ESPN analysts question Michigan in Year 1 post-Jim Harbaugh: 'This is likely a four-loss team'

On Friday morning’s edition of Get Up, Matt Barrie, Peter Burns and Harry Douglas explained why the reigning national champion Michigan Wolverines could be in for a rough go in 2024.

Barrie posed the question to Burns and Douglas: “Jim Harbaugh’s gone. Sherrone Moore was the interim last year for a bit, now he’s the head coach. Does the show go on without him?”

Burns jumped in to say that Michigan won’t fall off a cliff, but with Harbaugh and other losses piling up, the Wolverines are in for a step backward in his eyes.

“Yeah, the show goes on. It’s not gonna be a blockbuster flop,” he said, then addressing some of Michigan’s losses.

“I mean, you know who’s not walking through that door? JJ McCarthy is not walking through that door. You know who’s not walking through that door? 12 other NFL draft picks that are playing on Sunday. You know who’s not walking through that door? Connor Stalions. All of that has changed.”

The other factor for Burns is that Michigan’s schedule is pretty darn tough in year one of the expanded Big Ten.

“Harry, you start looking at this schedule right now,” Burns continued. “Ohio State, okay, they’re not as good as Ohio State. They’re not as good as Oregon. They’re gonna get thumped by Texas when the Longhorns go up there in Week 2. This is likely a four-loss team for Michigan up there in the Big Ten.”

After Burns got through lamenting Michigan’s disadvantages this season, Harry Douglas went back to the quarterback spot, where he views JJ McCarthy as a larger loss than some people may realize.

“I think the most important piece, too, is the quarterback position,” said the former wideout. “Alex Orji, is he gonna be the guy for Michigan to be able to step up to the plate? JJ McCarthy is hard to replace — a guy that lost one game as a starter.”

Moore doesn’t get the benefit of having a lot of starting pieces back from the title-winning team, especially on offense, which is cause for concern, per Douglas.

“This is the defending national champion, but like you mentioned, they had a ton of guys that they lost to the National Football League. So Sherrone Moore, how’s he gonna be able to, you know, continue to build these guys and count on the young players to step up in the places that they lost these veteran guys?”

Burns specifically noted that Michigan’s great strength in 2023, their O-line, has endured major hits: “They lost four of their five guys on the offensive line and that’s why they were thumping people.”

Douglas chimed in to add: “And that’s why that’s their identity as well, right? Physicality.”

Barrie even commented that “they want to win the Joe Moore every single year,” and it will be tough to contend when needing to replace so many starters.

“Look, this is not an indictment on Sherrone Moore who is gonna be a really, really good coach,” added Barry, to which Douglas responded: “He did a great job when he had to.”

Peter Burns wasn’t so quick to award Moore a ton of credit.

“He was also on cruise control as well too. They didn’t let JJ McCarthy throw more than like three passes in those games,” he pointed out.

But Douglas still found Moore’s coaching to be commendable, saying, “don’t get mad at Sherrone Moore, because his team was more physical than any other team.”

Whether that edge in physicality will be there with a largely new crop of starters, especially up front, remains to be seen.