2020 Michigan football predictions on the HG

By Jake Wimberly

What’s to like:

Consistency. Let the jokes fall where they may, but Michigan has been consistent during the Jim Harbaugh era. Four of the five seasons he has been back in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines have won double digit games in a season.

On the field, coming back, Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins give Michigan a great one, two punch at running back; and Ronnie Bell, along with a slew of underclassmen give Michigan options at pass catchers.

What’s not to like:

While consistency is key, the Wolverines have also been consistently bad in big games. Michigan doesn’t yet seem to have that “eye of the Tiger” mentality and needs to find that in year six of Jim Harbaugh.

The Wolverines have recruited with the best in the country, but will be very young in the secondary in 2020 and they will be looking for new leaders on defense.

Quarterback will be key, and the big question is will it be Dylan McCaffrey or Joe Milton? It seems like Milton would be the guy and find a home for McCaffery at another position, but at this point who knows – Harbaugh may play both players early.

What does the Hourglass Say?

2020 Michigan pick: Wolverines finish 9-3

2019 HG analytics pick: 12-0; Actual Record 9-3 (75 percent)

2018 Analytics Pick 10-2; Actual Record 10-2 (100 percent accuracy)

2017 Analytics Pick 10-2; Actual Record 8-4 (75 percent accuracy)

Three-year analytic percentage on Michigan = 83 percent

 2020 Michigan Analytics –

Hour Glass National Recruiting Ranking (three-year metric): 15th – Inside our Realistic College Football Playoff, National Championship Talent line. The Wolverines have a roster worthy of playing for a National Title.

National Coaching Rank for Jim Harbaugh on HG Scale: 8th (Jim Harbaugh 2020 coaching value set at 19) – Average coaching value for 2020 set at 6.5. – Harbaugh is considered above average on our scale.

Returning Michigan quarterback play rated 50th in the country in our Power Five quarterback Rankings. Average quarterback metric for 2020 set at 11.66. Michigan quarterback metric value is 4.3 – and we anticipate this metric to improve by quite a bit in 2020 for whomever is taking the snaps for Michigan.

ODE Analytics – NOTE: ODE is our offensive and defensive scoring efficiency ranking for each team. We use a two-year evaluation of each program.

Michigan ranks 6th in the country in our 2020 ODE evaluation. Offensively they have a ranking of 10th in the country and defensively 10th in the country.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Jim Harbaugh was mocked for saying Michigan was close to winning a National Title and he might be more right than wrong. The Wolverines have lived around the top ten in offensive and defensive scoring efficiency the last few years, which is where you want to be to be a College Football Playoff team.

The problem is Ohio State is in the same division and the Wolverines cant seem to get by the likes of Florida, Alabama and others when they play them.

That’s why they have to get that swagger about them and play to their talent level in these big games.

We have Michigan and Jim Harbaugh finishing 9-3 this year, in somewhat of a rebuild on both sides at key positions. A middle stretch that includes Wisconsin, Penn State, at Michigan State and at Minnesota will be key in a good to great year for the Wolverines.

NOTE: photos courtesy of 247sports.com

Projected Hour Glass W/L record: Games in red denote games that could be a one possession game or even a different outcome than projection.