Final AP Ranking: Michigan #3
The final AP ranking is out: Michigan finishes #3, but as others have mentioned, this has little importance if you don't win the national championship.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings
Georgia #1 (of course), TCU #2, Michigan #3, Ohio State #4, and Alabama #5. The order as expected.
The Big Ten has three teams in the Top 10 (Penn State at #7)
All in all, a very good, if not great year, but still unsatisfying with how it ended.
January 10th, 2023 at 2:10 AM ^
Sounds right
January 10th, 2023 at 5:45 AM ^
TCU is NOT #2.
Two losses, one horrific. And they did not even win their conference.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:06 AM ^
Michigan could’ve proved that on the field. They didn’t. That’s too bad.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:40 AM ^
Coaches got a little "too cute" with the gameplan in my opinion.
January 10th, 2023 at 7:42 AM ^
Cute? On the basis of one trick play? Other than that, I wouldn't call running Edwards between the tackles as a "cute" game plan! We can differ on that one! LOL!
January 10th, 2023 at 8:18 AM ^
Georgia executed the game plan that we all expected Michigan would use. Disheartening
January 10th, 2023 at 8:35 AM ^
Disheartening, yes. Also maddening, frustrating,. and wtf'ing.
Really, it was like WTF???
To me it was like the moment was too big for us. Even though we had been there the year before (not Minter).
Just like it was too big for TCU in the final.
We played stupid, then lost our composure and started playing in panic mode, then desperation mode. And even though we played like piss for the most part, we showed what we were capable of my making some outstanding plays down the stretch and almost won.
I'm sure our staff will learn from our mistakes and we'll be better team next year.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:07 AM ^
My take is the national championship demonstrated the ridiculousness of not have some regulation on spending. Yes, Georgia recruits at an elite level but they also have “elite” money which supplies X number of top analysts and a recruiting budget.
my last take is to have the playoffs immediately after the season, which may limit the advantage a team has in staff by reducing time to prepare.
Would love to know Georgia football operating Budget compared to TCU
January 10th, 2023 at 9:13 AM ^
So, a salary cap? Also, even in leagues with a cap, they don't place a limit on what you can pay coaches and other staff. The problem isn't the money.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
Most of Georgias “elite money” was grab bags and not NIL the last few years. We’re already starting to see the field being leveled, minus Georgias John Deer buying spree that’s leaped them ahead of Sabans Case IH years.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:29 AM ^
I'm worried that they won't learn from their mistakes. I can see them handing it off to a linebacker at the goal line, again. I can see them not using JJ's legs, because that's something they should have already learned. I can see them rotating in defensive players that should not see the field, because we already knew what was going to happen the moment Goode got on the field.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:04 PM ^
I'm thinking that Georgia read the blueprint: Michigan in the second half.
And a world beater tight end.
Schoonmaker getting hurt really was a problem for us.
January 10th, 2023 at 7:07 AM ^
One game does not prove anything, sir.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:59 AM ^
Obviously the pollsters are automatically putting championship game loser at #2. You rearrange when the games in the season were played and I expect a ranking of
1 Georgia
2 Michigan
3 OSU
4 TCU
Becomes likely, not that finishing 2 vs 3 makes much difference, but I do like the idea of seasons ending
2021 #3
2022 #2
2023 #1
January 10th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^
If I were betting my own money I would probably pick PSU over TCU and would certainly take Bama vs TCU.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:25 AM ^
Sure, but rankings aren't trying to be predictive.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
I am not at all upset with the rankings, but the rankings are debatable. TCU got curbstomped by Georgia. OSU was a whisker away from beating Georgia.
If OSU and TCU played this weekend and you were forced to put your entire 401K on the line, who would you pick?
January 10th, 2023 at 12:03 PM ^
OSU would give them a beating like we should have done. If Harbaugh wasn’t ass deep in the crooked NCAA and the great burger investigation then maybe he could have came up with an actual gameplan versus a paste and copy.
January 10th, 2023 at 2:10 AM ^
Beat the shit out of 4 and 7, had a weird game against 2. Georgia, Bama, tOSU breaking in new QB’s, let’s get it!!!
