Joel Klatt ranks UM at #4 after week 1

Submitted by UMoutwest on

Just saw this very short video on youtube about Joel Klatt's top 10 teams following week 1 and was surprised to see UM at #4. All that was said about us is that our defense is more faster and physical than last years, and that we completely dominated Florida and it wasnt close. What are your guys' thoughts on this ranking? Too high, too low? Personally I think its a little high and would put us at 7 or 8.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKy9yiGfQIU

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Joel Klatt, college football

ijohnb

September 5th, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^

sure how good Florida is.  They displayed a general cluelessness toward the game of football that was truly shocking for a major program with solid recruiting.  They reminded me of us against Alabama in that same game in 2012.  In over their head with a pretty bad coach.  Not saying it had nothing to do with us, but I don't think McElwain will be their coach next year assuming he survives this season.

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lhglrkwg

September 5th, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^

because I think McElwain just had his Josh Groban / Champions of Life moment today

 

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Aged Wolverine 68

September 5th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^

Short of winning B1G, and beating the Bucks on a more regular basis, yeah things are straightening out. We play smash mouth FB again, and our D is delivering slobber knocker hits once more.

 

Reminds me of the team under Mo. I would say Bo, but we didnt throw this much over the entirety of his career.

 

Of course, Mo wasnt having the team line up single file AFAICR. Would like to see them do it again this yr, only offset each player like a saw blade, then have the players race to opposite side from where they lined up. That would get a WTF ESPiN notice.

Joined: 08/27/2015

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raleighwood

September 5th, 2017 at 12:10 PM ^

.....and don't necessarily disagree.....but he's won the SEC East in each of his first two seasons.  They beat LSU on the road last year and destroyed Iowa in the Outback Bowl.  I think that he might have a little bit of good will built up....but this game certainly didn't help anything.

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myislanduniverse

September 5th, 2017 at 12:07 PM ^

I agree we looked better than a lot of week 1 teams (notwithstanding a pair of embarrassing back-to-back pick-6s), but there really isn't a whole lot to compare it to, yet.

 

Just take the Texas-Notre Dame, and Michigan State-Notre Dame games last year as an example. I don't think anybody could have known they were all hot garbage yet, at that point in the season.

 

Not saying that we couldn't very well be the #4 team, but seeing how Florida goes on to play other teams from here, and how we perform against other teams we're supposed to beat, will give us more data points. I'd rather creep up the rankings than have expectations foisted upon such a young team.

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Bo Nederlander

September 5th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^

I think we're being overtly pessimistic when likely unnecessary. I did nothing but watch CFB on Saturday and saw a lot of teams, nowhere even close to our level of defense. Considering where we were last year, we're on track to be insanely good regardless of the detractors skepticism. 

The natural pessimism I expect to see here is likely the result of the PTSD of seasons passed when we looked promising. The difference here, is that Florida was a very quality litmus for week one that proved a lot more, a lot quicker about us than the match-ups from most other FBS teams. I think we deserve this. IMO

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corundum

September 5th, 2017 at 11:32 AM ^

I'm funnelling the Kool-aid. Only Alabama has a more impressive week 1 victory.

My top ten after week 1:

 

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. OSU

4. Michigan

5. Stanford

6. Oklahoma

7. Washington

8. USC

9. Auburn

10. Penn State

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bronxblue

September 5th, 2017 at 12:11 PM ^

Yeah, they didn't even crack 400 yards against Portland St., which used to be a pretty solid FCS team but was down last year.  Though they also put up a good fight against Oregon St., so maybe they are turning the corner a bit.

I think LSU is a pretty good team, but we'll have to see how they look on offense under Canada to really get a sense of their potential this season.

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corundum

September 5th, 2017 at 12:35 PM ^

I have them at 13 right now. Still unknown and I'm not big on Etling. Their offense didn't exactly look revamped under their shiny new and expensive coordinator. Their defense is top 5, though.

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EGD

September 5th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^

Is Francois' backup any good?  Obviously that's a big loss no matter what, but I'd expect a program like FSU to at least have some kind of functional second-string QB.

