Changed expectations?

[dubbsco]

I know most of us were picking around 7-5, 8-4. Does this win change your opinion on the final record?

 

[michlady77]

no
too many problems on defense

was surprised by our offense first 45 minutes - just got nothing and looked flat

 

[Monster]

no. but i hope this is a confidence springboard.

 

[packersfantheo]

I could see 10 wins but 8 is still probably most realistic.

 

[smitdog67]

no
too many problems on defense

was surprised by our offense first 45 minutes - just got nothing and looked flat

Pretty much this, I have infinitely more confidence in Mattison than GRob as DC though and this offense has too much talent to keep sputtering. If they keep working and find a rhythm on offense and can find a way to make the D work then maybe they could exceed expectations but I won't hold my breath, especially on D. The coaching staff is leaps and bounds better than the past few years though and when they get "their" players in this system then Michigan will really be back.

 

[greenandwhite95]

Some things you have to think about, your schedule is favorable, and the rest of the B10 ( besides Wisky ) looks avg. @N'western and @ MSU will be tough but you don't play Wisky and have Neb and Osu @ home. Iowa, Nebraska and Osu have not looked very good so far. Things can change but you guys might be further ahead than what was thought, still early but there is promise.

 

[wellmanadam]

This is still a 6-6 or 7-5 team. Too many holes. We all felt this confident after the last couple of ND early season wins....it's nice but misleading. All we should be looking for this year is continued improvement in play as the year goes on, instead of getting worse and worse on defense as opposing coaches have more current film to study. We just need to stay the course and be patient.

 

[wolverine304]

I am more excited this year than last. We beat a better dame team, and as a team are only going to get better,unlike last year. Fuck notre dame. Fuck rich rod. Holy shit. What a game.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

Here's the thing, it not like last year where they make the same mistakes over and over again and don't get better. I believe this coaching staff is better and their in-game adjustments are fukking way better. Keep winning the games we're supposed to win and get a little better each game on both sides of the ball. I don't know how many games we lose before the 8th game, but I will predict this thing gets rolling by then and we have ourselves Michigan football team again.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

And another thing, forget the defense for a second....Denard canNOT simply keep having these Robert Bolden 1st halves.

 

[hungry]

I know most of us were picking around 7-5, 8-4. Does this win change your opinion on the final record?

not at all. This lines up perfectly for my 8 win regular season prediction

(ps I've always said 8 +or- 2)

 

[dubbsco]

If you were picking 6-6, I think there's no way they finish that low. I EXPECT them to be 4-0 through the non-conference. I was thinking 3-1 with a loss to ND, so this ups my expectations a bit. I don't see any way they lose to Purdue and Minnesota, Iowa's not as good as we all thought, Nebraska is winnable.

 

[hungry]

Here's the thing, it not like last year where they make the same mistakes over and over again and don't get better. I believe this coaching staff is better and their in-game adjustments are fukking way better. Keep winning the games we're supposed to win and get a little better each game on both sides of the ball. I don't know how many games we lose before the 8th game, but I will predict this thing gets rolling by then and we have ourselves Michigan football team again.

\

They are definitely tackling better and I see potential for improvement as the season goes on. The lines were getting pushed around against ND, though and I don't know how much stronger those guys can get during the season. Hopefully, that's just a case of ND having some big, strong lineman.

 

[hungry]

If you were picking 6-6, I think there's no way they finish that low. I EXPECT them to be 4-0 through the non-conference. I was thinking 3-1 with a loss to ND, so this ups my expectations a bit. I don't see any way they lose to Purdue and Minnesota, Iowa's not as good as we all thought, Nebraska is winnable.

right, I guess worse case would be go 4-0 noncon, then only beat Turdue and Shittesota.

 

[michlady77]

definitely better with adjustments

 

[packersfantheo]

If you were picking 6-6, I think there's no way they finish that low. I EXPECT them to be 4-0 through the non-conference. I was thinking 3-1 with a loss to ND, so this ups my expectations a bit. I don't see any way they lose to Purdue and Minnesota, Iowa's not as good as we all thought, Nebraska is winnable.

right, I guess worse case would be go 4-0 noncon, then only beat Turdue and Shittesota.

It's possible sure, but do you honestly think we won't win one or two games against:

Northwestern
MSU
Iowa
Illinois
Nebraska
Ohio

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

nope, it actually lowers it a little bit. I thought 8 wins and maybe even 9...but now I'm thinking 7 hopefully 8. We might be able to get to 6-0 if we can take out Northwestern, which should be our hardest game until that point. So what I'm hoping is that we can get to 6-0, if we can do that we might be able to get to 8 wins.

So here's what I think is going to happen:

WMU - W
ND - W
EMU - W
SDSU - W
Minn - W
NW - W

so that gets us to 6-0

MSU - L
Purdue - W
Iowa - L
Illinois - W
Neb - L
OSU - L

That's an 8 win season. I think the ND game does give us more room for error because that's a game we shouldn't have won - and I personally wasn't expecting to win. If we don't drop any we should win - meaning the ones I've highlighted as W's - then we might be able to take a W from someone else like OSU, MSU or Iowa and get to 8 or 9 wins that way.

 

[bphillips4gg]

I'm encouraged by what I saw from the defense in short-yardage situations. Whenever it was an obvious running situation, ND got stuffed. Often for a loss.

That said, I still don't expect a win against MSU, Nebraska or OSU. I think this team CAN win those games, but I don't think they will at this point.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

No, my expectations are not changed for this season. 7-8 wins, perhaps 9 with a win over OSU possible. Will be a tough game though, OSU will not give up its win streak over Michigan easily.

Next test will be SDSU.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

Here's the thing, it not like last year where they make the same mistakes over and over again and don't get better. I believe this coaching staff is better and their in-game adjustments are fukking way better. Keep winning the games we're supposed to win and get a little better each game on both sides of the ball. I don't know how many games we lose before the 8th game, but I will predict this thing gets rolling by then and we have ourselves Michigan football team again.

\

They are definitely tackling better and I see potential for improvement as the season goes on. The lines were getting pushed around against ND, though and I don't know how much stronger those guys can get during the season. Hopefully, that's just a case of ND having some big, strong lineman.

take away the last ND drive and the defense got the ball back for us when we needed it. Hell Denard does throw that pick in the endzone and it's really a different game. By the way, I did not agree with the call on that play. They should have been milking the clock. There was no need to throw to the endzone with 4 minutes left.