January 10th, 2023 at 10:11 AM ^
This was my first thought: boy that's an enormous gulf between 3 and 4. Look what they did to them on their own field in their 'superbowl'
Frankly, there was that size gap between us and TCU, but they did what it took and got the weirdness they needed to make their 1 in 100 shot. Good for them.
I would have loved to see that game between us and Georgia.
January 10th, 2023 at 2:10 AM ^
Fair. Meaningless. We beat “the” and won the B1G title. I’m good
January 10th, 2023 at 2:15 AM ^
For such an incredible season it's sad that coaching malfeasance resulted in a loss to a team that should've lost 3-4 games.
Luckily next season should be the best chance Michigan has for national title before the playoff expands. Unfortunately that would also require changes in offensive philosophy which hasn't really happened during Harbaugh's tenure. Even if Harbaugh leaves Michigan will be absolutely LOADED next year.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:42 AM ^
Coaching malfeasance was very obvious when you watched how Georgia's scheme took apart TCU early and often by attacking different points of TCU's D. It was brilliant and effective and caused TCU to be off balance and easily attackable. Michigan's O lacked any real creativity. I think we won because we were much better than our competition and it was talent more than scheme that carried us to our 13-0 pre-playoff success. Holding JJ back until the third quarter was nonsensical. I thought more than once as the season progressed that our offensive creativity was stale. Next year with improvement anticipated in the B1G we need to have more creativity in our O. With Blake coming back, that is a big plus but every now and then you get one of those games when scheme can really, really matter.
Anyway, I think with a healthy Michigan team, we beat TCU nine out of ten times. But we didn't last Saturday and looked totally out of sorts in many aspects of the game. Final rankings mean little when you are in the top four unless you are number one.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:55 AM ^
That is the difference between Georgia and Michigan coaching. Georgia could get by on talent alone, but they don't. They scheme and prepare like they are the underdog.
I was very impressed by the Georgia coaching staff last year. They knew exactly what we were going to do and had counters for it. And counters for our counters. This year, I'm even more impressed. Best staff in all of college football.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:30 AM ^
And yet, Georgia needed a last-second FG miss to escape an OSU team that we beat by 22 points. If Harrison hadn’t suffered a concussion, they probably would have lost. Georgia couldn’t cover him. Where was their awesome coaching in that game?
Maybe taking a month just throws a lot of things out of sync.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:57 AM ^
Your question is a good one. Was that a "fluke" game for Georgia? Maybe. It could be that they did some "transitive" thinking and didn't expect much from OSU based on a couple of games (OSU's loss to Michigan at home this year, Georgia's easy win against a slightly different Michigan team last year).
Against Georgia, OSU (for any cultural flaws it may have) was in the environment most suited to it (indoor stadium, similarly talented school, little bit of a track meet atmosphere). Maybe they felt more comfortable? No idea ...
January 10th, 2023 at 7:57 AM ^
OSU was a matchup nightmare for Georgia because UGA's secondary is the weak link (by a mile) in their defense. But OSU was able to exploit it so well because they used Charmin Stroud's legs to open them up a little more. It was a close game all the way and both teams had their entire playbooks available. Also, OSU personnel are far superior to TCU up and down the roster.
Against TCU, UGA scored early and forced them into playing from behind midway through the first. It closed the playbook to everything but big hitters and allowed UGA's defense to focus on stopping big plays. TCU got a few downs on each drive where they looked okay, but then one missed and the drive was dead. UGA's offense just kept scoring by doing early what Michigan refused to do.
OSU would have destroyed TCU, also. Michigan should have, but instead preferred to play in the most Michigan way possible.
January 10th, 2023 at 1:24 PM ^
I think Georgia was somewhat guilty of looking beyond OSU as did Michigan with TCU. We simply made too many errors to overcome a performance filled with coaching and player mistakes. Georgia got a bit luckier.
I watched a few games this year where Georgia really shined; Oregon and Tennessee showed what Georgia could do. then there was last night's very impressive performance.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:01 AM ^
I love our coaches, all of em. But, somewhere between the stodgy Meechigan way of doing things and something in the Harbaugh DNA we just don't prep well for unfamiliar opponents. I'm hoping the embarassment of seeing what happened to that Cinderella team at the ball last night will inspire them to take their jobs seriously. If not, I guess JJ, Blake & Dono will have to lead the charge.
