Around the Big Ten

[THE_WIZARD_]

10-2 talk wrt HARBAUGH!!!!!!! is sacrilege and blasphemy rolled into one!!

[WingsFan]

Expectations are too high, oh and the annual Bowl loss - Let's not forget that.

[Mike]

What's wrong with high expectations? Michigan finished the last two seasons #3 in the country and we'll enter this season probably ranked 2 or 3. That's where the program is at. Enjoy it.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Not placing HARBAUGH!!!!!!! at #1 is a travesty.

[WingsFan]

What's wrong with high expectations? Michigan finished the last two seasons #3 in the country and we'll enter this season probably ranked 2 or 3. That's where the program is at. Enjoy it.

Nothing, HARBAUGH has done it. Michigan is where we hoped, let downs are also big with Michigan when expectations are so high. Still, I'll take it.

[Mike]

The last two seasons aren’t where you’d hoped? The most wins in a two year span in school history with a pair of convincing wins over Ohio State?

Tough crowd.

[WingsFan]

No I'm fine with it, I can't count how many times I have watched the OSU game in Columbus.

[lineygoblue]

I agree that the pieces are in place to have a great season, maybe even better than last season.

But, I've followed this team since the late sixties. I've seen a lot of Michigan teams with high expectations get waylayed by the likes of the Purdue's and Northwestern's of the world. Yes I know .. neither of those teams are on the schedule, but the point remains. Michigan loses games they're not supposed to. Witness TCU.

For me, it boils down to one game. Beat OSU. They've dominated for too long, and they have to be beaten while we have the horses to do it. Anything that happens after that game is just a bonus. I'm not heart-set on a NC. I want to beat OSU. Period.

[Jeff Buchanan]

This thing of low expectations comes from a decade + of suck. TBF, at the macro level, M is just starting to get it's head above water. Personally, I think its great but along with my emerging distaste for what's happening to CFB (NIL, the Portal, both unregulated) I'm not real enthused about M football. Adding to that is what a pain watching, live or on TV, a 4.5h football game made so by copious amounts of commercial breaks. Then there's the cost of attending a game in Ann Arbor.

I don't think there is an M fan out there (except maybe Mike, the eternal optimist - heh) who doesn't have vestiges of evidenced base doubt. Lloyd started fading in 2004 and his record showed it; he ended his career and last season with a 9-4 record and a win over UF that over-hyped M football and laid the foundations for unrealistic expectations when Rodriguez was hired. What a fucking disaster that was.

M fans proceeded to suffer through 7y of Rich-Rod and Hoke. Harbaugh showed up in 2014 and has, until the last two seasons, been a disappointment. He's also racked up 5, THAT'S FIVE!, awful bowl losses that would have been 6 if not for the 2020 COVID aborted season. JH's 8 seasons have been filled with too many should-a, could-a disappointing games feeding justifiable doubt. I'm pretty sure most of us here have sat through more than a couple M games during Harbaugh's HC tenure where we were just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[Tom W]

It will be a very interesting season ahead, that's for sure. I'll make 10 almost to not at all bold predictions.
1) It will be a three team race in the east, between M-osu-PSU and all three could go 1-1 against each other. Assumptions that M is going to rail osu again are just plain foolish.
2) Sparty is going to suck ass and Tuck may be gone afterwards.
3) Wisconsin will win the west - easily. Fickell is the guy that they needed.
4) Maryland will pull off a major upset somewhere- perhaps against one of the Big Three
5) Ferentz will retire
6) Fleck has pretty much rowed the boat on to a sandbar.
7) Nebraska's not going to lose every close game, but will be 6-6 or 7-5.
8) Rutgers and NW will be horrible
9) There will be at least one B14 Heisman finalist
10) There will NEVER be a Conference Champion from the Western Division.

[lineygoblue]

ITA with #1.

And the real key to the season in the BTE will be PSU at OSU on October 21. Penn State has to find a way to win this game.

[WingsFan]

Purdue's and Northwestern's of the world. Yes I know .. neither of those teams are on the schedule, but the point remains.

Actually Michigan will play Purdue, but there is no chance of an upset there Purdue is going to suck this year, and the games@ home.

[WingsFan]

1) It will be a three team race in the east, between M-osu-PSU and all three could go 1-1 against each other. Assumptions that M is going to rail osu again are just plain foolish.
2) Sparty is going to suck ass and Tuck may be gone afterwards.
3) Wisconsin will win the west - easily. Fickell is the guy that they needed.
4) Maryland will pull off a major upset somewhere- perhaps against one of the Big Three
5) Ferentz will retire
6) Fleck has pretty much rowed the boat on to a sandbar.
7) Nebraska's not going to lose every close game, but will be 6-6 or 7-5.
8) Rutgers and NW will be horrible
9) There will be at least one B14 Heisman finalist
10) There will NEVER be a Conference Champion from the Western Division.

1) Sparty is stuck with Tuck for at least 2 more years with his contract lol

3) Not sure, Wisconsin is going from smashmouth running to implementing an air raid spread scheme. This could take some time (?)

4) Yeah Maryland has looked good for a half or even more (last play) for a big upset they could be due. They bring back 64% of their offensive production

10) ♻️

[klondike]

Is Fitz gone... he has always come across as a stand up guy.. this seems very confusing to me.

[lineygoblue]

I think his seat is hot(er) now. If he has another bad season, he could be gone. This hazing thing doesn't help his cause.

I think hazing still happens everywhere, but when it gets carried away, its a problem.

I've never been that impressed with Fitz. For the most part he's run a clean program, but even when he's coached his best, he's been around Iowa's level.