MM has been a savant everywhere that he's been. He was behind one of the best defenses in the country at Michigan, he then created one of the most scary defenses in the NFL on the Ravens. In many ways, this is what Carroll was trying to replicate but never could.
All that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with only 4 wins, but am expecting 7. Why? The coaching staff has very little experience in the NFL. This is both a virtue and a potential liability. I can see cool things coming from this, but also perhaps a lot of growing pains. Grubbs in particular is going to need to rework his playbook for the NFL. Collegiate guys are very hit and miss. I see a lot of things that Grubbs did that will translate to the NFL level at the UW, but it's still going to be a bit of a learning curve.
In addition to this, MM's defense requires certain types of players. It's a great deal more complex than anything we've ran under Carroll. I expect that we take a step back initially before we finally get running, especially since none of our LB's fit the scheme.