Brett McMurphy Top 25 AP ballot, Bleacher Report Top 25, Clemson and Wisconsin out of both
Brett McMurphy's AP ballot:
https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy
Bleacher Report's Top 25:
B/R's Week 4 Top 25
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Alabama (Last week: 1)
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Georgia (2)
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Oregon (3)
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Penn State (T-5)
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Cincinnati (T-5)
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Iowa (4)
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Arkansas (T-16)
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Florida (8)
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Notre Dame (13)
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Ohio State (T-10)
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Oklahoma (7)
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Ole Miss (T-10)
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Michigan (15)
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Coastal Carolina (14)
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BYU (T-16)
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Texas A&M (T-10)
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Michigan State (21)
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Kentucky (T-23)
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UCLA (T-18)
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Auburn (20)
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Fresno State (NR)
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Wake Forest (NR)
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San Diego State (T-23)
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Oklahoma State (NR)
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Maryland (NR)
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2948743-college-football-rankings-brs-top-25-after-week-4
September 26th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^
What?? He has us in the top 15? Doesn't he know we are absolutely horrible and worst football team in the country. I can't believe he didn't ignore the fact that we are undefeated and drop us out of the top 25. I mean, even though the game was never in doubt yesterday how in the hell can he justify ranking us so high? He should read this blog more often and get educated.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:18 PM ^
The game was never in doubt yesterday? Rutgers had the ball down 1 score
September 26th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
No, it was never in doubt. Our smallest lead was 7. You o.k.?
September 26th, 2021 at 12:28 PM ^
You realize 7 is a one score game? Hell you can score 8 with one play.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:30 PM ^
Score 8 with one play? Not aware of such a play.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
You need 2 plays to score 8 points. But I do agree with you, the game was definitely in question yesterday late in the 4th quarter. I'm not sure how one could have watched that second half as Rutgers dominated time of possession and seemingly moved the ball at will between the 20's and thought Michigan was safely in control of the game. The defense bent, but ultimately didn't break and Rutgers missed several opportunities in the red zone. That is why Michigan won. Most of the remaining teams on our schedule would have sent the game to overtime best case scenario.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:40 PM ^
And every team is going to sell out to stop the run now. We haven't shown an ability or a willingness to consistently move the ball through the air.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
This. 8 in the box will be the norm. Gattis is going to have to figure out a way to work the edges. Really wish they had a legit read option game. Watching Rutgers use the QB to make the defense pause a beat really shows how important that aspect of the run game can be.
The second half paly calling made little to no sense to my novice eye.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:08 PM ^
What's more baffling is seemingly every team, including Rutgers, can at least competently run a basic QB read option. How is it that we as fans can't figure out if Michigan can actually do this, or is willing to do this? I think the majority of fans are not disillusioned that read option should not be a base play with a quarterback like McNamara, but it can certainly be a counter play in this offense. If Noah fucking Vidral can run it 3-4 times a game, why can't Cade?
Rutgers stuffed the run yesterday because they sold out to stuff the B and C gaps and left the edges extremely vulnerable. They wagered that Michigan was going to continue to run their non-sensical "QB-faux-read" exchange, and they were correct. We're now on our third quarterback that doesn't have the green light to run a basic QB read option with any kind of consistency. Either these guys don't know how to run it, or the coaches are so injury averse they refuse to put it in the playbook; either way it's an indictment against the coaching staff.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
I'm impressed with Vidral! He did a bang up job running that offense in the second half; not everyone could come into that situation down 20-3 like they were and pull that off.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:31 PM ^
Agree completely. We did not play well in the second half but that dude was good. It can be both.
