3. Michigan Wolverines
2020 Preseason Ranking
AP 16, Coaches 15
Final Record: 2-4
What Went Wrong?
Start with the one big issue outside of football – the University of Michigan was hammered with COVID issues. That wasn’t necessarily the reason why the football team was so mediocre, but it certainly didn’t help.
The team looked potentially terrific in a dominant 49-24 win over Minnesota to start, and then everything just sort of stopped in a miserable run of four losses in the final five games.
The quarterback play was miserable, the defense was miserable, the performances against Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin were miserable and overall the team just didn’t play like Michigan.
For all of Jim Harbaugh’s faults, his teams lose to the Ohio States and Alabamas of the world. They didn’t start losing to the mediocre-to-bad until last year.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
Even with a slew of players transferring out, experience won’t be an issue, and yes, it is a positive that’s Harbaugh is back.
The quarterback situation got interesting with the talented – but often hurt – Alan Bowman coming in from Texas Tech to battle with Cade McNamara. You’ve heard this before, but this might be the best quarterback situation yet under Harbaugh. (And yes, you are right to laugh at that in a believe-it-when-you-see-it way.)
The O line will be fine – there are plenty of options to play around with – Hassan Haskins is a solid-looking back, and the receiving corps has playmakers.
Getting Aidan Hutchinson back on the defensive front after losing him to a knee injury is huge, and most of the top tacklers return.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Michigan Football Schedule Analysis
Western Michigan, Washington, Northern Illinois. All three come to Ann Arbor, and while anything less than 3-0 will make the base grouchy, 2-1 is okay – the Huskies are going to be terrific.
Rutgers, Northwestern, Indiana. All home games against decent teams that should be solid-to-strong, and if Michigan is Michigan, it has to win all three. It also has to win at Nebraska, Michigan State and Maryland.
Going to Wisconsin and Penn State is rough, but at least the Ohio State game is at home – for whatever that’s worth.
And no, being 8-4 at Michigan won’t make anyone do cartwheels, but and 8+ win campaign would seem wonderful compared to last year.
Again, the experience is there to make a quick jump back into being good enough to beat everyone but the elite of the elite like …