I record the M games and put em on DVD and after watching the UGA game last year over and over it was so very clear how unprepared we were. Their coaches cooked up this little unbalanced line thing and Bowers coming off to the left side for an easy TD (IIRC) and they broke from the huddle so quickly we had no chance to react to it. We did that train formation thing a few years ago - against Indiana(?) a preseason game(?) Jowja does it in the CFP.
Stuff like that is why Vegas has us out of the top four on odds to get it done next year. They got USC in front of us - are you fucking kidding? They are responsible for millions of dollars and they judge our program that harshly?
January 10th, 2023 at 6:55 AM ^
Vegas has USC with better odds than UM, because UM’s in the same division as OSU, and the Pac-12 is butt.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
OK, that's fair. But we return JJ and we've obviously got their number (that team in C-bus) and they (THEY - the media, whoever) doggedly believe that 5*'s are the way, the truth, the life. I can understand media types with their echo chamber backing the 5* types that they, themselves, create. We beat them on their field by 22 - it means nothing to the media types, fine. But it means nothing to the money guys?
JH, you are a brilliant program builder - I can't believe this model you pulled out of thin air:
1. Build the trenches.
2. Get players with high ceilings from HS recruiting who WANT to be here and compete for the jobs.
3. Fill in with the portal.
But, for the love of all things holy - if you don't know how to prep for unfamiliar opponents (maybe because you were raised by Bo?) assign someone that task, please. It's the one thing we are still lacking, in my estimation.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:20 AM ^
Great points Comrade. Here’s hoping that the Michigan coaching staff feels exactly the same way and reflects in the off-season on how Georgia’s staff outperformed them two years in a row.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:39 AM ^
‘We won because we were better than the competition’. Not true of OSU and PSU. They were as good or better, talentwise. Consider that our coaching staff coached well in those two games. We are looking for consistency from our coaches. They are not bad all the time.
January 10th, 2023 at 8:21 AM ^
Michigan needs to be more adept at moving the ball and scoring in different ways, and not just satisfied with getting a lead in most games and then "taking the air out of the ball." That will mean running it about times fewer and (dropback) throwing 10-15 times more short, intermediate and long. But would they dare do that, especially if Corum and Edwards are both coming back?
I know people wanted McCarthy to run the ball more, but that only made sense when he was QB2. Reliance on QB1 running at this point is only a "break glass in case of emergency" risky behavior that needs to be used sparingly. I was fine with them not going to that much until they had to, and at this point I don't even know who QB2 is much less have any confidence that if they had to go up against a Georgia/Bama/OSU/TCU the results wouldn't be ugly.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:30 AM ^
Michigan needs to be more adept at moving the ball and scoring in different ways, and not just satisfied with getting a lead in most games and then "taking the air out of the ball."
I totally hear you, but U-M isn’t going to significantly change its approach after winning the B1G two straight years. In fairness to the coaching staff, that’s understandable.
Where U-M can make changes is on the margins. For instance, when there is an opportunity to run 2-minute offense, they really ought to take advantage. That can pay off not only in late-half situations but also in the development of the QB and WRs in general.
But Michigan’s overall theory of the case is sound. You can’t forget that A) the OSU game is the key to the season, and B) OSU is still, from a talent standpoint, the favorite in that matchup. To win that game, U-M needs a healthy QB and the element of tactical surprise. That’s why taking the air out of the ball over the course of the season is appropriate.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
OK, true, but - UGA nipped them at the edges - especially early. UGA just running a simple zone read gave them lots of problems early. They had an actual plan to attack the 3-3-5. A plan that agreed with what Brian, Seth, Sam and all his experts (Borges, DG, etc) put forth in their previews (mess with those LB's heads) and we ran at them like cavemen just learning the game.
That is the problem IMO and it is a problem.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:22 AM ^
I don't understand why we would need to change our offensive philosophy? The only reason we didn't end up in the national championship game is because TCU shredded our defense. Our offense was good enough for us to win all 14 games this year.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
Did you see us getting good success against them throwing short? Did you see Georgia get good success throwing short?
I saw two pick sixes throwing short, before the game had a chance to get settled in. That's on the QB somewhat, moreso it's on scouting and game plan.
