I would not make the wager. I saw Forcier play IN PERSON, and believe me, he is good, but not that good. Even I could be a star if I played the caliber of teams that he did. Don't get me wrong. The kid is very good, but comparing him to Prior is foolish at this point. Let's see what the kid can do when two Penn State Linebackers converge on him.
I agree. People use Tate's performance in the sring game as a barometer as to the type of player he is going to be this season. That is foolish. Michigan set that up for him to be as successful as he was....for the crowd to be a buzz and more importantly start talking Michigan football again. I think he has some talent, but everyone saw how inconsistent Pryor was last year and he HAD talent around him. Michigan has considerablly less talent to support him.
As for the bet....I'd say PUSH. I think Michigan either wins at Wiscy or at Ill to bring them to the 6 wims. WIscy is on a downward spiral and Ron Zook is still the coach at Illinois.
I did watch some of the OSU Spring game and it definately looks like Pryor has made some progress throwing the ball. These clips aren't the best but you can see a little difference. There were also some nice plays I remember that aren't in this clip. Try your best to ignor the D-Bag anchor from the Big Ten network...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDeMNxaWe8&feature=related
He throws a nice 50-60 yard bomb, threads the needle a few times, and throws a really nice strike to Ray Small to end the half. Unfortunately, the camara work didn't capture the play too well.
Another thing I noticed was that WR's Ray Small and Torren Washington look like really nice replacements to the Hartline and Robiski who left. I was also impressed with their feature RB Herron. He had some really nice runs in that dog fight with Texas last year and really accelerates out of the back field. It def. won't be a one man show from OSU this year.
This video shows a little more detail but only two plays:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78t2z7RqnaY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDeMNxaWe8&feature=related
He throws a nice 50-60 yard bomb, threads the needle a few times, and throws a really nice strike to Ray Small to end the half. Unfortunately, the camara work didn't capture the play too well.
Another thing I noticed was that WR's Ray Small and Torren Washington look like really nice replacements to the Hartline and Robiski who left. I was also impressed with their feature RB Herron. He had some really nice runs in that dog fight with Texas last year and really accelerates out of the back field. It def. won't be a one man show from OSU this year.
This video shows a little more detail but only two plays:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78t2z7RqnaY&feature=related
I think 6 wins is about right. 8-4 if all the balls bounce Michigan's way, 4-8 if Forcier or Denard Robinson for some reason can't make the adjustment from HS to big time college ball and/or significant injuries. But Michigan IS on the right track, it may however take another year or three before we're Top 10 material again. And if we don't get at least 6 wins this year--well, I don't think that necessarily gets RRod canned (unless we crash and burn like last season) but it DOES put him on a very, very short leash for 2010.
Purdue has nothing this year. That should be an easy win for Michigan. Notre Dame has too much going for them to lose to Michigan. Michigan State and Wisconsin will decide Michigan's fate this year, and both of those games are on the road. Michigan has to win one road game, because they are looking at losses at home to Notre Dame, Penn State, and Ohio State.
I agree with you guys for the most part and full disclosure here: I am a Michigan fan. I do think ND wins that game but it wouldn't completely floor me if mich won. I'm just saying if we put a poll up and asked people to take a side, I'm guessing at least 75% of people would take ND -3.5. ND will be ranked around #10 in the country when the polls come out and michigan won't even be in the top 40. I just think that line looks fishy and I'm not betting it.
I wouldn't bet Michigan o/u either. 6 seems about right to me. I would take Notre Dame over 9 though. They may not be that great but there schedule is pathetic. They will be favored in a mimimum 9 games and probably will be favored in 11 games. They have 6 garunteed wins and play like 8 teams with first year QB's.
I wouldn't bet Michigan o/u either. 6 seems about right to me. I would take Notre Dame over 9 though. They may not be that great but there schedule is pathetic. They will be favored in a mimimum 9 games and probably will be favored in 11 games. They have 6 garunteed wins and play like 8 teams with first year QB's.
If you look back in history, very seldom do you see a college team who will improve from winning 3 games or less with a new coach to winning more than 6 games the next season. Especially when they are going to a completely different offensive system that requires a different type of player to operate it. It takes time to recruit and put the pieces together. Winning 6 games is probably the best that Michigan can hope for this year. Either way, it's not a great bet to make. When you bet team win totals you want to have more than one game of leeway either way to make it a decent play. And you really don't get that here. The disadvantage of playing the under is that Michigan plays 8 home games this year. If they get just one upset at home it will more than likely get them to 6 wins and you'll just have a push.
you may be right but keep in mind that Rich Rod has allready done that only 7 years ago. W. Vir went 3-8 in his first year and then 9-4 in his second. The reason I don't like this bet is becuase basically what you are doing is betting on how good Tate Forcier is. 75% of college football is about the QB, so if he is good than Michigan will win 7 or maybe 8 games. If he plays bad they will go 4-8 or something like that. From what I've seen of the kid I think he will be good, but how long will it take for him to develop. He might not be good until next year.
And by the way Michigan has allready signed the #2 QB for next year so Forcier may only be the qb this year.
It does happen sometimes where a coach can turn a program around that fast. But 4 out of 5 times it's more like a 3 to 5 year process like for example Jim Harbaugh taking his Stanford team from 2-10 to 5-7. And I expect them to be bowl eligible this year or next. In my opinion Rich Rodriguez is capable of turning a program around in a hurry, as he did at WV. But much of it depends on the conference you play in. In an 8 team conference like the Big East it's going to be a little easier than it will be in the Big 10. Michigan does have a fairly favorable schedule this year as far as only having to play 4 road games... So if the ball bounces their way they could potentially get to 7 wins. It's just not something that looks like a good preseason bet.
This university made a huge mistake by not even considering Harbaugh as a possible candidate to replace Lloyd. He is a HC who had some experience, was an alum of the U of M, and is an underrated recruiter. But I guess they were dead set on going outside the box for their hiring, which is why Rich Rod is here and Harbaugh is in Palo Alto. But that's what you get for truth telling I guess.
Thanks a lot, Mike Hart.
Thanks a lot, Mike Hart.
