The sky was never falling.

Hoke has Michigan sitting at 6-1 with a 29 point win over a 6-2 Minnesota team that just knocked off Nebraska and a 11 point win over a 5-2 Notre Dame team that has beaten Michigan St., USC, and Arizona St.

Let's go back to May. I tell you this:
-Michigan will lose Darboh for the entire season.
-Michigan will lose Jake Ryan for the first 4 games, and won't make his first start until Michigan St.
-Taylor Lewan will miss half of the Penn St. game due to injury.

And then ask you: "Would you be happy going into the Michigan St. 6-1?"

I agree that 7-0 is a great goal, but anybody looking at things objectively would be happy at 6-1.

hail it not alaways the Lost or the win , but how that loss or win happens, We didn't desreve the win against UCON or Akron, but we sure as hell should have won PSU also that was a conferenc game and the ND was not. Michigan has not looked good this year pure and simple , if Michigan was playing well and losing it would be different.

You have to look at context and schedule- after beating ND, 6-1 was a minimum expected and the WAY it was achieved set off major alarms.

Darboh's contributions were speculative and Ryan came back sooner that I expected. We have been fortunate (knock on wood) injury-wise overall.

Next week is huge obviously. Win and most goals seem realistic again. Lose and we're fighting for the best bowl destination we can get which will not include the Rose Bowl. I fear a 17-6, 21-10 type game with the good guys on the short end- hope I'm overly pessimistic.

The @Iowa game which always looked tough, looks tougher now. The @NW looks easier. Home to Nebraska I always had a good feeling about and still do-Unless a theoretical loss to MSU compounds itself and leaves us really deflated. OSU is going to be a very tall order.

Next week is huge.

'shoes

So back in May, you guys would've said "No, I will not be okay with 6-1."? Ok.

hailtoyourvictor wrote:

So back in May, you guys would've said "No, I will not be okay with 6-1."?  Ok.

Would we have known what the schedule was back in May? Assuming we did then assuming ND was a push, then yes 6-1 was expected. Now if you'd said back then, you'll win 6 of your last 7 games, then I would have signed up on the spot.

'shoes

wshoes wrote:

hailtoyourvictor wrote:

So back in May, you guys would've said "No, I will not be okay with 6-1."?  Ok.

Would we have known what the schedule was back in May? Assuming we did then assuming ND was a push, then yes 6-1 was expected. Now if you'd said back then, you'll win 6 of your last 7 games, then I would have signed up on the spot.

'shoes

5-2 would have been disappointing.
6-1 was expected
7-0 would have been extremely good.

My point isn't that Michigan looks great, it is that the sky was never falling.

hailtoyourvictor wrote:

Hoke has Michigan sitting at 6-1 with a 29 point win over a 6-2 Minnesota team that just knocked off Nebraska and a 11 point win over a 5-2 Notre Dame team that has beaten Michigan St., USC, and Arizona St.

Let's go back to May. I tell you this:
-Michigan will lose Darboh for the entire season.
-Michigan will lose Jake Ryan for the first 4 games, and won't make his first start until Michigan St.
-Taylor Lewan will miss half of the Penn St. game due to injury.

And then ask you: "Would you be happy going into the Michigan St. 6-1?"

I agree that 7-0 is a great goal, but anybody looking at things objectively would be happy at 6-1.

You forgot to add:

- Devin will be an absolute wildcard with the ball
- We will be three games into the B1G schedule before we think we have our Oline figured out


I agree with you Hail... the sky was never falling.

The problem with most UM fans is they give no credit to the other team.  UM should beat everyone all the time.

hailtoyourvictor wrote:

So back in May, you guys would've said "No, I will not be okay with 6-1."?  Ok.

Hail if you said we be 6-1 struggle with Akron, Ucon, and Lose to PSU in 4 ot with 2 chances to kick FG and win, I said OMG whats up with this team. I thought they would be 6-1 at this point but I figured the loss would be ND and that they would be alot farther along in stabalising their defense and offense bu now. I think MSU and Nebraska were gonna be an issue, now Nebraska doesn't seem like such a threat. Still with this team I'm not sure you can count a win in any game.

Pointless question. We do not need to pretend it is May again. We have the knowledge of knowing exactly how the games played out. I am not going to take a loss to a team we should have beat and think gee I would have taken 6-1 in May.

Knowing what we know 6-1 is not good. To beat a dead horse-Narrowly escaping Akron and UCONN and then losing PSU after having multiple opportunities to win put a damper on the season. 7-0 would have been very possible.

MSU will be a tall order for this team. Their defense is going to be quite a challenge to overcome. As shoes pointed out our season rests on the outcome of next weekend. A win and all you zippy doo da fans can hold your heads high and brag how you knew it all a long. Me, well I am concerned.

MgoBlue wrote:

Pointless question.  We do not need to pretend it is May again.  We have the knowledge of knowing exactly how the games played out.  I am not going to take a loss to a team we should have beat and think gee I would have taken 6-1 in May.  

Knowing what we know 6-1 is not good.  To beat a dead horse-Narrowly escaping Akron and UCONN and then losing PSU after having multiple opportunities to win put a damper on the season.  7-0 would have been very possible.  

MSU will be a tall order for this team.  Their defense is going to be quite a challenge to overcome.  As shoes pointed out our season rests on the outcome of next weekend.  A win and all you zippy doo da fans can hold your heads high and brag how you knew it all a long.  Me, well I am concerned.

And you would've fired Hoke, though he has a better winning % than Carr and the same winning % as Moeller.

NEVER said fire Hoke. Feel free to quote where I said that.

No one ever said "fire Hoke", but the vibe from the board was very much leaning towards Hoke not being the right guy for the job.

Good job putting words in people's mouths. Whatever helps/convolutes your argument.

I can't speak for the whole board but I never felt that was the vibe. I'll repeat/paraphrase what I said a couple of weeks ago. Hoke is a good fit for the Michigan job and brings many good qualities. He also has limitations which need to be supplemented by his assistants, which is fine as long as they are doing that. He is not a "great" coach- there are few in the college game- who would win consistently where ever he was.

H should get a full five years to establish himself (of course I thought the previous guy should too).

'shoes

wshoes wrote:

I can't speak for the whole board but I never felt that was the vibe. I'll repeat/paraphrase what I said a couple of weeks ago. Hoke is a good fit for the Michigan job and brings many good qualities. He also has limitations which need to be supplemented by his assistants, which is fine as long as they are doing that. He is not a "great" coach- there are few in the college game- who would win consistently where ever he was.

H should get a full five years to establish himself (of course I thought the previous guy should too).

'shoes

Yes I agree.

fishgoblue22 wrote:

The problem with most UM fans is they give no credit to the other team.  UM should beat everyone all the time.

Well, we should but that's not realistic.