September 26th, 2021 at 2:46 PM ^
If Rutgers can do this to us and given Wisconsin held ND to 9 yards rushing, we are screwed next week.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:26 PM ^
I can't help but wonder if we were mailing it in the second half. That we didn't want to show Wisconsin anything, though we already showed what we could do in previous games. That was the strangest 1st and 2nd halves of a football game I'd seen in a long time, from both teams. It was like they switched uniforms.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:50 PM ^
I've had the same thought... maybe, but I don't think it's too likely. Harbaugh doesn't strike me as the type to gamble that heavily, given that the game was absolutely in doubt through the entire second half really. I'm a lot less optimistic than I was 24 hours ago.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:30 PM ^
Deep posts with the slot are a great way to defeat 8 in the box. And Michigan has the speed at WR to pull it off. Michigan should have some chunk pass plays. I hope.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:20 PM ^
I am sure you are right. I am hoping that Cade just needs a week to get back in the groove and coaches knew it. I am referring to the "willingness". Ability-- Hoping Cade needs to regroup and it is a mental issue. We will see.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:48 PM ^
Rutgers was in the red zone four times in the game and scored three times. Their only missed opportunity was a missed field goal.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:28 PM ^
I don’t really think of red-zone field goals as “success.” Not total failure, but below expectation.
September 26th, 2021 at 4:53 PM ^
We were essentially giving them the dinking and dunking down the field, so it isn’t a surprise that they settled for field goals. It was very apparent our strategy in the second half was bend but don’t break and Rutgers took advantage of it. But the reason they couldn’t win yesterday is because they couldn’t get it into the end zone and used up all of their time to kick field goals. I hated our gameplan yesterday but I never really thought we were going to lose because our defense was taking away anything over 15 yards
September 26th, 2021 at 1:19 PM ^
No, you most certainly cannot
September 26th, 2021 at 1:19 PM ^
Dude, at around 10 minute mark of the 4th quarter Rutgers moved the ball - once again - down the field to set up a 2nd and 6 on our 7 yard line. They'd already driven the ball 91 yards on the TD drive, then another 50 some yards on the previous drive for a FG. Michigan, on the other hand was in the midst of 4 'three and outs'. This was the point that any reasonable Michigan fan would consider 'this is in doubt'. We were fortunate they were hit with a false start penalty; in the second half the only thing that stopped Rutgers was Rutgers.
September 28th, 2021 at 3:14 PM ^
People that act like this team is perfect and above criticism are equally as annoying as the people who think this team is garbage.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
I would say that "the game was never in doubt" and "Rutgers almost won" are both equally far from the truth
September 26th, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^
Sir this is the internet, by law you must hold an opinion that can easily be labeled as hyperbole by those who disagree with you.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:36 PM ^
down 1 score with all of the momentum. If that game was a couple of minutes longer we would have lost. That said, looking closer at our schedule, a lot of teams in the B1G are shaky.
Wisconsin 1-2 Should win?
Nebraska 1-2 Should win
Northwestern 2-2 Should win?
MSU 4-0 Whose 4-0 record is the greater illusion theirs or ours?
Indiana 2-2 Should win?
PSU 4-0 Toss-up/Should lose
Maryland 4-0 No idea/Should win
OSU 3-1 Should lose/ are there chinks in their armor? (fucc OSU) Their one weakness (pass coverage) is our biggest weakness (passing)
September 26th, 2021 at 1:30 PM ^
MSU just played a worse version of the Michigan game against a team that is at best equal to Rutgers - as of now I’d say their resume is weaker.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:55 PM ^
Looking at the top 25 and the B1G I still have no idea how good some of these teams really are.
Penn State, for instance, eeked out close wins against Wisconsin and Auburn. Except Wisconsin doesn't look that good and Auburn needed a close (and possibly bad--I couldn't find a replay) call in the last couple of minutes to win against a bad Georgia State team.
I wonder about several of the other teams as well. Iowa struggled against Colorado State, which lost to Vanderbilt earlier in the year. The best team Cincinnati has played was Indiana, which has clearly fallen back from last year. Notre Dame did beat Wisconsin (with the aid of five turnovers, two defensive touchdowns and a kickoff return for a touchdown), but they let Florida State tie them before pulling it out in overtime and barely got by Toledo.
