Air Force coach ranks Michigan #9 even after loss
Troy Calhoun kept Michigan ranked as number 9th in the Coaches' Poll this week. I wonder if he is using it as a motivational tool for the game. I also wonder if we deserve a ranking at number 9.
If I had a vote and;
1)If voting is based off of where a team should currently be ranked I would say that we do not deserve a ranking as high as nine.
or;
2)If voting is based off of where you hope that a team is ranked at the end of the season, than I think we most certainly do deserve a nine.
September 4th, 2012 at 8:06 PM ^
Just Win Baby.
September 4th, 2012 at 8:08 PM ^
Yeah, obviously he wants his opponents to look better.
September 5th, 2012 at 8:46 AM ^
This is the first thing I thought of when I read the thread title.
September 4th, 2012 at 8:08 PM ^
board material. You don't want to have any more motivation going into this week.
September 4th, 2012 at 8:33 PM ^
Nice differentiation of possible poll purposes--Brian's written about this some time ago, when he was running the BlogPoll. IMO, the best thing about the BlogPoll is simply that it has a guideline, namely to be "resume-based" or reflection what has happened, as opposed to the AP/Coaches which both arouse endless confusion on whether they're prognostic or diagnostic (personally, I think SOMEONE in the MSM knows this and wants it to stay that way, because more confusion=more articles by different people=more commenting=more ad revenue online).
September 4th, 2012 at 9:20 PM ^
September 4th, 2012 at 8:53 PM ^
unfortunately I don't think we should be at #9 nor will we end up at #9. Our #19 ranking now is more realistic, maybe even the #15 range
September 5th, 2012 at 1:45 AM ^
It's always a good move to kiss the butts of next week's opponent. Michigan could beat them and be voted lower by the same coach next week. That would be sorta funny.
September 5th, 2012 at 8:16 AM ^
Thought Tater. We will be able to see. The Air Force coach agreed at the start of the season to release his coaches ballot to the AP each week, so next week I will have to check and see what he did.
September 4th, 2012 at 9:45 PM ^
but...assuming Alabama is a clearcut 1 or 2, and we were waxed, how big is the gap between the top five and the rest of college football? I sure didn't see anything this weekend to say any team was really that far ahead of us. I've never been a huge fan of polls anyways, play or shut up basically, but to cash in your chips just because we were handled by a team who could probably hang with some NFL teams, mind you not beat them, but not be embarassed either, well, I'd like to see a few more games play out before I write team 133 off as an embarassment.
September 4th, 2012 at 10:07 PM ^
#1 because we're the best team EVER!
If you mean rank this last weeks performance than probably 19 or 20 is about right.
If you mean rank MIchigan based on how I think the season will end up then I think at or in the top 10.
The winner of the B1G Championship, and BCS Bowl/Rose Bowl participant, I think should be ranked in the top10 because they're one of the 8 or so premier marquee postseason participants. I also feel that even if we're a 2 or 3 loss team we'll be " better" than the second best Big12 or ACC team, or even a 1 loss or undefeated Big East or nonAQ team, like Boise, Houston, or (previously) Utah.
That said, I think Michigan is the best overall team in the B1G in 2012. We're certainly better than we were in 2011, and it seems that our top opponents are a step back from last year in one area or another (like Sparty has no receivers, Nebraksas defense took a bigger hit than expected, Wisconsin is a small step back all around, ect) so Michigan seems most likely to me to win the B1G and go to the Rose Bowl.
I think the chances of us stumbling like we did last year to Iowa are small because we're in the second year of both systems, we have more depth with incoming freshmen than before, and we have too many key senior leaders spread across all the position groups.
September 4th, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^
While I don't think we should currently be ranked in the top 15, I can understand where the Air Force coach might firmly believe this. He has likely been studying tape on Michigan for weeks. The Alabama game may be an anomoly from his point of view and just the last chapter in his scouting report. He is also going to be respectful of his current enemy as any good student or coach at an academy should be. Not too surprised here.
September 4th, 2012 at 10:17 PM ^
I think we'll land either just inside or just outside the top 10 at the end of the year. LSU, USC, and Alabama are on a different level than everyone else. Florida State and Oklahoma trail them slightly since they seem to have execution issues despite actually having the talent on paper. Georgia is just great all the way around, but less so than the top-flight teams. But after that six...
That's it for anything resembling complete teams. West Virgina has an offense, by god, but they're unremarkable everywhere else. South Carolina is just plain ol' overrated, Arkansas is rebuilding their entire defense with an interim head coach, Michigan State has NO passing game, Clemson is just waiting for another West Virgina, and it pretty much comes all the way down to us.
Do I think we'll pass all those teams? Certainly not. But I think that as the season shakes out that group is going to reorganize a lot and at least one or two from the top group will fall from grace.
September 4th, 2012 at 11:22 PM ^
Because he thinks we are the 9th best team in the country.
#antijoke
September 5th, 2012 at 1:03 AM ^
He's probably hoping it looks better to get your ass beat by the #9 ranked team.
September 5th, 2012 at 5:10 AM ^
a 42-0 drubbing by The Wolverines will vindicate the Air Force coach's ranking!
September 5th, 2012 at 7:44 AM ^
with SoS and if Air Force would happen to beat it us it makes them look all the more better. If I was him I would have voted Michigan #2 behind Alabama
September 5th, 2012 at 8:42 AM ^
but maybe he feels the gap betwen 1-6 and the rest of the top 25 is rather large. I think that is general impression that quite a few people, myself included, have after the first week. I mean outside of the top 5 or 6 teams, there are sigficant questions marks with almost all of the other top 25 teams at this point. Also voting your opponent high to avoid any additional motivation for that team, might of played a part as well.
September 5th, 2012 at 8:53 AM ^
just interesting to me that he agreed to share his vote every week with the AP, and the circumstances surrounding Michigan's loss and the upcoming game with Air Force. Clearly he has several reasons why he should rate them as high as possible, however, I have just been wondering whether he can justify rating us in the top ten. I guess, the best thing for us to do would be to prove him right, right?
September 5th, 2012 at 10:58 AM ^
Poll discussion is always interesting because of the different criteria each person applies. Do you take a computer approach and simply calculate stats and rankings? Do you add a human element to stats and rankings, voting for a team because of your gut feeling? I'm sure that people have their own combination of those factors which often times include personal bias. I'm sure a Spartan or a Buckeye would most always rank us lower than the average voter, and most of us would return the favor. This early in the season we can't use it, but later in the season people often use deductive reasoning in their process.
If Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat Team C, then Team A is better than Team C.
We know that this is not necessarily true, yet some people apply it anyways. Given that all teams cannot play each other because the season doesn't allow it, we are left with one choice to make our final decision. We have to guess. This is where all the discussion comes in. Now we are left to try and apply reason to our educated guess. "Scored more points on Team A" - "Lost a tough one on the road" - "Beat a ranked opponent on the road".