This game just as easily could have went bad, defense was getging tired and af tried to pass late and settled for fg attempt. Thank goodness it was missed. It would have been a 1 score game with just over 5 min left, and we would be counting on our offense to burn clock.

Our OL got stalemated against Akron and Uconn. We know how 2013 turned out after that. And now our OL just got stalemated by Cincy and AF. Anyone who thinks everything is ok and that 10 wins is still a realistic possibility is more deluded than climate change deniers.

Obviously we can all poke holes in any analogy but youre doing it way wrong. Riverman is doing it right. Having Harbaugh instead of Hoke is our only hope. But seriously it's over. Just plz beat MSU again.

Tough to get too much on the O-line after yesterday. If teams are going to throw 8 and 9 in the box you have to have a counter for that. 2nd level was pretty ****ing barren all day and we never seemingly tested it with a RB release or even a few TE drags with our 6'8" guy against their 5'9" guy. Offensive play calling was legit piss poor.

Next week is going to be the real test for the secondary. Better hope Metellus is okay.

Source from inside the program that has never let me down said sparty is 8pm kickoff

There are other hopes.

In order:

1. I don't think everything is OK but this was always going to be a transition/rebuilding year. 10 wins is still realistic, although probably bad outcomes like a 7 win season remain realistic as well. I agree that on the whole you are correct; this is a mediocre team in many facets, perhaps of 2013 vintage. But 2013 was probably a tougher schedule.

2. Also: some peripheral things like explosiveness/big play athletes (DPJ, Black, Ty Isaac/Chris Evans) on offense versus 2013 where your best athletes were like Jeremy Gallon and Devin Funchess. This is a testament to Harbaugh's recruiting that you have young, faster, frank better caliber of young player than Hoke. Special teams TDs from DPJ is not pure chance on the meta level, we can expect more special teams or offensive explosive plays all other things equal to the Hoke 2013 Michigan team because we simply have recruited better athletes in the past three years. Fitz Toussaint was a good player but imo there's no question that Isaac (a former 5 star) and Chris Evans are more explosive athletes and may have 1-2 explosive plays each this season that you wouldn't expect from Hoke's players. We got more MAKES PLAYS guys at our disposal than Hoke did.

tl;dr summary: recruiting improvements at skill positions make some amount of high-variance plays more likely

3. Obvious coaching improvement even if Harbaugh isn't literal gawd. The team will probably get better even if we expected more by now.

The 2017 defense has young/better athletes with more potential to get better faster (e.g., Gary, who I agree has been a disappointment) and some guys in the secondary. David Long was a borderline 5 star, for instance. Hoke recruited very well at first, but Harbaugh's classes have been better, and we probably have superior defensive coaching (Mattison is still on staff, Don Brown + Zordich + Mattison >>> Mattison + Curt Mallory + Roy Manning).

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Variance will be high. But we are still going to be favored in all but 3 remaining games. Rutgers is basically an auto-win. Purdue looks tougher but not enough data to conclude anything drastic. IU remains a likely win. Michigan State 2017 @ home >>> Michigan State 2013 @ MSU. They're not anywhere near the same as they were a few years ago. We're probably still 10 pt favorites over Minny. Maryland looks tough but I assume we're still favorites there.

Still a realistic shot at 10 wins. I think 9 wins is more likely and the most likely outcome. 8 is a distinct possibility. 7 is probably unlikely but small and extent.

No panic for me. I think the Florida win was a bonus. 2018 will be better and 2019 better still. This season was always going to be up-and-down and full of inconsistencies. Michigan isn't recruiting at Alabama or OSU's level and Harbaugh is human, not one of the greatest coaches of all time. Still a top 5-10 coach in the country we are very fortunate to have even if this year is frustrating at points. Watch DPJ work magic like yesterday, Black start to be a better route runner, Gary will be a beast more consistently, etc. etc., bank 8 or 9 wins and enjoy it imo. I think it gets better next year. Anyone who thinks we just show up and automatically get 10 wins because of the Winged Helmets and Harbaugh hasn't watched modern college football, and I thought we would have learned some lessons from say 2005-2014 that if this is a "bad" season we remained blessed.

Tarik Black out for the year according to the interwebs

**** for real?

Broken bone in his foot.

Best WR since Manningham. Sigh

Wanted DPJ to see the field more but not like this yuck

He might be back per Twitter. Depends on the severity and if they want him back for the post season or get a RS on him.

Wow would have never thought in a million years that we'd only be single digit favorites @ Purdue

Game feels like a coin flip. Not touching that line.

I got some Purdue +10. Feels like free money.

Maybe we'll get some Oliver Martin since Black is out?

If he's healthy, possibly.

I'd expect more McDoom, maybe some Schoenle. More TEs.

Incidentally, based on casual observation and small sample size Schoenle appears to me to be a very good gunner on special teams.

hope DPJ gets really good really soon

Gotta say Michigan fans are pretty horrid to listen to, good lord casual Michigan fans are the Woat.

Granted I listen to 971 daily while working, so I guess lolme.


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I think any team that has a fanbase that cares at all has fans like that. We're no different. I don't listen to talk radio (sports radio, sports talk radio, whatever) but reading the message boards is presumably about the same experience.

But yeah, LOL you for listening to 97.1. Other than:

I've always preferred



For pure hilarity's sake

Oh man, haven't heard that before, I'm a kid on Christmas Eve, deliberately saving it

I went back and watched the 2006 MSU-ND game (there's a 60 minute edit on the tubes) and it is still just an amazing night of football. Charlie Weis versus John L. Slappy Smith in Hurricane Katrina. At one point Kirk Herbstreit just kills it, basically explaining what it means to LOLSPARTY.

Still remember 2006 MSU ND game like yesterday. Always love watching those 2 ******s play some footbaw

I know booker, in the car alot and music gets repetitive at times.

people doubting JH's skills when it comes to QB "whispering" is maddeningly tilting.

And idk how many are on 24/7, but Lorenz said this awhile ago about Peters being "the quietest kid I've ever covered", mentioned about having to turn his mic up when he covered him.

Assumed this was what most meant by his "lack of a presence in the huddle"

Go ahead and lolme for being a 24/7 nerd

For as bad as you guys think speight is, he's an above average power five QB. Given Borges' QB recruiting track record that might be among Harbaugh's best coaching accomplishments.


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pretty much agree with this, just remembered i wanted to post that tidbit about Peters a few days ago.

He's clearly elevated the QBs he has had at UofM.