Would 8-4 be a good season for Michigan in 2009?

[85inside]

Wanted some thoughts on this one. I know ESPN had fallen in love with the 4-0 Wolverines and their super human freshman quarterback, but does the love stay around if Michigan loses again this week? I know they have Delaware State and Illinois on the schedule upcoming, so assuming those are gimmies, that is 6 wins.

What's your prediction for the Wolverines?

[Peake]

IMO it is too difficult to make that prediction at this point. If Tate stays healthy they will be in every game they have remaining on the schedule.

It will be very difficult to go on the road and beat Wisconsin or Iowa.

The magic number for this team at this point is 7. I think 7 wins or more would be fine considering you are starting a freshmen at QB, a walk-on at safety, a freshmen at DB, and you are the youngest team in division1-a.

Seven wins is probably the magic number for Michigan.

[west siders]

here is Michigans remaining schedule
1. @Iowa- I am predicting a loss that would put them at 4-2
2.Deleware st. -they will win. that would put them at 5-2
3. Penn state -they will probably lose. that would put them at 5-3
4. @ Illinois -they will win because Forcier will have more Road experiance and will not make the same mistakes he did against Michigan St. and possibly Iowa that would put them at 6-3
5.Purdue- they will win because Michigan has more talent then Purdue. 7-3
6. @Wisconson- this game coiuld go either way but I say Michigan wins that would put them at 8-3
7. Ohio State- they will lose because Ohio State will come to play and will be pumped to win another Big Ten title. that will put them at 8- 4


they will be happy going 8-4 because they have a lot of good young talent that is going to get better with every rep. and they should get a good bowl game and maybe a New Years Bowl game if they can go 9-3 or 10-2

[85inside]

I agree that 7 wins was the magic number out of the gate. however, dont ya think that the win over ND has to increase expectations a bit. i know that expectations are at rock bottom, but for heavens sake, this is Michigan, not Marshall.

[Speedofsand]

8-4 after going 3-9 has to be a good season. I think most opinions predicted them to go 7-5 this year.

[91Buckeye]

7-5 is the expected result. I don't see them beating Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, or Ohio State right now. If they continue to improve 8-4 or 9-3 would be an outstanding record for a team this young. On the flip side if they don't take care of business 5-7 is also a possiblity.

[Peake]

This Michigan was left with the least amount of talent of any Michigan team I have EVER seen.

The magic number is 7.

[85inside]

[quote="peake"]This Michigan was left with the least amount of talent of any Michigan team I have EVER seen. The magic number is 7.[/quote]

Why would Rodriguez leave himself with such little talent? Are you still blaming Carr? Geesh. It is amazing that Carr won all of those years, but when he leaves, there is unwinnable talent? Good QB at Arkansas was left and a good O linemand for Ohio State was left. What a copout.

I can honestly say I hope i never get to that low of a place where i am hoping for a 7 win season.

[Peake]

I stopped considering the remarks you make as serious a long time ago.

It is very obvious to me that you have never played, coached, or been around college sports.

Justin Boren left the program and I am not going to go around in circles with an explination. It is what it is and he chose to leave while 120ish players choose to stay. Ryan Mallett left because he did not feel he would fit the offense and did not want Rich Rod to go after Pryor. The thing I have learned about Rich is that he wants kids to want competition. His recruiting style is much like Pete Carolls, he wants as many good players at one position as possible. He went after and got two 4-stars at QB last year, and has landed a 5-star this year with another coming in this class as well. Mallett did not want that---period.

So to answer your question, if Carr would have stayed then you probably get Mallett, Boren, and Arrington back. That would have been good enough to maybe get you 7-8 wins the next year.

When Rich came to Michigan he brought a totally different attitude and philosophy then the kids were used to. This was very difficult for Carr recruited kids to understand. Some excepted the challenge and stayed, other did not.

If you think a coach would try to leave himself little talent, then you are an even bigger idiot then your posts say about you.

