Michigan Football 2024 Preview: New Coach, Big Changes, Another Great Team

Michigan College Football Preview 2024

2024 Michigan Football Preview
Offense | Defense
Win Total, Predictions, Season Keys
CFN 2024 Preview: All 134 Teams

It’s almost like everyone forgot that Michigan is supposed to be awesome at college football.

That's because it's been a while since the Wolverines were this good.

The Lloyd Carr era was great. That ended 17 years ago. The solid run from Gary Moeller was over 30 years ago, and before that, Bo Schembechler won 80% of his games over 21 seasons ending WAY back in 1989.

There was Fritz Crisler, Fielding Yost, and …

Starting in the 1880s, Michigan was expected to be great at this college football thing. The last three years weren’t an outlier. That’s supposed to be the norm in Ann Arbor, and if nothing else, Jim Harbaugh reintroduced that.

However, after resigning my official position as President of the Jim Harbaugh Apologists Club a few years ago - by the way, recharged, I’m honored and privileged to accept the same position with the Up With Ryan Day Cabal and Sewing Circle - the statute of limitations have passed and now I’m allowed to open up …

What the hell was that?

A case could be made that Harbaugh might be the best all-around head football coach going - Saban is never at Bama if he was as successful with the Dolphins as Harbaugh was with the 49ers - but the whole era at Michigan was … let’s just say, eccentric.

(Okay, let’s go, and then I’ll get this moving already. Yeah, the allegations were awful, but after the Spam totally hit the fan, Michigan still closed out by winning on the road at Penn State and Maryland before beating Ohio State, Iowa in the Big Ten Championship, Alabama in the Rose Bowl, and Washington for the national title. Even if you knew the curveball was coming, that’s pretty good.)

But lost in the amazing last three seasons - mostly because of Harbaugh’s problems with Ohio State before that - the program won ten or more games six times in the nine year span. Harbaugh won eight in one season, nine in another, and 2020 was 2020.

Again, winning ten games is sort of the baseline at the place, and when you don’t, you at least beat Ohio State. Lost in the gap of mediocrity, Michigan won just two bowl games from 2002 to 2014.

And now it’s up to Sherrone Moore to keep Michigan from sliding, and do it without pretty much everyone who pulled off 15-0.

Yeah, last year was magical, but it helped to have the best defense in college football and an offensive line that made everything go.

Even after losing everyone on the offensive front, the line is still loaded with talent, the defensive front will be a brick wall again, and everything will once again build around the rock-solid foundation.

No, 2024 Michigan isn’t close to as good as the 2023 version was, and no, it’s probably not in the same ballpark talent-wise as whatever this Buckeye monster will be coming out of the gate - and none of that matters in an expanded College Football Playoff era.

Had there been an expanded 12-team CFP over the last, say, 50 years, Schembechler gets into around 16 of them. Moeller goes three times, maybe four in his five seasons, and Carr likely goes seven times.

And yeah, Brady Hoke would’ve taken the 2011 team into an expanded CFP.

Harbaugh? It would’ve been five times in nine years.

So even with everything changing in the Big Ten, and with almost all the Wolverine stars gone to the NFL, and despite Ohio State somehow getting every good player in college football on its roster, yeah, Moore should be able to go 10-2 and get into the CFP.

And why?

It’s Michigan. It’s supposed to be good at college football.

2024 Michigan Football Preview
Offense | Defense
Win Total, Predictions, Season Keys
CFN 2024 Preview: All 134 Teams