Michigan Wolverines Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Michigan season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
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Michigan Wolverines Preview
Head Coach: Jim Harbaugh, 8th year at Michigan, 61-24
16th year overall, 119-51, 2021 Preview
2021 Record: Overall: 12-2, Conference: 8-1
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Michigan Top 10 Players | Michigan Schedule & Analysis
Michigan Wolverines Preview 2022
It was the right thing to say if you’re Jim Harbaugh and your wonderful breakthrough season just hit a brick wall against the eventual national champion.
The line after losing to Georgia 34-11 in the Orange Bowl was that this was all just the beginning.
Beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten Championship, going to the College Football Playoff – that’s all supposed to be expected at Michigan, and for a long time that seemed just out of reach.
The 2018 team was right there until Ohio State hung 62 on the board. The 2016 team was in the mix, too, until the Buckeyes had other ideas, and the 2015 version would’ve at least gone into the final weekend against that team from Columbus – forgetting the 42-13 loss – with a shot at big things had the roof not caved in against Michigan State.
So yes and no. 2021 might not have been the beginning because – for what Michigan was able to do – the program has at least seen the base camp near the top of the mountain only to have Ohio State blocking the path. But yes, that has to be the start of Michigan not only doing all of that again, but taking it further.
Last year might have shown what Michigan is capable of, but it also proved that it doesn’t yet have it to be among the Alabamas, and the other seasonal SEC superstars, and the Ohio States as a true annual threat.
Cincinnati got to the College Football Playoff, too.
Yeah, the team had a great no-panic style, amazing defense, tough attitude for the ground game, and an overall even keel, and …
Ohio State was a wee bit down, at least defensively.
Everything has to align perfectly for just about everyone but Alabama to get into the College Football Playoff, but because it’s Michigan, and Harbaugh, and that most self-congratulatory of Leaders and Best programs it’s always going to be under more scrutiny.
Combine all of the factors of being Michigan with the real world reality that Harbaugh would be in the NFL right now if the league didn’t pivot to the lowball cheap for its head coaches, and the team is in more about a refresh than a launching point.
And that’s okay – for now.
Ohio State went from being miserable and grouchy about everything to being miserable and grouchy about everything and ultra-motivated.
The pressure is all on that side, meaning Harbaugh gets a wee bit of a free pass for the first time in his era. He proved he could beat Ohio State, and he proved he could take Michigan to the big-time – he proved it really is possible.
Now it’s his angle to put together another strong team with new coordinators and a whole slew of new parts, all while letting Ohio State press on through the unrelenting weight and 24/7 obsession of having to live with the stain of a loss to That Team Up North.
The Wolverine fan base obviously wants to win every year – and Harbaugh had better beat Michigan State this time around – but for this one season, the program can bask a little bit.
Michigan is in a nice spot. It’s going to be good, the monkeys are off all the backs for the time being, and the schedule works out really, really, really well to gear back up for a relatively-speaking-compared-to-the-other-powers under-the-radar good season.
In other words, whatever. You’re Michigan. Do it again.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Michigan Top 10 Players | Michigan Schedule & Analysis