Michigan finishes #10 in AP
First top-10 finish in a decade.
- Clemson
- Alabama
- USC
- Washington
- Oklahoma
- 0hio State
- Penn State
- Florida State
- Wisconsin
- Michigan
- Oklahoma State
- Stanford
- LSU
- Florida
- Western Michigan
- Virginia Tech
- Colorado
- West Virginia
- USF
- Miami
- Louisville
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Auburn
- San Diego State
January 10th, 2017 at 9:16 AM ^
But oh what could've been........
January 10th, 2017 at 9:29 AM ^
And what will be!
I don't know if we'll ever see a defensive line like that again, but we'll get close, and the offense will be light years ahead. Very excited for the future!
January 10th, 2017 at 11:17 AM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 11:52 AM ^
That had to be the tipping point of the season. After that safety, things never really looked the same.
January 10th, 2017 at 12:14 PM ^
I think things looked fairly similar we just started losing close games.
January 10th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^
Really?
Through 9 games I think we were the most dominant team in the country. Our closest game was Wisconsin and while it ended up 14-7, we dominated the game statistically.
Before the safety, we were up 10-0 on the road and had looked solidly in control. After that, we never led a game by more than 10 points again.
January 10th, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^
Pretty telling of Jim's great work on the program so far that 10th is a huge disappointment. We were 5-7 two years ago. We are spoiled.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:29 AM ^
A valid dose of perspective. HOWEVA, looking at our roster and schedule, a 10 win season is about all that can be expected again in 2017. That stability is something to celebrate, but the purgatory below the B1G Championship and CFP is still frustrating, especially after such a promising team fell short.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:50 AM ^
I don't know. Ohio State will definitely have more talent and experience than we will. But they are coming to the Big House. Penn State has more experience and it's on the road, but I just can't bring myself to fear James Franklin. Wisconsin on the road will be tough, but I still don't see that as a true fear game. And I will believe Florida can beat Michigan at a neutral site when I see it (and I will see it, live in person).
I think 2 losses between those 4 teams isn't an unreasonable possibility, and I don't see a whole lot else to fear amongst the rest of the teams on the schedule. I think 10 in the pre-bowl season is well within the realm of options.
January 10th, 2017 at 11:18 AM ^
OSU is also losing a lot of playmakers from this season's squad.
January 10th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
To be fair, they're not losing a lot of them, just the only one.
January 10th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^
Look I love Harbaugh and think he's raised the floor very quickly. But it's WAY too early to start chalking up tough road wins. Michigan is 0-14 against ranked teams on the road (23-27 overall on the road) since beating #2 Notre Dame in South Bend back in 2006. Neutral site games they are 3-6 (sure, 2-0 against Florida is great). I'd be absolutely thrilled to go 2-1 between UF in Dallas, @PSU, and @Wisconsin, especially with this young team.
Yes, Harbaugh is better than that suggests, sitting 6-3 on the road and 1-1 at neutral sites. He still lost at a very average Iowa team and very easily could have lost to Minnesota and Indiana in 2015. I'm not expecting an 8-win team in 2017, but 10 wins will be a much more difficult goal for next year's team than it was this season.
January 10th, 2017 at 12:35 PM ^
...Damn. That stat is pretty awful.
January 10th, 2017 at 2:58 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 12:20 PM ^
McSorleytook a beating numerious times over the season and was lucky to have escaped serious injury. He was great against average teams but against some better teams he struggled. We kicked PSU's ass all over the place and OSU lost their game on a fluke play. As for Barkley, his season stats were very good, but when you look at his individual games, he had a bunch of them where he simply didn't perform well, including Michigan the last two years. He had seven games where he averaged under 5 YPA and two games when the average under 2 YPA.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/3929630/saquon-barkley
Remember, this past season's defense, based on Don Brown's history, shouldn't have been as good as it was. We had enough talent to make up for lack of knowledge of scheme. Some of you technical gurus may be aware of just how much of Brown's offense was installed and used this past season; I'm not that sophisticated. Next year, our D isn't exactly bereft of talent and everyone will be in their second year of Brown's system. I suspect the drop off may not be as deep as some would project.
January 10th, 2017 at 2:51 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^
Have you seen their last few recruiting classes?
January 10th, 2017 at 3:15 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^
3 of the teams ranked higher than us.
Yes I'm counting OSU.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^
That's really dumb.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^
Could/should have been 4.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:04 AM ^
we're #2!
(There are only 10 types of people that understand binary)
January 10th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^
are terrible. No ranking is perfect, but the committee and some of the data rankings do a much better job.
January 10th, 2017 at 11:19 AM ^
The AP poll, to me, is the most legitimate. They are the people who watch most of the games.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^
i keep looking for MSU on the list...
January 10th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
I expected to see them in the 3 - 9 range overall.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
but until then i still smile everytime somebody puts it out there.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 9:30 AM ^
Penn state ahead of us makes sense. Wisconsin makes less so but don't lose 3 out of your last 4 and expect the benefit of the doubt
January 10th, 2017 at 9:35 AM ^
we will then be considered the better team when having equal records and having played head to head.
I'm all for running it up next time :)
January 10th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^
I will never believe the Happy Valley spin on this season. Their entire offense was arm punting which somehow beat Wisconsin and worked against USC till the end. We would crush their stupid offense again if we got another chance
January 10th, 2017 at 10:05 AM ^
You might be forgetting about one of the (if not the) most dynamic running backs in college football.
January 10th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
He looked amazing leading them to 10 points against Michigan.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:46 AM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
No, that doesn't make any sense. We smoked them.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:31 AM ^
USC must be the highest ranked 3-loss team ever.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^
Somebody is drinking some cool-aid. I did not think they looked that good in the Rose Bowl. I expected to be more impressed.
Their defense is shit and I can see how they got crushed by Alabama.
January 10th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
It's batshit insane.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:57 AM ^
I can't gripe too badly about psu being ahead of us, unfortunately.
If anything, I'd say Michigan could be ahead of Wisco, but even then, it's optics and what have you done for me lately. Losing 3 of 4 to close the season looks bad, while Wisco actually won their bowl.
USC ahead of Washington is, again, WHYDFML effect. I don't think it's correct, but they are practically tied, points-wise.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
Number ten makes no sense to me at all but USC at number three says all that we need to know about this poll.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
the voters just watched the first half of the Orange Bowl?
January 10th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
the only real good news is that it would have been hard for UM to beat Clemson or Bama. I'd take UM against anyone else though.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:28 AM ^
Pre-Speight injury, I bet they could have ran with Clemson. I also think the D could have held their own against Alabama however I am not sure they would have scored more than 14-20 points.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
Speight was healthy for all but the last couple plays against Iowa and he was absolutely terrible that night. Stop blaming it on his injury.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^
Our defense can hold their own against anyone. Arguably the best in the nation.
The problem was the the M offensive line was not good enough to stop teams with really good defensive lines. Clemson and Bama would have killed us, with or without Speight being healthy.