Hi Wolverines, Duck here. First of all, congratulations on setting the buckeye football program ablaze (again lmaooo), their subreddit has truly been incredible ever since. However, in contrast to the shitty arrogance of their subreddit/general fanbase, there is you guys. Immaculate vibes over here. You gained a special place in my heart when you stopped literal tyranny last year by curb-stomping the fuskies. FUCK the huskies. But also fuck ohio state - apparently they're so anal retentive about blocking out Ms that they mistook the similarly-shaped W yesterday. I hope we returned the favor when we beat the bucks. Truly the best game I have ever been to and so happy it caused them as much emotional anguish as it did. "wElL sEe HoW tHeY dO oN a NeUtRaL field" - try making the championship game first you cocky asshats. So thank you for that, very much appreciated. Also, Michigan looks like an absolutely beautiful state. Compare this to ohio - I don't think I need to elaborate much on this point. Anyway, nothing but love for you guys and looking forward to ongoing buckeye/fusky annihilation. <3 Go Blue and GO FUCKING DUCKS.

I've been reading a lot about the newfound camaraderie between y'all and us ducks. We hate UW. You hate tOSU. We can hate both together. As such, I come bearing a suggestion.

Over here in the Willamette Valley we have a little saying "Huck the Fuskies." Might I humbly suggest for your own rivals, the saying "Buck the Fuckeyes." 👀

Yours in mutual hatreds, A Duck

(I know we still have a bowl game to go, but tbh it's really an exhibition and practice for next year, so I think now is a great time to reflect.)

Moore started off in a very unique position. Harbaugh built this program into a juggernaut and left Sherrone with a team with elite culture, player development, scouting, etc. But there were also significant challenges that Sherrone faced coming into the season including roster turnover, coaching turnover, recruiting + NIL, and more. Sherrone has had a front row seat to observing the way some hall-of-fame head coaches went about their program, but growing pains were expected going into his first opportunity to lead his own program.

The season was a lot rockier than expected, and I've seen people question if we can afford to give someone time to learn on the job. Those questions did enter my mind at some points during the season, but after yesterday, I feel like he is on the right path and he will have Michigan ready to contend as soon as next year. Here are my thoughts on what went well and what didn't:

The Good

1. Possibly the most impressive thing Sherrone has done is get the recruiting/NIL situation right. After a couple of lackluster classes, it feels like we're back to a place where we can get the best recruits and compete in the transfer portal to fill needs. Sherrone both identified this as key to the long term success of Michigan AND he hired the right man for the job.
2. He did exactly what was needed for the defense. The defense has really improved towards the end of the year, after being rocky early on. Most of the credit goes to Wink, but Sherrone deserves credit -- either for pushing for changes or for not messing with something that takes time to build. Hopefully next year, we'll be better (relative to our ceiling) out of the gate.
3. His game plan against Ohio State was masterful. We had to thread the needle to get a win, and somehow he managed to do it. That's special coaching talent. Now we just need to fix some of the problem areas so we can stop focusing on creating miracles and get back to focusing on bigger aspirations.

The Bad

4. The critical mistakes were on offense. He hired someone who was not ready. The second mistake was to not be more hands-on with the offense. I think this was probably the biggest symptom of his lack of HC experience -- knowing when to be hands-on and when to be hands-off. It looked like he did a better job of that towards the end of the season (he mentioned he was more involved in the offense) and I think he had a big hand in the Ohio State offensive game plan. To me, this shows maturity and growth. What he does next here will be one of the most critical things to our success. Is he willing to move on from someone who is not performing to the level that is expected? I wouldn't mind if he kept KC on staff, but it would concern me if we don't see at least a new co-OC.

5. The other critical mistake that we made was that we seriously mis-evaluated our QB situation. I don't really blame Sherrone here as by the time JJ had made his decision and Sherrone was hired, there were few options left on the table. But I would have liked to see him explore at least some alternatives.

His relentlessness in pursuing Bryce Underwood shows me he gets that we can't do that again. He gets how important a good QB is to winning, and he gets how difficult it is to find a good QB. I expect Michigan to go to the portal to get another QB with experience for next year. Maybe Bryce will be ready to start next year, or maybe Davis Warren will take a leap after a year of experience. But imo, we can't leave it up to chance that we will go a second season without a serviceable qb. Whether Sherrone goes to the portal or not will tell me a lot about his long term prospects as the HC.