I am looking forward to the Notre Dame-Cincy game. I strongly suspect the top 10 is going to look a lot different at the end of the season.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:58 PM ^
No worries...after next Saturday, we'll be back at 18
September 26th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
We are winning that game 2-0. So, we are going to stay put.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^
What?? He has us in the top 15? Doesn't he know we are absolutely horrible and worst football team in the country. I can't believe he didn't ignore the fact that we are undefeated and drop us out of the top 25. I mean, even though the game was never in doubt yesterday how in the hell can he justify ranking us so high? He should read this blog more often and get educated.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
This was a pretty dumb post the first time. Didn’t need to post it twice
September 26th, 2021 at 12:17 PM ^
A little surprised at the first one’s pushing UM from 18 to 13.
Despite the win, I almost expected Michigan to drop.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
The problem is nobody else is that great either. There is insane parity amongst all programs not named Bama or UGA. UF is a really good team too based on the past couple seasons, just can't trust them to be elite over the course of the season.
Oregon would also be a tough game for any other top 25 team, and OSU has the talent to run with anyone, but things seem a mess and disorganized up in CBus for now for whatever reason.
The rest of the top 25 are not elite and are almost a coin flip to beat each other - just really depends on matchups.
So we could justifiably be ranked anywhere that's not in the top 5...all the way down into the 30s if we really break it down by team.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:44 PM ^
I think you are exactly right.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^
Part of our freaking out over yesterday (not all, but a part of it) is that I think we still associate Rutgers with the Chris Ash teams that were laughably bad. Greg Schiano is not Ash. Rutgers was 3-0 coming in yesterday. They're probably going to be a feisty opponent most of the time. (The Big Ten may need to think about realignment as the divisions are looking even more lopsided than ever.)
WMU, Washington and NIU all won yesterday, so our four opponents to date are 10-2 when not playing us. Our overall body of work is probably top 15-worthy. The recency of that RU second half struggle may make it hard to see it though.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
This is exactly it. This is why I was so afraid to lose. As it is people are comparing the win yesterday to close wins over bad Akron, Army, and Uconn teams and like...this Rutgers team could beat all 3 of those teams.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:11 PM ^
We should have won by multiple scores and would have if Cade doesn’t miss that pass. I’m saying that, this Rutgers team probably will make a bowl game. Hopefully this is the time that JH and Gattis realizes that when you get a 17 point lead at half…you should try and build on that and not to try and not lose. Won’t hold my breath on that though
September 26th, 2021 at 1:27 PM ^
I do agree with you that Rutgers is a much better team this year than what Rutgers historically has been since Schiano was last there. For me, (and I think for a lot of the posters on the board as well) it's not necessarily what the scoreboard read at the end of the game versus Rutgers, it's how we arrived there.
The offensive play calling in the second half was objectively terrible. That is more concerning than just a scrappy opponent giving us a run for our money in the second half, because it suggests that our offensive coaches either can't or won't adjust to what the defense is doing as a game develops. Rutgers is not a bad team, but against better teams that will get you beat in the most infuriating way possible, coaching incompetence. I think that's probably the reason for all the hand ringing today, not just that we only beat Rutgers by 7, but how we beat Rutgers by 7.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:48 PM ^
Certainly, any time you go an entire half with zero points and one completed pass, that's not ideal. But that this came against a team we beat by 78 points five years ago may make it feel even more alarming.
I think the playbook will be more open against Wisconsin, but I'm trying to understand what exactly happened to Cade in the second half. I can't think of a QB whose performance was that night and day from one half to the next. I'm hoping that was just some blip because QB play seems like the X factor for this team.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^
Yeah, Cade's performance in the second half definitely compounded the issue for sure. And that's not really on the coaches, we've seen what he looks like when he plays well and it's pretty good.