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bronxblue

September 5th, 2017 at 12:13 PM ^

This isn't designed to throw shade at John O'Korn or Wilton Speight, but we've seen both as backups and neither looked particularly inspiring.  They'd get better with more game reps, but my guess is FSU will have a pretty significant drop-off going to the 3* freshman who seems to be next on the depth chart.

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bronxblue

September 5th, 2017 at 2:45 PM ^

Per 24/7, it's one Jr and a bunch of freshmen.  One or two are mid-level 4* in the bunch, but Blackman is the 3* they apparently really like.  I do think Fisher has an eye for QB talent, but not having a viable backup who's been on campus before this year seems like a bad idea.

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FlintLivesMatter

September 5th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^

I think rankings are stupid this early but going by the system we have now number 4 isnt too high at all after week 1

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ldevon1

September 5th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^

Been on the Michigan band wagon all year. To low to high, it doesn't matter because we have a B1G championship game and a National playoff. Just win baby. 

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stephenrjking

September 5th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^

Fairness in bias: When an ESPN commentator ranks a team from the SEC high, we complain about SEC bias. Fox just signed a huge B1G contract, so the complaints are equally valid for Klatt promoting us. 

That said, we looked really good. And a bunch of other top teams looked... not so good. Which isn't shocking in the first week, but who else besides Alabama looked that good against a ranked team?

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WorldwideTJRob

September 5th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^

The problem with that thought process is we don't know that much about anybody yet. It's hard to gauge who really is a top 25 team with only one weekend under our belts. Maryland looked like a top 25 team last week, are they good or just beat up on an overrated team? Florida looked overmatched, which means we are a very dominant squad or they might struggle all year. Is WMU going to be ok without Fleck or did They just catch USC sleepwalking Saturday? I think we are a top 10 team but truth be told all these rankings are a bit premature until about week 4/5 of the season(but yes I'm waiting for the AP and coaches poll to come out to see how the nation feels about us after the victory Saturday).

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UMForLife

September 5th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^

I think #4 is not outrageous. Other than Bama, I am really not sold on Wisconsin, USC, Washington etc. May be OSU and Clemson but I still say it is a toss up. FSU is going to have a hard time going forward. I am not high on PSU either. So, #4 is not outrageous although I would put it close to #6 or #7. If we beat PSU, we should be in top 4. At least in my mind...

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myislanduniverse

September 5th, 2017 at 12:20 PM ^

I think performance against Penn State is going to be the biggest real litmus test for how legitimate a contender Michigan is for the playoff this year. Beat the teams we're supposed to beat, convincingly, and make a statement in Happy Valley.

Florida *should have* been that statement, but I genuinely do not know how good they really are going to end up when the ink on the season is dry.

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stephenrjking

September 5th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^

Coming into the year there were questions about youth, and there were two major weaknesses Michigan had to be concerned about. Youth seems to have been cautiously answered; the two weaknesses, OL and DBs, are not yet answered. 

OSU is the test for the OL, obviously, but PSU is the test for the DBs. It will be a tough game, especially on the road with a QB that has yet to display consistent precision away from home. Even if we're really good this year we could lose that game.

But if we win...

Well, the two post-Mo teams that have been my favorite squads were '97 and '99. And the defining statement for both occurred in Happy Valley. 

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Khaleke The Freak

September 5th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^

I'd put Michigan at 7 or 8. Great first win and the team should keep getting better. When we beat PSU then we should be ranked 3 or 4.

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Kevin13

September 5th, 2017 at 11:36 AM ^

after week 1, but that defense is nasty and could carry us a long ways this year. OL I think is improved from last year and running game looks better.  If not for some bad passes by Speight we could've won that game like 45-3 so it really wasn't as close as the score looked so can understand why people who saw the game could push us up the rankings.

Let's see how we do the next few weeks to get a better read on this team, but they have me excited.

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mastodon

September 5th, 2017 at 1:53 PM ^

I think that's an easy call. UM will absolutely kick ass the next few weeks. The defense will continue to suffocate. Speight will receive protection which means his stat line will be good to great, likely with no ugly INTs, but it won't be a good gauge as to what his issues are. We can look for improved accuracy, but that seems a function of pressure, as the disruption makes hime sloppier than expected in a given context. So after a few weeks many on this site will think he's doing great and he's overcome his issues, but the jury will still be out until he faces tougher opponents.

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