Do I really need to go back and say that Michigan returned a single starter last season on offense, while welcoming in a completely new staff? New Coach, New Coordinators, New System, New Strength and Condition Staff?

I can honestly say I hope i never get to that low of a place where i am hoping for a 7 win season

This is the real copout. You are a fan of an established program who struggled in the early part of the decade. The transition from Cooper to Tressel was nowhere close to what happened in Ann Arbor.

After Cooper went 6-6 I am pretty sure you would have hoped for 7 wins. The next season Tressel takes over a team that is 6-5 heading into Ann Arbor and I am pretty sure you would have hoped for 7 wins(which you got). Tressel took over an Ohio State team that saw 13 players go to the NFL just 1 year later. Michigan will see probably 3 or 4 (Minor, Graham, Ortman, maybe Mathews).

Next season Michigan should be very good. 8 Wins will not IMO be except able, but this season yes it will be.


What is easy to see is that you posted this thread with an agenda. You dislike Rich Rod and no matter what stats, facts, etc anyone puts up, at the end of the day you will have something bad to say. My answer was except able a few days ago, but now it is not. What changed?

I stopped taking advice from OSU fans about how the Michigan program should operate a long time ago.

[Orestes]

I'm fine with most of your post, but OSU lost 14 players to the draft and that came after the 2003 season.

So, in JT's first year, the players that graduated and went in that draft were sophomores. The ones who left early were Frosh, and many were brought in by him to finish out his first class. Ohio State went 6-6 in 1999 then 8-4 in 2000 before JT took over in 2001.

JT went 7-5 in 2001. In that year, OSU went into the last two games (Illinois and Michigan) where a win in both would make them the Big 10 Champions and the BCS Bowl team. Steve Bellisari was suspended on early Friday morning before the Illinois game, which OSU lost 34-22 (Krenzel threw an INT for TD down 27-22 with minutes left). They lost five games that year by a total of 27 points.


Anyway, to stick to the topic of this thread, 8-4 would be a successful season for Michigan. I see four automatic wins on the schedule. Two very well should wins. Three teams who are solid this year, and on the road, so they would be tough wins (Iowa, Wisconsin, MSU). Then, three teams with talent equal to or greater than Michigan's (Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame).

So, an 8-4 season would include winning the 6 obvious should wins, then going 2-4 in the "tough" games.

[Peake]

Ok so I feel really bad for Tressel who took over a team that lost 14 players to the NFL two years after he took over. Michigan will not have 14 NFL players in Rich Rods first 3-4 years. My point is that what Tressel was handed was better then Rich Rod.
You can paint the picture any way you want, coming into the Michigan game in 2001 OSU was 6-5, but they won so it what it is. They were also very average in 2004 heading into Michigan 6-4, but what happened---happened. Again, my point was to 85 that I am sure in 01 and 04 OSU fans were hoping for 7 wins.

My bad on the 6-6---8-4.

[mister b]

The talent RR inherited at Michigan from Carr was not what is needed to run his offense.

This was true in what RR inherited at West Virginia from Nehlin.

I have to agree that when you take into considerations of all things, anything less than 7 wins and a bowl trip will be a disappointment to the most diehard Michigan fan, which I am not.

Next year's expectations will be much higher.

[Orestes]

Ok so I feel really bad for Tressel who took over a team that lost 14 players to the NFL two years after he took over. Michigan will not have 14 NFL players in Rich Rods first 3-4 years. My point is that what Tressel was handed was better then Rich Rod.
You can paint the picture any way you want, coming into the Michigan game in 2001 OSU was 6-5, but they won so it what it is. They were also very average in 2004 heading into Michigan 6-4, but what happened---happened. Again, my point was to 85 that I am sure in 01 and 04 OSU fans were hoping for 7 wins.

My bad on the 6-6---8-4.

