Michigan Football, Team 137, 2016 Season.

[The Oracle]

I forgot about that game against Florida. I would predict a disaster there were it not for the fact that I'm not sure if Florida has got much of a coach. I guess we'll see. Florida, MSU, OSU, @Wisky, and @PSU. PSU will finally be in gear unless Franklin is just a bust. That could be five losses right there.

We will have what I expect to be a ridiculously good set of skill players on offense trying to carry a really really shaky offensive line. Our defense will be devastated by graduation and all of the misses&decommits of the 14 and 15 classes.

So you expect to be 0-5 in toss up games?

[Detroit Dan]

Just as there are homers like myself, there are anti-homers. These people are unreasonably pessimistic so as not to set themselves up for disappointment. It's perfectly rational as long as no money is at stake.

Michigan's offense this year will be as good as it was in 1997 when we won the national championship. The defense was great that year, and will be great again this year. We may not win the national championship, but we're one of the favorites nationally for good reason.

[Hannibal]

So you expect to be 0-5 in toss up games?

Some of them aren't tossups.

[Hannibal]

Just as there are homers like myself, there are anti-homers. These people are unreasonably pessimistic so as not to set themselves up for disappointment. It's perfectly rational as long as no money is at stake.

Michigan's offense this year will be as good as it was in 1997 when we won the national championship. The defense was great that year, and will be great again this year. We may not win the national championship, but we're one of the favorites nationally for good reason.

I'll be very disappointed if our offense is only 1997 caliber this year. I'm thinking more 2000 or 2003.

[lineygoblue]

That 2003 team was as good as any in the nation.

[Hannibal]

Yup. Terrible special teams cost them two winnable games.

[iam416]

The 2003 team was completely outclassed by USC. They were a legit top 5 team.

[Hannibal]

They had great chemistry and they probably overachieved on both offense and defense. Great playcalling by Terry Malone too. They lacked great athletes on the OL or a great pass rush, and that got exposed big time by USC.

[iam416]

I thought they were really good on offense. But so much of it rose and fell with JN. IMO, the Goofer game sort of encapsulated that team. They could be inexplicably awful or really, really good. USC was probably the only team decidedly better than them, but there's no question USC was considerably better.

Not sure how they would have done against LSU or Oklahoma. Probably relatively even matchups.

[WM Wolverine]

^

JN had his limitations, no touch whatsoever on anything short-to-medium and tended to lock on targets. That USC team was NT caliber and M wasn't. Good insight on lack of pass rush, they couldn't get close to QB even when blitzing.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't want to predict a playoff season, but I keep coming back to this...

"If not now, when?" ..... 15 guys (at least) who will be gone a year from now, many of whom were big time blue-chippers or at least Top 300 guys. Wow.

Good point. My counter to that would be that some of those Top 300 guys/the experienced guys you list either turned out to really not be that good or they are good but got shit coaching during there first couple of years under Hoke.

I think M's run game last year was a reflection of how the offensive unit as a whole under-performed due to actually not being as good as their HS rankings or because of poor coaching and lost years under Hoke.

Team 136 had a tendency to play well against shit teams with equal or less talent (including the bowl game against UF) and play average to below average against teams with equal (MSU) or better (osu) talent. I think the loss to osu demonstrates in spades how little elite talent and/or depth M has right now. If these guys you list had been as good as some think they are, the loss to osu would not have been a blow-out and M would have put MSU away early and the blocked punt would have been meaningless to the outcome.....

.......and on that note, it's time that the loss to MSU be framed not as a once in a life time occurrence that gave Sparty an undeserved win but rather as a huge blown opportunity on M's part to optimize the talent advantage in some units they did have over MSU and win that game going away.

So, are these kind-of average guys on offense, that assessment based on last years performance, suddenly play at an elite level? I'll acknowledge it could happen because of HARBAUGH!!! but there is nothing on the books so far that says it will.

[WM Wolverine]

Wish last year we had the talent of Northern Illinois or Indiana or even Sparty who beat the Buckeyes.

[*JD*]

"I know that some claim that weed is some sort of 'entry' drug that leads to other drug usage"

I hear this all the time and I couldn't disagree with it more. IMHO, the entry drug is alcohol. I know people who have smoked weed, and people who have used "harder" drugs, and alcohol is unanimously the first drug they used/tried.

I'd put cigarettes before anything else. Probably 90% of the time, that's the first drug people try.

[AlabamAlum]

I think cigarettes are horrible, but most relagate it to "consciousness altering". Not sure tobacco does that enough. Or caffeine, for that matter.

[Wellington_beefhouser]

Breathing, I'm tellin you, oxygen is the real culprit here.