SN countdown: Michigan #71, predicts 5-7
http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2010-06-24/college…
Reasons given:
- Young offense
- Lack of talent on defense
- Turnover margin
- Tough schedule
Pretty reasonable, then they graded the DL a D and the LBs a C. Um, you just lost what little credibility you had.
We're gonna ram that ranking straight up their corn holes. I would rather be underestimated than over-hyped though. This season is going to be fun.
Saw it linked on rittenberg's blog, so i thought it was new.
I went back 5 pages on the board, but didn't search. My bad.
I wasn't going to renew my sporting news subscription before this article. Dave Curtis just reaffirmed that decision.
Every writer, blog, or publication that predicts a crappy year for Michigan is just helping to motivate them even more than they would be already. Everybody is hyped up at the beginning of the season, but I have a feeling that RR will remind his team of predictions like this one once they get into the meat of the BT schedule.
I can't wait until the writers all start referring to "resurgent Michigan."
I don't blame any writer, blog or publication to predict a crappy year for MIchigan at this point.
MIke Patrick proclaimed that "Michigan is BACK" in the second quarter of the Western Michigan game.
Michigan was ranked #19 after the Indiana game.
While i feel Michigan will be significantly better than what national reporters are predicting, I can't blame anyone for predicting what they in fact predict at this point. They got burned by 2009 Michigan, they don't want to get burned again.
And 2008 Michigan. Unbelievable that we were ranked in the coaches poll to start the season.
I wish they ranked us lower to be honest.......
"Pretty reasonable, then they graded the DL a D and the LBs a C. Um, you just lost what little credibility you had."
I can see the LBs being ranked a C at this point for sure, but I have to question the D grade for our DL. Martin and Van Bergen alone should at least warrant a C and if you factor in Big Will, Banks, and Sagessee (sp?), who we know are at least competent at this point, I don't think a B or B+ is too far fetched.
The lack of talent is on the back end, not the front. The DL being ranked a D is a joke. Especially when you figure that Roh will be on the end on a fair amount of obvious passing situations. They've got talent, experience, and depth. It's the one position group on defense that I'm not chewing fingernails over.
DL (2 out 3 [or 3 out of 4] DL are productive returning starters) being graded lower than LBs (0 out of 2 are productive returning starters + 2 rookies) is just plain dumb.
The C grade for our linebackers made them lose credibility in your mind?
We were #91 in rushing defense last year and we lost our leading tackler at LB, Stevie, who also had 8.0 TFL - Mouton and Ezeh had 8 TFL and 0 sacks combined last year.
Let's be realistic about our defense this year... a C from the linebackers is about what we should expect.
was the DL was ranked worse than the LBs not that a C for LBs was unreasonable.
The only rankings I ever pay attention to anyway are Phil Steele's, just because he's been so accurate over the years with his system, and this year he's saying we should be pretty decent.
couple of days late there buddy...
Jan: "Well, Michael, it appears I've underestimated you."
Michael: "Well, Jan, maybe next time you should...estimate me!"
has basically turned into a tabloid. I only read it when I am in the dentist office before pain is inflicted on me.
Before? How about to inflict pain via face-palm a lot of times?
Our offense isn't as young as it has been the last 2 years. No freshman are starting. We have pretty equal numbers of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Everyone starting has experience, except Omameh (if he starts).
because he started the last couple of games of 2009 at RG. It appears likely that Lewan (a RS freshman, btw) will be the new starter at LT in 2010.
You are correct though, in that this is the most experienced offense UM will have had under RR during his time. I expect the offense to be pretty good this year, sadly the defense will still suck b*lls. We are going to have to win a lot of shoot-outs in 2010.
Totally forgot about Lewan. I didn't know Omameh had started a few games. The Oline should be solid.
I get ranking and grading on perceptions of talent. But using turnovers (that may or may not occur) as a criterion seems like reaching. Yes, there were an abundance of turnovers in 08 and 09, but I'm not convinced that sufficiently translates to a plethora of turnovers in 2010--stats that can tell me I'm wrong be damned.
Well if SN is right I would hope this will be it for RR. If it goes as badly as SN is predicting, should RR be fired during the season? And we better not lose to MSU at home. I won't be able to take it if we do. And don't give me a hard time for saying this. Anyone who thinks RR should stay if we go 5-7 and gives us all this "be patient" BS then I'll be giving them a hard time. Got it?
I'm predicting at least a 7-5 record including a win over MSU. If Michigan doesn't achieve this then RR should go. I'm tired of hearing all this "be patient" crap. Patience my as s.
RR would have to get arrested for disorderly conduct for being in a drunken stupor to get fired during the season.
While I fully understand where you are coming from and I expect us to be bowling again this year, the request for patience is based on the makeup of the team. There are roughly 27 scholarship upper classman (Srs & Jrs) on the roster. Next year the team will be returning 10 of 11 on offense and 8 of 11 on defense. RR is getting his guys in, but this team is extremely young.
Reality is RR came into a situation with little on offense and 7 returners on D. Unfortunately not all bought into the system. The second year he had hardly anything back on D with a decent returning O, but had to start a true freshman QB. Throw in a third D coordinator in three years, senior RBs hurt most of the year, losing Molk in game three and Tate hurting his shoulder in game four and we are where we are.
I won't be surprised if he is let go if we don't make a bowl, but I think this team is getting ready to explode. When they win this year the recruiting flood gates will open and we'll enjoy watching the Big House scoreboard light up regularly.
to have a good year? I watched a lot of your games last few years and thought defense let you down the most.
Where in the BT would you rank your D and special teams?
and definately on defense. If we can get a few breaks here and there I think we can change our tunrover differential. I think we ended like (-12) so we avg a turenover a game and were almost dead last. So in my opinion defense and special teams........... Also with the quarterbacks being here for the second year we should be able to limit the turnovers that cause youre defense to be on the field more than they should be. Turnovers make even the best teams look bad.( need evidence) just look at Ohio State versus Purdue last year. Turnovers killed OSU that game.
Not saying UM is going to win the NC, but the '97 team was picked to finish 5th in the Big Ten.
Let's Go Blue
The '97 squad also had 10 out of its starting 11 offensive players end up in the NFL, not to mention a total of 26 future NFL players. If that's the case with 2010 Michigan, we'll all be laughing come December.