Yes, they were hoping for 7 wins at that point. However, those were not their preseason expectations, and they certainly would not have been the expectations after a 4-0 start. Your argument against Dantonio is that the Big Ten stinks compared to what Saban faced, yet 4-0 in the non-conference and 3-5 in Big Ten play is the expectation for Michigan? In a weak conference, that blows. Sorry. I think you are understating Michigan's chances to be safe in your RR support. If the conference isn't weak, then the Dantonio argument is shot.

Also, by the "01 and 04 OSU wanting 7 wins logic," Michigan fans were hoping for 4 wins going into the OSU game last year. We all know those were not the "expectations" or "hopes" for the season.

[Peake]

Do I really need to go through this spill with you as well. I was making a point to someone who consistently complains about Rich Rod, who always knows what is best for the Michigan program, and will create threads knowing what answer he will get from actual Michigan fans. You don't like my logic---oh well.

[Orestes]

Do I really need to go through this spill with you as well. I was making a point to someone who consistently complains about Rich Rod, who always knows what is best for the Michigan program, and will create threads knowing what answer he will get from actual Michigan fans. You don't like my logic---oh well.

It's not that I don't like it. It's just flawed when addressing Michigan's expectations being a 7 win season.

Michigan fans expecting their elite program to put together a 7 win season when they are 6-5 or 3-3 is different than those same fans expecting a 7 win season when they are 4-1 after a 4-0 start. Especially when the same fan says the conference is down. 3-5 in a supposedly down Big Ten is weak.

He had said that it is sad that Michigan hopes for a 7 win season. Your response was partially made up of you saying OSU fans were hoping for 7 wins while being 6-5 and 6-4 in 01 and 04.

If you can't see the difference in hoping for 7 regular season wins when you have 6 and only 1 game left, and hoping for 7 wins when you are 4-1, then I don't know what to say...

[Peake]

I understand what you are saying. I am not trying to Buckeye bash, but rather remind HIM that there have been points when OSU was not contending for the national title and actually hoping to get 7 wins. Expectations from UM fans at the beginning of the season were more around 6-6, because no one knew Forcier would be performing like this at this point. I think this game will tell a lot about Michigan. Iowa is a very sound team, but very beatable. If Michigan wins then expectations go right back up, if not---7 is the magic number.

[Orestes]

I understand what you are saying. I am not trying to Buckeye bash, but rather remind HIM that there have been points when OSU was not contending for the national title and actually hoping to get 7 wins. Expectations from UM fans at the beginning of the season were more around 6-6, because no one knew Forcier would be performing like this at this point. I think this game will tell a lot about Michigan. Iowa is a very sound team, but very beatable. If Michigan wins then expectations go right back up, if not---7 is the magic number.

Ok. I'm on board now.

Today, I'm feeling more and more like Michigan is going to win.

Michigan's D is their big weakness. Iowa won't have the offense to exploit it.

Iowa has given up more than 4 ypc on the ground (with that fantastic D-line ), so Michigan should be able to run the ball successfully.

The MSU game is the only thing holding me back from picking Michigan and possibly by double digits.

[91Buckeye]

I too like Michigan's chances against Iowa but also realize that young teams are capable of playing very badly at times and am cautiously optimistic. I tend to believe that UM's experience in east lansing last week will help them when they visit what is a very difficult place to play. I also agree that expectations continually change throughout the course of a season and that peake hit the nail on the head expecting six wins. Now things are a little rosier in ann arbor. No pun intended.

[BigMcCauley55]

Michigan could be undefeated right now if it wasnt for some bad plays at the end of games. 8-4 is do able right now for the Blue. Next year exceptations will be no more than 2 losses. Good young team right there and Tate Forcier will be more mature and more adjusted to college football.

[Winchell]

IMO they need to find more ways to get Forcier and Robinson on the field at the same time. If they can do that, preparation would be very time consuming and stressful for opposing D coordinators. Get your best athletes, regardless of position, on the field.