Desmond ranks Michigan SIXTH on his Power Poll ballot
Desmond Howard's Power Poll ballot: he has MICHIGAN ranked 6th in Nation... SIXTH. pic.twitter.com/DNcxetWkur
— PickSix Previews B1G (@PickSix_BigTen) August 21, 2014
ICYMI: Desmond Howard might have been a BIT biased on his ballot: http://t.co/nzlYu1NVq5 pic.twitter.com/AAfDbf9a7y
— LostLettermen.com (@LostLettermen) August 21, 2014
August 21st, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
Why not #1?
August 21st, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
Fake Wolveirne
August 21st, 2014 at 5:40 PM ^
I thought he was picking out of the B1G and would witness a train wreck
August 21st, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
And no Ohio State.
Love you, Des XOXOXO.
August 21st, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
He's the only voter not to put them in the top 10
August 21st, 2014 at 6:43 PM ^
Terrible defense, lost 4 starters on the O-line and Hyde, now have to play a rookie QB. OSU is getting every benefit of the doubt but Michigan is better than them in every area other than O-Line? And D-line. Is Michigan going to be worse this year than last? No way. We were evenly matched last year, and OSU has lost 100x more than Michigan.
August 22nd, 2014 at 12:18 AM ^
Based on reports I've read/heard - I don't know if OSU is ahead of us on the OL, at least not by much.
August 21st, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^
Will always be a d-bag
August 21st, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
Anyone have his dealer's number?
August 21st, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
1-800-MAIZENBLUEKOOLAID
21/10 highly recommended
August 21st, 2014 at 3:42 PM ^
strain "this is permanent"
August 21st, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
that is the reference to make.
August 21st, 2014 at 5:39 PM ^
to continue sniffing glue
yes, some of us are old enough to remember Airplane
August 21st, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
If someone had voted Auburn number 1-2 last year preseason they would be saying the same thing about him..... That's why we play the games
August 22nd, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^
They have Gus Malzahn.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
They laugh now... but Lou Holtz was right in 2012!!! Desmond in 2014!
Go Blue!
August 21st, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^
But Lou has had ND #1 for at least 30 years straight. He was bound to get lucky at some point.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^
Holtz picked notre dame to go undefeated 8 years in a row. He was bound to get it right eventually
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August 21st, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^
He has rustled a lot of jimmies.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
I love you Desmond but cumong....
August 21st, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
Defense!!!!!!!!
August 21st, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^
It's not about where we start the season but where we finish.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^
What about the journey?
August 21st, 2014 at 2:59 PM ^
Don't stop believing.
August 22nd, 2014 at 7:12 AM ^
Hold on to that fee---eee---eeeeling!
August 21st, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
Source:
August 21st, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^
A butt hurt Sparty fan just posted this to Reddit. Gotta get your umbrage from somewhere I guess.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
Only slightly less bizarre was dude who ranked MSU at #4. Yes, I know, top ten in many polls, etc.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
That guy has MSU number 4 and Oregon at 7 at best (not listed).
Oregon is a 13 point favorite in a few weeks over Sparty. That is similar to the. Bama/UM line heading into 2012.
That seems as equally "out there" as Desmond's prediction.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
Other analysts that had us in the top 25:
- Heather Dinich, #25
- Mark Schlabach, #25
The complete lists of all 13 voters for ESPN are here - LINK
If the list continued formally, we would have been #31 overal at 22 points, if I read this right. Big Ten teams ahead of us - in order - Ohio State (6), Michigan State (7), Wisconsin (17), Nebraska (22) and Iowa (would be 26).
August 21st, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
The weird thing is how so much of this us based on last year and not what has been shown this spring and fall. IIRC, ESPN's own FPI has UM as #1 defense in B1G, yet most of these analyst must be oblivious to that. They still see OSU so high despite all of their question marks. I'd contend now with Miller out, we have less question marks and concerns than the Buckeyes.
