Joel Klatt evaluates what success looks like in Sherrone Moore's first year as Michigan's head coach
Michigan enters this season as the defending national champion in college football after going undefeated last season. However, with all that changed for the maize & blue this offseason, it’s a bit of a question as to what they can expect this fall.
Joel Klatt attempted to define a successful season for the Wolverines during the latest episode of his show on Monday. That wasn’t easy, though, as one of 10 he did in this exercise.
“I think this one is as difficult as any as I’m trying to sit here and define success for Michigan in 2024,” said Klatt.
Klatt couldn’t decide whether to look at the optimism or pessimism around Michigan. On the positive, the program is still intact as a foundation from what they’ve built in the 2020s. Still, on the negative, a lot of pieces from that foundation are no longer there to help them this year in Ann Arbor.
“If you ask an ardent Michigan fan, they’d say, ‘Nothing has changed, Joel. We’re going to go out there, we’re going to beat Ohio State, we’re going to win the Big Ten, we’re going to go to the playoffs, and we’re going to be right there for a national championship,'” Klatt explained “You know what? Fair enough. 18 new starters. They have to replace their head coach, their offensive coordinator, and their defensive coordinator. They’re going to play three of the top-four teams in the AP Poll and my Preseason Poll – Texas, Oregon, and Ohio State.”
In the end, Klatt leaned toward the latter based on how Michigan operates. They’re a more developmental brand than other top teams with them needing some time to build up a title-contending roster in recruiting and progression. They’ll now have to do that even more so this year with a new head coach attempting to do it with a new roster.
“Here’s the thing with Michigan and this is why I’m just going to pump the brakes a little bit in terms of defining a successful season for them. At Michigan, and admittedly so – they will be the first ones to admit this,” Klatt prefaced. “They are a program that develops. They’re going to take players that might not have the stars, even though they’ve done a nice job on the recruiting trail – but they’re not sitting in the top-five of the country in recruiting. They’re not sitting in the top-two in the country in recruiting.
“Sherrone Moore is going to lean on the exact same model that Jim Harbaugh used to go win a national championship, which is get the right guys in his program and develop them into players that they feel like can be physically dominant with. That’s what their blueprint is which means they generally have to be a veteran team to go out there and win,” Klatt added. “Now, they’ve got a lot of talent at the top end. I do not think they have the depth that they had a year ago, which was a huge strength for them.”
All that, along with the off-field issues for the Wolverines, has Klatt setting their success at a berth in the playoff, which would be their fourth consecutive one. As an at-large too, he wouldn’t be surprised to see them win an opening-round matchup, especially if they’re able to have it in The Big House.
“I think that the honeymoon phase is ongoing,” said Klatt. “I believe that, with all the distractions this offseason about, you know, the NCAA stuff, everything with Jim Harbaugh, all the newness of coordinators and players? I’m going to say that a really good, successful season is making the College Football Playoff.
“Listen, if they’re hosting a first-round game? I would certainly not pick against ’em with the way that they have played the last couple of years.”
Defending their titles will be very hard to do this season for Michigan. Still, at least making the field and having a chance at doing so would be an accomplishment of its own to Klatt.
“To me, if Michigan goes to the College Football Playoff, that’s a really good year for Sherrone Moore,” Klatt concluded.