But I'll open with M sports. "Harbaugh Wanted to Stay" was the nonsense headline perfectly appropriate for the subject matter. Sure, if only 3 more people, names to follow, had kissed his ass. He gone.
To Sherrone Moore, the spotlight is not going to be as bright for the stars if the team doesn't win. Some are left. It wasn't the kind of push of players coming along with a new coach, either in the portal or in recruiting, that usually happens with new coaches. The question will be a decent but not really one-hit wonder or a diamond in the rough? So far, all we really know is they needed secondary help and probably they found enough. There have been a few, very few, recruits trickling in from the pipeline. Michigan is/was something like 37th in the recruiting rankings. Experience says that will come back to haunt and over-reliance on the portal is not a long-term solution.
Quick first look at schedule: WTF! Eight out of 12 games are at home; the first 5 are at home. Finally in October Michigan goes to Seattle. Oregon, USC, Texas, and Ohio State and Michigan State in addition. Illinois and Northwestern are sometimes decent and Minnesota usually is. To me it looks like Fresno State is good too, about in the category of Michigan, and that is an suggestion that Michigan will be nowhere near as good as last year. Finally, I have never heard of an Arkansas Red Wolf and I don't even remember what is going on at Indiana. The latter though is in the Big 18.
I do recall Texas was really good last year and they still have coaches and players in tact. Ohio State had probably the best one offseason talent grab in history. Michigan State hired a hot coach and his tag-alongs as did Washington.
It is a fascinating schedule--the best, i.e. hardest and most exciting, probably in Michigan football history; gone is that four or more game cupcake, find the players and plays that will work, start to the season. At home, but what if they turn out to be rotten, with a quarterback who can't throw and running backs who cannot chew up yards and sustain drives? Michigan has very little in the way of a proven offensive line and passing game. Who knows about depth and facing that schedule, but the defense and stadium should be able to keep them in games. Then again, some of these teams and coaches can really dial it up. No matter what happens Coach Moore is going to look ten years older afterward.
Everyone and their brother is going to want a shot at the defending national champion.
It could be five or six losses. Frankly, that is what I predict.
I wanted to provide an update about how the Atlanta Braves are, this time (now), a bunch of injured weenies. But this is a Michigan blog and I got going. It is Memorial Day and nothing more to do until Labor Day. Dusty May earns an A in terms of meaningless clean-up rebuilding offseason efforts. There is no 'but he is new' sympathy here. Sherrone Moore gets a C. He has held it together. There hasn't been what you could call a full-fledged scandal. Is the count 2? There have been arrests and probably more turmoil--and player turnover--than positives.
But hell, I don't even know how the playoffs will work and I'm not likely to pay a lot of attention if Michigan is not in it. Probably what will happen is two or three teams will rise to the top of the league standings. At least that is what I hope happens, because a bunch of .500 teams is going be dull and those shouldn't be in a playoff anyway. The bowls, whatever is left of them, will be even more worthless than they were before. I think the cream of the former Pac 12 and Ohio State will occupy those top positions in the standings because they are going to beat those former Big Ten also-rans that teams like Michigan cleaned-up on and they're going to beat Michigan and Ohio State too. Not every year, but... and put Penn State in that mix too.
The hard to realize because it isn't there thing about Michigan's schedule is Rutgers and Maryland and others from the B1G West--the easy wins--are gone. One could also count Iowa, Wisconsin, and more-so Minnesota in recent years and predicted wins. There will be commentary from Ann Arbor or elsewhere about how Moore is new and injuries and a tough schedule are why the season is over after twelve games. Suppose Donovan Edwards or depth on the D-line is unlike the past. There are probably some Michigan fans and followers younger than me who are best described as spoilt. Harbaugh can tattoo it on his forehead--15-0 means less to me than an extended season and wins against the rest of the top teams. There was and will remain nothing illegitimate about the championship, but the turmoil and changes in the team and program are nothing to be proud of at this point.
No one makes a coaching change unless they have to. And no one goes after transfers unless they need them.
I am thinking (see post above) there will be a pause and probably even a pullback in the pace and substance of goings-on. All those people sitting on the committees that make the rules aren't stupid and they weren't born yesterday. They'll follow the money for sure, but... The prime example is, Colorado football is not successful. Or, look a little closer to home in East Lansing.
For now, however, it is still the Wild West. The portal can definitely help an already-good team and if you if you want to roll the dice on a total rebuild you are free to do so. Brady Hoke was a capable coach--almost certainly an above-average one in the right position at the right place. He even built a good team which Harbaugh took over. He was excellent at filling roster holes and keeping it fairly in-tact. Sherrone Moore calling vs. Jim Harbaugh calling is not the same thing.
Before I stop what is becoming a rant, there is an adage in college football that you cannot win championships without 5-stars. That is true in terms of Michigan and last season. For Moore it is still a grace period. We haven't even seen the team yet. But we haven't seen any 5-stars either.
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