Conclusion

I think Sherrone had a lot of decisions to make going into the season. He did a good-to-great job on most of them, but he made a couple critical mistakes that really turned what could have been a 9 - 3 or 10 - 2 season into a 7 - 5 season. He made adjustments in the season and we finished on a strong note, which shows me he is learning. He has also made some strategic investments for the future, which shows me he is poised to keep this train going. But I do need to see him make some investments for the short term (portal + staff changes). Tbf, the chance to do so is only just starting, so we'll see what he does here. A couple of mistakes are excusable for a first time coach. But he NEEDS to correct them going into next year. What he does this off-season will define his tenure and the future of the Michigan program.

Curious to hear what people think about our outlook for next year.

The run game has been a bright spot most of the year on an otherwise pathetic offense, and he’s helped make Mullings a bulldozer and wrecking ball. Thanks for switching sides Tony. You a real one.

Killers

The Big Ten fined Michigan and OSU 100k for the altercation after the game. No suspensions.

I read that this was the 2nd greatest spread (or upset based on the spread) in the history of the rivalry, but I can’t find what #1 was. Both 1969 and 1996 were 17 point favorites so not those.

Also is this the most devastating loss in the history of their program?

This morning I tried to come up with a list of all of the funniest aspects of the game yesterday that all come together to make it absurd comedy. Got this far, would love to crowd source for anything I forgot:

- "We want them to k ow its Ohio State"

- in Columbus

- Kyle McCord

- 4 in a row

- 20 point favorite

- $20m roster

- botched TO call

- Chip Kelly, playcaller

- "0-3 club" graphic

- Not going for it in 1at Q

- draw play on 3rd in 3Q

- zero points in 2nd half

- flag plant fight

- Jason Avant steals flag back

- 1000 yard stare

- worst Michigan team in 10 years or more

I know a lot of fans don’t like the all white uniforms but wearing white cleats with the cold weather made these uniforms look so much better to me.

Appreciation thread for the best kicker in all of college football!!!

Caleb Downs has infact lost to Michigan twice in one year😆😆😆

Just remember, there are some buckeye alts hiding around posing as Michigan fans

Last time I checked Ohio had over 450 yards of offense in 2021 and 2022. That doesn’t happen if you cheat. If you’re cheating you have games like Ohio state vs Michigan state in 2021 but we’ll ignore that one. They just can’t accept that they lost because they got punched in the mouth and couldn’t stop the run when they needed too. They can’t accept that we took risks to win. It wasn’t signs when we lined up multiple times on 4 and 1 and got it. That’s demoralizing to a team. They can’t accept it. That’s what makes 2024 so much better because they literally have no excuse no matter how much they try to pull one out from their asses! 😂😂😂 go blue 〽️

https://youtu.be/IBKJgew_MUw?si=7usaU8ai4beALjY6

IT’S GREAT TO BE A MICHIGAN WOLVERINE!!!

Having the #7 strength of schedule, playing the #3, #11, #8, #1 and #2 ranked teams, with a brand new coaching staff, brand new O-Line, and an incompetent QB room…. 7-5 isn’t great but not that bad. Playing 4 top ten teams in one season, 3 of them being top 5 is actually wild. Go Blue, let’s go bowling, and let’s get some wideouts for Underwood for 2025!!

In honor of the greatest 7-5 win I’ve ever watched, I’m loading up on more apparel. But, I can’t seem to find a shirt I’ve seen before and at games. I am looking for “Michigan Brat” two lines, in the typical blue shirt / yellow letter combo that you might see for Michigan Engineering, or Michigan Alumnus, etc.

Does anyone know anyone that sells this?

Thanks and Go Blue! 〽️

That school down south only dropped 5 spots to 7th.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/42719696/oregon-no-1-ap-top-25-ohio-state-miami-clemson-fall

Kirk has to be demoted. I'm still riding high off the win yesterday but everyone associated with this program knows that our playcalling was abysmal all season long. In order for us to take a step forward, especially with the talent coming in, we have to find someone who can be a legit primetime playcaller.

Here are some targets. What are your thoughts?

Brennan Marion - UNLV OC - Regarded as one of the best up and coming coaches, a brilliant offensive mind and a hellvua recruiter. (On a personal note, I think if you want to signal to young talent that our offense is going to transform into something modern and exciting AND you're going to get someone super talented, this is the guy.)

Charlie Weis Jr - Ole Miss OC - Ole Miss has the second most yards per game this season.

Craig Stutzmann - San Jose State OC - SJSU is 5th in the country in passing yards per game

Jason Beck - New Mexico OC - NM is 4th in total yards per game. Beck's quarterbacks have averaged over 3,000 passing yards and 3,800 yards of total offense per season. Three of his former quarterbacks were on active NFL rosters in 2023.

Brian Daboll - New York Giants - Assuming he gets fired. Served as OC for Alabama in 2017 and helped lead them to a National Championship.