August 21st, 2014 at 5:16 PM ^
It's before the season, so technically every team is nothing but question marks, but OSU is REALLY nothing but question marks:
DG is a very good QB. Who knows about JT or Cardale. Could be a Manzeil/Winston, or could be a [Bauserman](http://www.cbssports.com/images/collegefootball/bauserman_passing_chart…)
Our OLine is definitely a question, but has to be improved. OSU's is compeltely unknown and completely green (they return 1 starter). Could be fine, could be as bad as ours from last year (no, that's pretty much impossible).
Their running back situation is competely up in the air. Their WRs should be OK, but that'll be dependent on the QB, and apparently JT isn't a deep baller, so cheat a bit by bringing Peppers up, and picks for days.
OSU had a pretty bad D last year, and it's supposed to be good, but no where near what we have. So really, other than the now injured Braxton, what other than "potential" and the Urbz got them such a high ranking and confidence?
August 21st, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
If Desmond believes then so should we, espically if our O-line comes back stronger than last year we have a chance to be a lot better on offense. Cut out the turnovers and execute better in the redzone and we can win the Big Ten this year.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
and cut down on penalties
and create more turnovers
Winning the Big Ten should be so easy.
/s
August 21st, 2014 at 10:00 PM ^
I'm no rocket scientist, nor Vince Lombardi. But I heard a wild rumour that if you score more points than the other team, you will win 100% of the games you play. I think its just crazy talk personally.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
It's obvious why he put this: He only watched the defense during the scrimmage.
Or he has another year of eligiblity left and he's about to use it.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^
too much.
August 21st, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^
You spelled holthhhhhhz wrong.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^
I don't think this is really that crazy. I really don't. This team has ONE question: can the offensive line block? 5th year senior QB, talented RB's, the best WR in the B1G, eight defensive linemen who have played significant snaps at Michigan, every LB that played a year ago is returning, four CB's who have played significant snaps, and a returning starter at the safety position all return.
There are a lot of teams that have more question marks than Michigan. The only problem is Michigan's issue could derail their entire season. If the offensive line cannot hold up, it stalls the entire offense which puts the defense on the field longer. But in reality, like I said, basically every team has more issues than Michigan. Michigan's issue is the most important - however - along with Ohio State's offensive line issues.
Michigan State has to replace their linebacking corps and their 1st round corner.
Ohio State has to worry about fixing their back seven on defense and replacing Miller, Hyde, and four offensive linemen.
Iowa has to replace their entire LB corps and they don't have a QB.
Nebraska has injury problems, their defense sucks (beside when they played U-M a year ago), and they have to replace Martinez.
Wisconsin must replace Borland and Abbredaris (no simple task). They, too, do not have a decent QB.
***So as you can see, I like Michigan. But then again, who doesn't on this board? Lol.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^
read yours before posting mine. Don't forget NW losing Mark and Jones, and the PSU regime change. Expecting Franklin to be as successful immediately I think doen't take into accoutn how good of a coach BOB was/is, especially with Hack. I wouldn't be surprised if Hack takes a small step back this year.
August 21st, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
Actually Wisconsin lost their entire front 7 on D. And as noted OSU, MSU, and PSU all have significant losses on the O-line.
August 21st, 2014 at 3:03 PM ^
Damn you for getting my expectations up. I'd kept them under control until reading this
August 21st, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
#6 on his rankings... But #1 in his heart.
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August 21st, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
Love the optimism! Not that fan reactions/predictions have any impact on the actual season but it is still nice to see someone (even a former UM player) in the media as optimistic about this season as I am. Go Blue!
August 21st, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
I will always love Desmond for having the balls to go on national television and fucking filet Borges last year. Back when he did it the pro-Borges crowd was still very strong and I was scared to death that pile of useless turds would be brought back by Hoke.
Desmond's rant I think put Hoke & Brandon on notice that the sheer incompetence of Borges was noticed outside the fort and something had to be done. I think the wheels of change started in earnest that very Saturday.
Thank you Desmond. Thank you for helping free us from Borges.
August 21st, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^
Your rants against Borges are always entertaining.
August 21st, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^
Agree. And the entirely made-up supposition that he, and he alone, can correctly identify when Borges doom was sealed is pretty rich as well. Nothing like childish venom combined with baseless speculation to make for an entertaining stew.
August 21st, 2014 at 6:29 PM ^
You sir chose an exceptionally apt screen name.