nice to see a shut out against the #22 ranked BYU, I’m pretty sure this win will put us up on the boards.
It’s starting to look like the Michigan of old.
Utah is creaming Oregon, so M’s loss to them, especially in light of giving up the, what, 3 interceptions doesn’t look so bad. On the other hand, BYU was missing a few key players and was probably somewhat fatigued from their schedule and travel. On balance, looks like Michigan should be ranked. If they can keep up the week over week improvements and if Harbaugh and Mattison/Drevno(Sp?) can keep making in-game adjustments, this could be a very solid season. I was hoping to swing from 5-7 to 7-5 for Harbaugh’s first year, but think 9 wins could be achievable.
Harbaugh has definitely made a big difference. Whether or not this team can win 9 games remains to be seen. The Big 10 is looking solid. But at least the team is playing well. Much depends on how much this team can improve, particularly Rudock and the OL. Hopefully, Smith’s ankle injury is nothing serious.
Utah won against #13 Oregon, last year’s contenders 62-20. We only lost against Utah by 7 points. Hopefully, Utah keeps it up so our only loss doesn’t look too bad.
Additionally, #2MSU beat Oregon 31-28 in a close game. So, I’m feeling more confident towards this MSU game.
7UCLA had a close game against BYU 24-23
Btw, as of now we are ranked #22.
Hoke recruited well but didn’t develop the talent, especially on offense. Michigan’s defense was actually quite good last year. It’s nice to see the skill level and execution beginning to match the talent under Harbaugh & co. I don’t want to get too carried away with optimism, but the defense is really good and improving every week. The offense is also improving but still a major work-in-progress. The QB has yet to show he can consistently make the deep pass, WRs aren’t consistently making plays, and despite big gains and big days here and there, none of the RBs has shown the consistent dominance you need at the position. But the OL is playing well and improving week to week, and they’re getting a ton out of the TE position which is to be expected in a Harbaugh offense. Let’s just put Maryland away on Saturday before looking ahead to bigger targets.
Make that 7 points in the last 15 quarters!
Well, he’s leading an incredible defense. Now we just need to expect he’ll be snagged as a HC before the bowl game.
This team is looking solid. Utah and BYU are legitimate top 25 teams, and we were competitive against the former and downright dominated the latter. BYU scored 23 points at UCLA, losing by just one point to them, and scored over 30 points at Nebraska, beating them in the process.
The next two games will set the tone for the season. If Michigan wins one of those two, we are headed for a 9 win season.
Early line has Michigan favored by 9 against Northwestern. Seems a little high to me. Home field is usually considered worth 3 points in college football. Michigan has an outstanding defense and Northwestern’s offense is inconsistent, but Northwestern also has an outstanding defense (statistically, anyway, but I haven’t really seen them play) and Michigan’s offense has been inconsistent. So I expect a low-scoring, slug-it-out game, decided by field position and turnovers, and maybe a big play here and there. This would be a great time for Jabrill Peppers to break a big return.
Sometimes I get an eerie feeling this team is being guided by the ghost of Bo Schembechler. .
I agree that a 9 point advantage is excessive. NU is a battle tested team. They beat a good Stanford team on the road!
They also beat solid Duke and Minnesota teams. Defensively, they seem to be as good as Michigan. I think this games hinges on the offense that has the fewest brain farts.
" NU is a battle tested team. They beat a good Stanford team on the road!"
That’s incorrect Alexandre. NU beat the Cardinal at home. It’s much tougher beating good teams on the road.
38-0. Jeez, I thought this was going to be a tough game against ranked #13 Northwestern. And hopefully Utah continues to plow every team in their way to make our loss more respectable since we’re definitely making them look good.
Ohio State beat Maryland 49-28 today. So at least we played them better.
31 points scored against us in 6 games…
The Big House was rocking today! Wouldn’t want to be anything other than a Wolverine.
Woah! Didn’t see that one coming! Let us hope they can carry this intensity into the next couple of games. Michigan is one of the most impressive teams I have seen all season…and certainly the most impressive team in the Big 10.
“And hopefully Utah continues to plow every team in their way to make our loss more respectable since we’re definitely making them look good.”
ForeverAlone, while our loss to Utah is certainly looking better now (hopefully, they can beat a dangerous and hungry Cal team which is hanging with them at the moment), I think our wins against BYU and NU are even more impressive.
BYU is a 4-2 team. Their two losses were at top 10 UCLA (by just one point) and at Michigan. They beat Nebraska at Lincoln.
Northwestern was 5-0 having beaten solid Stanford and Duke teams and were ranked in the top 15.
Anything can happen going forward, particularly against MSU, PSU and OSU, but based on what Michigan has shown so far, it should be ranked in the top 10, if not the top 5. I just hope the team can play this well next week against MSU. They have been struggling at times this year, but they will be ready next week. MSU is always ready to give 110% when they play us.
Michigan looks very good. MSU has been decimated by injuries and is a shell of the team they were last year all around. The secondary has been completely awful, so if our front seven can’t get to Rudock and if Rudock has a good game this could get really ugly.
Cook in particular always seems to step up in big games so I guess we’ll see what happens.
Alexandre, I’m not denying the impresiveness of our BYU and NU games. This thread was made in the first place because of BYU in the original post. Then read my post again that you just quoted about this NU game. Before this game, I was very worried it would be close because NU had strong defense(2 shut outs and no more than 19 points), especially against our questionable offense. Today’s results, took me by surprise. I had a feeling our defense would be there, but I didn’t think it would be a complete shut out against a #13 team. I wasn’t expecting more than 24 points either. I am mentioning the strength of Utah because we lost to them. There are a few undeafeated teams that we should rank better because we played a strong team for an away game and only lost by 7 points. I’d rather lose to a good team than a scrub team. Meanwhile, last year’s national championship contenders Oregon, lost by 42 points on Oregon’s own turf against Utah.
I hear you ForeverAlone. Nobody expected Michigan to be playing at this level at this point in the season. I don’t think any of us find it hard to believe that the team is 5-1. It is how we are playing that is shocking to so many. Michigan had talent (we can say whatever we like about Hoke’s coaching, but he is a good man and a great recruiter), that much we knew. And we all knew Harbaugh could win at least 8 games thanks to his coaching ability, of which several would have been close calls.
But what we have now is a team that is downright dominant, playing with the confidence and identity of a currently elite program. In our five wins, we have outscored our opponents a ridiculous 160-14. That’s 32-3 per game!!! None of those five teams we beat has come within 3 TDs. And that includes teams like BYU and NU. Even Oregon State and Maryland are not that bad. Maryland hung in there with OSU last night.
If we play well next week against MSU and win, the only real challenge we will face for the rest of the season are the road game at PSU, the home game against OSU and, if it comes to that, the Big 10 championship game.
And as you pointed out, our only loss looks pretty darn good as far as losses go. First game of the season, on the road, first game under the new coach and by only 7 points. When you factor in Utah’s overall record and dominance over Oregon and solid win against Cal, our loss will easily be overlooked come December…should we be in a position to contend for a spot in the playoffs. At the midseason mark (hard to believe it is midseason already), Michigan is playing like a playoff contender.
Anyway, enough speculation. We have a huge game against an excellent team next Saturday. Let us hope we can get past them unscathed.
I’m looking more optimistic about MSU than I was after our Utah game, since Utah was no where to be found on ranking polls. I did not think we would be ready.
Last night, MSU struggled against Rutgers and were even losing to them at one point.
Not only did we play Maryland better, we shut them out on their own field. Ohio State played them in Columbus.