as we dislike them, there is a reason why they have had the success of late over Michigan. Hopefully, that is about to change, but success typically happens for a reason.
Beat rivals
win division
go to B1G Championship
win there
Rose Bowl
win that
The goal should NOT be the Rose Bowl (unless it is one of the 3 games for the CFB Playoff). This is a remnant of the bullshit mentality that Schembechler ingrained in the program from his tenure.
Now the goal is, and always should be, to reach the College Football Playoff to have a chance at winning the National Championship.
If Fielding Yost had lived long enough to see the 70s, I'm confident he would've demanded a National Championship from Schembechler. He would have been less than thrilled by our MNC drought post-1948.
Bo didn’t even bother winning the rose bowl
Yup. Hard to imagine why putting a team into the CFP isn't the goal. Crazy shit happens with 18-21 year olds. Let it roll from there.