Michigan football expert roundtable (2022 edition): U-M's projected record, breakout stars, games to watch and more
This post is locked and can be read by premium subscribers only.
It’s Year 3 of Michigan football preview material here at Scott Bell’s Newsletter. And I’ve decided to bring back one of the more popular features from the past few Augusts for this year’s build-up to the upcoming season.
That’s right, it’s time for the third annual “Expert Roundtable,” starring a number of your favorite members of the Michigan media.
Fun fact: Every single prediction in 2020 was too optimistic. Every single prediction in 2021 was too pessimistic. Does the pattern mean that since it’s an even year, Michigan is bound to underachieve this fall? Was 2021 just the beginning, and will the Michigan football team surprise everyone on the positive side of things once again this fall? Or is this a Three Little Bears situation where the third time ends up being “just right,” and the 2022 season plays out just like our prognosticators think it will? If so, it’s probably worth making New Year’s plans for Pasadena. But more on that in a minute.
First, let’s get into the panel itself.
This year’s panel …
We had 19 experts participate in 2020 and 15 last fall. This year, 20 different members of the Michigan media took part, making it our biggest group yet.
Before I dig into the grids and take a deeper look at this year’s predictions, I want to introduce this year’s panel and promote the great work they’re doing.
I say this every year, but please support these journalists and their work. I’m super grateful that 20 members of the Michigan media were generous enough with their time to participate in this survey — particularly at such a busy time on the Michigan media calendar. I included everyone’s Twitter handles on the grid for a reason. They’re all worth a follow. I don’t think Michigan fans understand how good they have it when it comes to quality, diverse coverage from a number of reputable organizations. I highly suggest supporting these journalists’ work, whether it be financially, through reading their content online/in print or by following them on social media, interacting with them and giving their articles reads/shares.
This year’s participants include folks from:
The Detroit News — Michigan beat writer Angelique Chengelis (@chengelis), one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet in media, makes her third straight appearance on this panel. “The Angel of the Big House” knows more about the program past and present than just about anyone, and she’s generous enough to share that knowledge and insight with others.
The Detroit Free Press — Michigan beat writer Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) makes his debut on the panel this year. The Freep is the place that hired me out of college (actually, hired me while still in college) and I’m forever indebted to them for that start.
MLive — Like Michael, Ryan Zuke (@ryanzuke) also makes his debut on this year’s panel. The MLive/Ann Arbor News folks have always had their pulse on the Michigan program, and their digital coverage over the years has helped others on the beat raise their game to cater to more than just a print audience.
The Athletic — Nothing has disrupted the sports media landscape more than The Athletic over the past few years. And Austin Meek (@byAustinMeek) has been kind enough to participate in this annual poll all three years since he arrived in Ann Arbor. No word on if Nick Baumgardner asked to switch jobs and move away from college football entirely because he was so sick of me bugging him about this on an annual basis.
The Michigan Daily — I owe so much of my success professionally and so many of my life-long friendships to the Daily, which was the best thing that over happened to me in college. They’re also really good at kicking the State News’ ass in their annual touch football game. This year’s Daily football beat consists of @nkstoll, @josh_taubman, @Spencer__raines, and @jared_greenspan. And all four were kind enough to participate on this panel.
TheMichiganInsider.com/247Sports, TheWolverine.com/On3 and Maize&BlueReview/Rivals.com — I group these all together because I have friends/people I respect at all three places, and I have no interest in playing favorites. All three sites provide a great service, and the fact that Michigan fans can support three different premium Michigan athletics/recruiting sites says a lot about both the Michigan fanbase and the quality of coverage these sites provide. Folks from these three sites that served on this year’s panel include: @TremendousUM, @ByAZuniga, @Balas_Wolverine, @anthonytbroome, @CSayf23, @joshhenschke, @BrandonJustice_ and @trevormccue.
WolverinesWires/USA Today — Isaiah Hole (@IsaiahHole) has probably been the most frequent guest contributor on this newsletter since I launched it in 2020. And with good reason. He’s always looking for new, creative ways to cover the team. And I really admire his grind.
MGoBlog — A site that needs no introduction. One of the biggest innovators in college football media over the past decade-plus, and not just from a “blogosphere” standpoint. Seth Fisher (@Misopogon) has done incredible work shouldering a huge chunk of the load on this site over the past few years, and he was kind enough to participate on the panel again this year — in fact, he even agreed to stop giving obnoxiously long answers that forced me to physically alter the look of the grids last year.
MeetAtMidfield.com — For those unfamiliar, this is a brand new college football site that Ace Anbender (@AceAnbender) is helping lead. If you haven’t given that site a look yet, I highly recommend doing so. It should be one of the more unique places to read about college football and converse with like-minded folks, and ropes in coverage of Michigan, Ohio State and national college football.
This year’s grids …
Without any further wait, here’s a collection of all 20 expert predictions in one convenient location:
A closer look…
If you prefer to look at things at the topic level, here’s a cumulative look at how all of the votes added up for each specific question: