My pervasive optimism about this season has finally been shattered. The bowl streak is over, the winning seasons streak is over, the season is over. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not highly optimistic about next season, and you should be too, here’s why:

1) Rich Rodriguez went 3-8 during his first year at West Virginia, in his second, 9-4.

A full off-season to recruit players who fit his own style will help drastically (our only noteworthy wide receiver this year, Martavius Odoms, was a late recruit by Rodriguez and has performed way better than the more highly ranked Carr-recruited freshman, Daryl Stonum).

2) We’ll have a quarterback.

Whether it’s true freshman Shavodrick Beaver or Tate Forcier (maybe Feagin?), there will be mobility at the position. Threet and Sheridan will only be bad memories.

3) Our offensive line will go into the season having more than one player with game experience.

Carlos Brown went from having several games of 100+ rushing yards  to a season full of injuries and short gains (same can be said for Minor minus Penn State). The difference? No more Jake Long. Mike Hart would struggle to get 100 yards in a game if he was playing this season behind our current O-line.

 

4) Our freshman class is actually very talented.

Give McGuffie, Odoms, Stonum, Cissoko, Koger, Martin and Shaw full spring and fall practices. You will see some results.

5) Our offense will learn enough to run more than two plays.

This might just be me, but I can think of two plays that Michigan runs. We either A) Have Minor/McGuffie line up to the left of the quarterback and Threet hands it off as they go strong side or B) Throw to Odoms on a screen pass. I think those two plays constitute about 75% of out offense. Maybe next year the team will already be in Barwis shape and Rodriguez will actually focus on execution, because those two plays don’t even work.
 

Update: Wow, I almost totally forgot. There is a 6th reason: Morgan Trent will be gone.