That team was destroyed throwing deep and running at the edges.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
we had over 500 yards of offense and scored 45 points in a playoff game (easily could have been 50+ points). Offense & offensive gameplan wasn't the problem.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:25 PM ^
6 points in the first half...would have been 16 if the two scoreless red zone trips had been handled properly, but Georgia got 38, doing many of the things that analysts (including on this very blog) mistakenly predicted Michigan would try to do (because they assumed our offensive coaches would plan competently). The first half offensive game-plan was a travesty.
We would have run out to a lead and strangled TCU late like every other team we played, if only we had bothered not to run directly into the teeth of their defense in the first half...
January 10th, 2023 at 2:23 AM ^
Eh... whatever.
January 10th, 2023 at 2:34 AM ^
Ranked 3rd two years in a row, puts us in elite company and that is all I can ask for coming out of the hole that was the Rich Rod-Hoke era.
Wins at Wisconsin and Iowa.
Back-to-back big wins over OSU!
Back-to-back B1G Championships!
Most wins ever in a single season.
2nd straight playoff appearance.
A lot of monkeys off our back.
I choose to be happy with our season and where we stand playing Championship Football!
GO BLUE!!!
January 10th, 2023 at 3:24 AM ^
Your theories are intriguing and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter
January 10th, 2023 at 5:47 AM ^
We made the podium two years in a row. That's terrific.
January 10th, 2023 at 8:47 AM ^
Well said. This is the takeaway for me. I won’t lose sight of the incredible progress made to lift ourselves out of the depths of impotence and hopelessness to success and respectability beyond my expectation.
Having said that, we humans are by nature insatiable creatures, and once we taste victory, we only want more. If the coaching staff wants to reach that final level, they need to up their game. I think this is very possible, and sustained success (especially with returning players) makes this possible, where you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or break in a new approach. You just make tweaks and important additions. We were THAT close to making the championship game and possibly even being competitive in it, and everyone knows we should have. That should fuel a burning fire within the coaches and players to make any and all conceivable improvements to their game. If this is Jim’s feeling (and Michigan at some point decides to “have him” here), then I’m already over the TCU loss.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^
Kudos to your voice of reason. Finished ahead of OSU and Bama, even after losing the team's best player to injury. Coaches did not throw pick sixes or fumble on the goal line though they made a couple questionable decisions turning down points on first drive and running a jet sweep on 4th and goal when TCU has a lot of speed in secondary. For what little its worth, never ever seen a team so close to wining a game where it had given up two pick sixes. Amazing season. Might have had a real shot for National Championship with a healthy Blake Corum.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:45 PM ^
I appreciate your positivity, but I can't shake the feeling that a healthy Blake Corum at the end of the year is not a plausible scenario when a guy his size is asked to run thirty times a game through the B1G schedule. It's difficult to look at what happened to Michigan in the CFP and not wonder if Harbaugh's offensive approach might have hit a ceiling. They got JJ healthy to the playoffs, but not Blake, and for whatever dumb reason they chose not to let JJ cook until the second half. JJ in '23 should light it up -- there's absolutely no reason not to be bullish about his potential and that of the players around him -- but he's going to need more help from the playcalling.
The consecutive wins against Ohio are two of the best fan experiences I've ever had (top five, hands down), but the consecutive CFP losses are also two of the most bitter. It's a strange and confusing place to be in as a fan.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:04 PM ^
Michigan has NEVER had back to back top-5 finishes since those kids from the '47-'48 teams, 75 years ago. Let alone back to back top-3 finishes. The list is very short and our past two years are among the elite
And while many of us are unhappy about how the season ended, the rest of the cfb world sees our bowl game as part of one of the best days of college football, if not THE best, in the playoff era.
Final factoid: there have been 25 BCS/playoff finals. Of the 50 teams possible, only 18 teams have actually played for the natty. TCU is obviously the last team to make it, the 18th.
The 17th? UGA. The 16th? Clemson. It has become an almost impossible peak to reach, and we are right up there.
edit: just noticed SFblue made my first point already, didn't mean to snipe you lol
January 10th, 2023 at 3:17 AM ^
Michigan has not had back to back top 3 AP rankings since 1947-1948. That is a mark in time, if not in history.
January 10th, 2023 at 6:08 AM ^
Hey these rankings don’t matter. Remember?