For some reason, he just completely lost his feel for the game in the second half. It very well could have been the hit that got his bell rung, or it may have been he got cold on the sideline during Rutgers 10 minute drive or whatever it was in the second half. Whatever it was, we're not going to be able to withstand that level of play and still win games as the season goes on, we were luck to withstand it yesterday frankly. I harp on the play calling, because one thing you can do to help a quarterback out when he's struggling is take what the defense gives you. Yesterday it seemed like the coaches tried to force the issue on what Rutgers was taking away. Michigan has enough offensive talent that we shouldn't have to do that.
September 26th, 2021 at 2:11 PM ^
Cade hits a few more passes (especially the wide open touchdown) and it’s a completely different game. Could have easily been something like 31-13. More worried about Cade than the play calling. The plays were there to be made.
September 26th, 2021 at 2:09 PM ^
Exactly. Rutgers is on the way to being a respectable team in the B1G, which is gonna take them beating teams who will tell themselves in that moment "c'mon, it's Rutgers!" We all know that a team losing to them isn't as bad as it used to be, it's just that none of us want to be that team who gets caught in the transition.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:17 PM ^
If we would have been close to covering the spread or not actually watched the second half of the Rutger game I would be OK with this, but neither happened so...
September 26th, 2021 at 12:23 PM ^
You should spend more time actually watching football. There were tons of very close games and upsets yesterday. Oklahoma won on a last second field goal and Clemson and Iowa State lost to terrible teams. MSU had to go to OT to beat a horrible Nebraska team and there were close calls all up and down the top 25. Yet, here you are -- yesterday and today -- bitching nonstop about our 4-0 team winning a game that was a laugher at halftime.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
The team ISU lost to is now 4-0 and they’re “terrible” but we aren’t allowed to point out the major flaws in our undefeated team… just clarifying.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
You guys are not pointing out "flaws" of our team. That would be fine. A significant portion of the posts on here are calling for the heads of numerous coaches even though the team has exceeded all reasonable expectations so far and has -- for the most part -- looked very good doing it. Yes, there some significant concerns but the "sky is falling" routine is just real old at this point. Especially considering the number of top teams that have either lost or struggled so far this year. i am arguing for perspective. That's it.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:46 PM ^
Probably due to the fact that the duties of those coaches is what the major flaws of this team is, and has been for multiple years. When we’re stuck with a suspect offense and poor play calling, yeah, people are going to have opinions about those in charge of that.
“Perspective” would be noting how predictable our playcalling is. And that while it worse against the worst teams on the schedule, we play multiple teams with the capability to match up with us and take away the run. And the staff hasn’t shown the ability to build a coherent passing game and slams it’s head into the wall repeatedly, even when plays aren’t working.
“Perspective,” would be looking at that performance and how it’s matched many of our performances in the past. And what it means moving forward against the better teams on the schedule.
“Perspective,” would be noting that we haven’t exceeded expectations at all. We were looking at 3-1 AT WORST at this stage, and that was when everyone thought Washington was good. Beating the bad teams on the schedule is what everyone thought they would do.
September 26th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
You are making stuff up at this point. The vast majority who post on this blog were not saying we would be undefeated at this point as most were saying that Washington would be a loss. In addition, nobody on here was predicting that we would have looked so good in our non-conference games. You can be concerned about the passing game and in our bend don't break defense, however, don't pretend that this team has not looked much better than you ever thought it would at this point in the season. Perspective.
September 26th, 2021 at 1:29 PM ^
You keep changing your main point. Yes, the team looks better than most thought it would, especially the running game. Unfortunately, what we saw in the second half yesterday was the exact thing that most of us were dreading - stubbornly shitty offensive play calling. Running up the middle into an 8-man box is dumb. Doing it over and over and over just to prove a point is beyond dumb - its asinine. Yet our offensive coaching staff has done this same thing, repeatedly, for years.
Apparently, they're still doing it...