Greg McElroy reveals bad news for Michigan in attempting back-to-back 10 win seasons

Michigan is coming off their best season of the Jim Harbaugh era. The Wolverines won their most games since 1997, won the Big Ten Championship game and made an appearance in the College Football Playoff. On top of that, they beat Ohio State for the first time since 2011. However, ESPN’s Greg McElroy has highlighted multiple reasons why that success may be hard to come by again in 2022.

McElroy broke down why Michigan may not make it back to 10 wins again during an episode of ‘Always College Football’. First and foremost, his biggest issue with the Wolverines this season is replacing the pass rush they benefitted from in 2021.

“Do I really need to say it? Am I really telling you anything you don’t know? The whole front seven could get after the opposing quarterback…This group single-handedly carried Michigan to their first Big Ten title in quite awhile and it was fun to watch. Aidan Hutchinson is now a Detroit Lion. David Ojabo, if not for the injury, would have gone in the first round as well. Either way, those two guys will be next to impossible to replace.”

Replacing 97 total tackles and 25 sacks between the Wolverine duo turned pros will be difficult enough. From there, though, Greg McElroy broke down the other replacements Jim Harbaugh will have to handle on his staff.

Sherrone Morre and Matt Weiss will be co-offensive coordinators for Michigan after Josh Gattis left for Miami. Meanwhile, Jesse Minter will be defensive coordinator with help from Steve Clinkscale after Mike Macdonald left to join the Baltimore Ravens. With Gattis off to the ACC and Macdonald joining the other Harbaugh brother in the pros, McElroy sees this as another hurdle for Michigan to leap this fall.

“You also have to replace both coordinators. How does that dynamic work? I seem to think it’s really not that archaic anymore,” McElroy said. “I think (Michigan) will be just fine…Hopefully there will be a lot of carryover from last year to this year. Either way, though, anytime you have to replace a coordinator who did a great job last year, that’s a difficult thing to unfold.”

The final thing standing in Michigan’s way for Greg McElroy is something out of the Wolverine’s control. They had last season’s win over Ohio State in The Big House. Although it was a program-shifting win for Harbaugh, that does mean this season’s game will return to The Shoe. There’s a lot of things to be excited about in Ann Arbor heading into this season. Having to play Ohio State at their house, though, may be too tough for the Wolverines this time around to McElroy.

“You have to go to Columbus and the Buckeyes seem ticked off…Michigan did such a beautiful job last year at home and it felt like that game was many, many years in the making. Well guess what? What did Ryan Day say throughout the course of his press conference at Big Ten Media Days? He said our first goal is to beat the team up north. You think they haven’t circled that game this year?,” said McElroy. “That’s a difficult thing to overcome. It doesn’t mean you can’t win. It just means you better be ready to play your A-game because that’s what it takes to be able to get a win on the road against your bitter arch rival.”