Michigan’s national title this year bought me five years of goodwill towards the program. In other words, I am not going to get upset over the next five years, irrespective of perfirmance.
Today’s performance, or lack thereof, has tested that goodwill, but I’ll hold strong. No expectations on my part, let alone great expectations.
So I’m not gonna get mad, but I can still make some critical analysis. So here goes:
1. My first thought was that things will get worse before they get better, but on second thought I don’t see how they can get worse than what we have thus far seen today.
2. Michigan’s defense is not what we thought it would be. Probably caught the coaching staff off guard as well as they thought the defense would be dominating based on how it performed in practice against what we now know is a putrid offense.
3. Michigan will lose most of their top talent after this season, and there is not a pipeline of elite young talent waiting in the pipeline. No young Will Johnsons, Lovelands, Mason Grahams and Kenneth Grants out there. The days of reloading are over. We will be in the midst of a major rebuild.
4. Why no young talent pipeline, especially after an historic three year run? First, because Harbaugh’s yearly NFL dalliance impacted recruiting. Second, Michigan’s NIL was slow out of the gate and still in catch up mode. Third, the transition to a new staff put us way behind for the 25 class. So we have recruited at about a top 15 level instead of a top 5 level. And that is catching up to us now because……
5. Harbaugh is gone. And so is Herbert. The keys to our player development and team culture in recent years. Or, henceforth known as the “irreplaceables”. Some guys just can’t be replaced. At the end of the day Harbaugh’s enemies got their way and he is no longer at Michigan. Whether that is primarily due to the NCAA, Warde, Jim wanting to win a Super Bowl, or some combination of the above will be subject to debate for many years. Irrespective, the mere fact that he is gone is what now matters.
Based on today, it looks like this team is trending towards somewhere between 6-6 and 8-4. 9-3 would be a pleasant surprise.
I would not be surprised if we hit the portal hard this off-season, especially at QB. I see no answers on the current roster at QB for next season. But the transfer portal won’t get us over the hump. This will be a rebuild, not a retooling.
So for the next five years I will sit back, still root hard for my team, be sad when we lose, and post on what I think Michigan needs to do to be successful. But I won’t expect much. At least not for the next five years. Perhaps by then we will have figured out NIL, revenue sharing and the like. And perhaps by then we will have effective athletic department leadership in place. If not, in five years I will be pissed. Very pissed.
Today’s performance, or lack thereof, has tested that goodwill, but I’ll hold strong. No expectations on my part, let alone great expectations.
So I’m not gonna get mad, but I can still make some critical analysis. So here goes:
1. My first thought was that things will get worse before they get better, but on second thought I don’t see how they can get worse than what we have thus far seen today.
2. Michigan’s defense is not what we thought it would be. Probably caught the coaching staff off guard as well as they thought the defense would be dominating based on how it performed in practice against what we now know is a putrid offense.
3. Michigan will lose most of their top talent after this season, and there is not a pipeline of elite young talent waiting in the pipeline. No young Will Johnsons, Lovelands, Mason Grahams and Kenneth Grants out there. The days of reloading are over. We will be in the midst of a major rebuild.
4. Why no young talent pipeline, especially after an historic three year run? First, because Harbaugh’s yearly NFL dalliance impacted recruiting. Second, Michigan’s NIL was slow out of the gate and still in catch up mode. Third, the transition to a new staff put us way behind for the 25 class. So we have recruited at about a top 15 level instead of a top 5 level. And that is catching up to us now because……
5. Harbaugh is gone. And so is Herbert. The keys to our player development and team culture in recent years. Or, henceforth known as the “irreplaceables”. Some guys just can’t be replaced. At the end of the day Harbaugh’s enemies got their way and he is no longer at Michigan. Whether that is primarily due to the NCAA, Warde, Jim wanting to win a Super Bowl, or some combination of the above will be subject to debate for many years. Irrespective, the mere fact that he is gone is what now matters.
Based on today, it looks like this team is trending towards somewhere between 6-6 and 8-4. 9-3 would be a pleasant surprise.
I would not be surprised if we hit the portal hard this off-season, especially at QB. I see no answers on the current roster at QB for next season. But the transfer portal won’t get us over the hump. This will be a rebuild, not a retooling.
So for the next five years I will sit back, still root hard for my team, be sad when we lose, and post on what I think Michigan needs to do to be successful. But I won’t expect much. At least not for the next five years. Perhaps by then we will have figured out NIL, revenue sharing and the like. And perhaps by then we will have effective athletic department leadership in place. If not, in five years I will be pissed. Very pissed.
Last edited:
