BlogPoll Ballot Week One
After a single week of play:
MGoBlog Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 3 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 4 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 5 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 6 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 7 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 8 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 9 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 10 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 11 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 12 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 13 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 14 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 15 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -- |
| 16 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 17 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 18 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 19 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 20 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| 21 | South Florida Bulls | -- |
| 22 | Tennessee Volunteers | -- |
| 23 | Illinois Fighting Illini | -- |
| 24 | Utah Utes | -- |
| 25 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
ALABAMA. Yeah, that'll do.
WEST VIRGINIA. I'm riding the Red Bull express until someone keeps them under sixty points, and possibly beyond that.
BIG TEN STUFF. Dammit, stupid things that exist. I dinged Wisconsin significantly from the preseason given their semi-struggles with UNI. No idea what to make of MSU's win over Boise, but raise your hand if you tackled LeVeon Bell five yards downfield. That's everyone.
VA TECH. Looked pretty janky last night, but at this point in the season a win over an actual school is worth quite a bit. Same goes for Clemson, though I think the Orange Bowl last year and Clemson's general Clemson-ness makes me leery when maybe I should not be.
SOUTH CAROLINA. Also looked janky against Vandy. I am suspicious they'll have enough offense to live up to their lofty preseason rankings.
MICHIGAN. Possibly homer overreaction to ugly loss, but I'm just looking at Michigan's lines and it's not pretty.
September 4th, 2012 at 6:39 PM ^
September 4th, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^
This is as good a place as any to say did anyone see VT losing on a missed kick and an end of game score, again, for their 3rd straight loss? Then they got a bit of OT salvation with the reverse of the Sugar Bowl, where the other team fails to score and they just need a FG to win it. Had they lost that one, Hokies were going to start getting a complex.
September 4th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
I have no problem with MSU at No. 8. Maxwell is getting some unfair flak from that game. The first two INTs were not on him. After that, he lost his confidence and had a rough second half. The reactions to his struggles, IMO, are a little over the line.
Putting U-M at No. 25 is an overreaction. They looked like garbage, but Alabama looked like a top 2 team in that game. We didn't graduate ALL of our talent this summer. Michigan still has plenty of playmakers and Alabama completely dominated them.
My problem with Michigan at 25 is the teams placed above them. Illinois? Beat Western Michigan, but still were outgained by the Broncos. The Broncos defense held them to 248 total yards. WMU's defense was HORRIBLE last year. The Illini do not deserve to be ranked higher than a U-M team that, yes, got hammered, but got hammered by arguably the best college team in the nation.
I'd put Michigan around 20.
September 4th, 2012 at 12:04 PM ^
Those INTs were on him. They were ill-advised, off-target throws, which is why they got picked. He had a couple others in that game he was lucky weren't picked off as well. Maybe they weren't totally on him (INTs often aren't) but it's not like they were well thrown, catchable balls that were tipped. He freaked under pressure, threw bad balls, and they were picked. This is how interceptions happen.
What do you think MSU did well in that game? Defense? Maybe, but Boise has no one on offense anymore, so big deal. It's not like they have a QB who could hit anyone, a running back who could hit holes or an OL who could do anything. Had that MSU team played 2011 Boise, it would have been a 2 TD win for Boise St. That is not the #8 team in the country.
September 4th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
I thought the second one was on him. Way too much pace on a screen pass in traffic. He might get lucky and have that one caught, but bouncing off the receivers hands isn't an unexpected outcome in that situation. Should have thrown it at the RB's feet. He also had a couple others that should have been relatively easy picks. One in particular a LB had his hands on for what would have set up Boise deep in MSU territory.
September 4th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^
Too hard to evaluate the Top 10 what with so many teams scheduling games against Sycamore U. My opinion of that practice has changed over the years, but it seems teams have REALLY gone out of their way to schedule cupcakes over the last five years.
As for ranking Michigan #25, if that's an overcorrection, I'm fine with that. My favorite Michigan teams were all underrated. Michigan tends to play better as an underdog.
September 4th, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
I know Alabama is a great team, but as of right now we simply don't know that we don't have some significant issues ourselves. Keeping us in the top 20 is simply based on optimism rather than the actual result on the field. MSU is too high—I'd keep them 15 or 16, and the same with Wisconsin. Illinois in the rankings is bizarre. The Buckeyes are a legit top 10 team with Miller at QB. I predict he's going to be total offense leader in the B10 when the season is done; OSU would be playing in the conference championship game if they were eligible. All the people around here who are blithely dismissing Meyer's abilities as a coach are fooling themselves.
September 4th, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^
September 4th, 2012 at 11:59 AM ^
and everyone gets mad.
September 4th, 2012 at 12:00 PM ^
Let's keep things in perspective here Brian.
LSU had 92 total yards of offense against Alabama last year. The same LSU team that trounced Oregon 40-27, West Va 47-21, Florida 41-11, Arkansas 41-17 and Georgia 42-10. We managed to put up 14 points and An argument can be made, that this year's Alabama team is actually better than last year's.
We are not on Alabama's level, nor is anyone else in college football. No way we deserve to be ranked 25th.
In my eyes, we still have the best team in the B1G, assuming no more injuries.
September 4th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^
I think the LSU comparison is apt, however, in what way can we argue that this year's Alabama team is actually better than last year's? I mean, it's possible, but I'm hard pressed to figure that they lose that much talent and are actually better. Maybe equal, but better?
September 4th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
Like I said, an arugment could be made.
Time will tell but we as Michigan fans, just witness what "reloading" really means. Alabama just reloaded in the positions where players went pro and their O-Line got better.
September 4th, 2012 at 1:11 PM ^
I think what you should have said is "may end up being better than last year's team."
Right now, there is no argument that can be made that this year's version is better. They wiped the floor with a team that might end the season near the bottom of the top 10. Just as Alabama wiped the floor with last year's #2 and #5 teams.
September 4th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
September 4th, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^
They lost at least their top 4 receiving targets, which includes Richardson, and I believe the presumption was that they were taking a step back at WR. Richardson was a top 10 draft pick, I like Yeldon, but he's not there yet and Lacy is still Lacy. The O-line is better, but outside of that I'm hard pressed to say the offense is definitively better than last year's. Defense lost too much talent to not take at least a small step back.
They've reloaded and still might be the best defense (and team) in the country, I just don't think there's an argument to be made that they're better than last year, at least not on the basis of destroying a team that most felt was overrated at #8.
September 4th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
September 4th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
Little surprised to see UM barely in the top 25 when we are giving MSU, Clemson, and Wiscy quite a bit of credit for performing about the same against weaker opponents. I know the lines look down a bit, but Alabama made everything look way worse than they probably are.
Otherwise, only real complaint is ND. That was a bad Navy team, and ND really didn't impress over what I saw.
September 4th, 2012 at 12:51 PM ^
September 4th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
We were overrated for sure. That was pretty clear from the outset. But I'm not sure 25 is quite fair either. Bama kills everyone. I think M belongs -- or, at least, will end up -- in the 15-20 range. The team isn't and won't be among the elites. But there's ample reason to like its chances against teams of the Illinois/Louisville/Utah variety.
Regardless, I like us better as lower ranked underdogs. We're not playing for the MNC anyway. We're playing to win the B10. And I'd love nothing more than to see as solid dogs going into the ND and MSU games. Neither of those teams handle success well.
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