October 2nd, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^
what are we ranked? 7? 8? that would be the first time in the top 10 since before that opening game in 2007
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:57 PM ^
We could go even higher than that, depending on who loses.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:21 PM ^
Am I the only one who thinks Wisco should be ranked higher?
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
I doubt that a game between them and LSU would be decided by more than seven points. Wisconsin seems as good as anyone in the country right now.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:35 PM ^
The Badgers are impressive. They averaged 48.5 pts/game in the cupcake portion of their schedule, then made a hyped-up Cornhuskers team blend right in bombing them for 48 over the weekend in Madison. And they weren't 48 flashy or lucky points ... They were 48 points continuously churned out by a finely-executing football machine. They are a complete team on both sides of the ball, & Russel Wilson is scary.
That being said, if we're lucky enough to face them in a B1G championship game, GO BLUE!!!
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:37 PM ^
Wisconsin's OOC scheduling was way too weak. They don't deserve to be any higher. Boise State is even laughing at their schedule.
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^
I absolutely agree. If Wiscy ever decides to play real teams instead of the cream puffs, it could help them, but when you play the teams they played in the first four games, it doesn't make a case. Wiscy also has a schedule with B1G teams that are largely unranked or if ranked, barely so.
I also wonder if Nebraska was ranked too high. Nebraska does not have the defense they had the last two years - their secondary is porous. As for Taylor Martinez, he started out fine and then fell apart.
October 2nd, 2011 at 3:35 PM ^
OK...I know everyone bashes Wisconsin's pre-BIG schedule, and it's often (usually?) deserved. I don't know exactly when they scheduled the game, but aren't games likes Oregon State usually scheduled a year or two in advance (usually as home-and-homes?) So Wiscy really didn't have any control over how competitive OSU would be. It's a Pac-10 school, so not really a complete cupcake. It's not like Oregon State has sucked recently. They had very competitive teams like, what...early last year and two years ago? If I'm not mistaken, they were media darlings and Pac 10 champion contenders with the Rodgers' brothers. And Wisconsin is going on the road to Corvallis next year. So I don't completely buy into the lame pre-season schedule for Wisconsin. They played 3 cupcakes and 1 Pac-10 team that could have been competitive. That's a typical pre-conference schedule for most top-20 football programs nowadays.
October 2nd, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
They may be better than the teams ahead of them, but they're probably where they should be based on what they've done so far. They blew out a good-but-not-great Neb team at home and four weak teams. LSU beat Oregon at a neutral site and WV in Morgantown, both with room to spare. Alabama crunched Penn State and Florida on the road, and Arkansas at home. I think there's an argument they should be ahead of Oklahoma, who has 10-point wins over 2 teams no better than Nebraska, Missouri at home and Florida St on the road.
October 2nd, 2011 at 6:53 PM ^
If we are undefeated after NW and MSU, we will likely be ranked in the Top 5, perhaps 6. Now winning those two games, um, tough. But if we do the polsters will reward us, big.
October 2nd, 2011 at 10:05 PM ^
Only if a bunch of teams ahead of us lose. The voters aren't that impressed with NW and MSU, or they'd be in the top 25 themselves.
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:54 PM ^
MICHIGAN
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:12 PM ^
Wictors
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:13 PM ^
victors!
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:54 PM ^
unless we can beat MSU and ohio. win the big 10 is the goal, the rankings will come with it.
October 2nd, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
The ranking is too high?
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:58 PM ^
HAIL!
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:03 PM ^
I think Hoke has changed the tide on the rivalry. Hell people in Ohio are starting to believe him. Never in a million years I would have thought that. Selling Michigan jerseys is a good start.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:07 PM ^
...Hoke changed the tide on the rivalry. Hell people in Ohio are starting to believe him. Never in a million years I would have thought that. Selling Michigan jerseys is a good start.
<br>
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:46 PM ^
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^
MIKE JONES
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:21 PM ^
MIKE JONES
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:23 PM ^
MIKE JONES
EDIT: My 1st Triple post yay!
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:31 PM ^
Nice try, but you ain't foolin' nobody!
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:52 PM ^
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
You don't know??!!! I knew about this before it was mainstream
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:04 PM ^
by Best... Go Lions
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:05 PM ^
Fixed that for you.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^
HAIL
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:12 PM ^
MSU still isn't ranked after beating Ohio, even if they were gimpy. Not that I care about little brother's feelings or anything, but I just don't understand it.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:14 PM ^
They're ranked 20th in the coaches poll, so not sure why they didn't make it in the AP
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:21 PM ^
It was obvious conspiracy by Michigan Illuminati to keep Sparty from returning to rightful place as glorious #1 football progam. /Russian voice.
October 2nd, 2011 at 4:34 PM ^
Coaches don't watch the games, and these things frequently get filled out by SIDs or other people in the athletic dept. If they were filled out by actual knowledgeable people, you wouldn't have OSU and Duke receiving a vote while Miami (YTM) didn't. Not that Miami should be getting votes, but they killed OSU, and at least their two losses were to BCS teams. Duke lost to Richmond. USA Today needs a Wack Ballot Watchdog.
Also, I'm still mad at them for 1997.
October 3rd, 2011 at 1:02 AM ^
Because they're MSU and nobody but spartan slappies give a shit about them. That's my best guess.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^
If you watched the game they played yesterday you would understand. They should have won by three touchdowns. They had a ton of penalties and three turn overs. They don't look good at all.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:31 PM ^
(Hehe) but they did beat a decent team that's dominated the conference over the past 8 years, and which was 3-1. Plus as bad as li'l bro's offense looked, their defense looked very good. That was deserving of #25 at least, IMO. Probably somewhere in the 22-25 range.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^
they did beat a decent team that's dominated the conference over the past 8 years.No. They did not beat the OSU teams of Pryor, Beanie Wells, et al. They didn't even face the same OSU coach those teams had. They beat the OSU team featuring the ugly two-headed monster of Braxton Miller-Joe Bauserman, and an Adam Sandler lookalike at head coach. That team had already gotten handled by a mediocre Miami squad.
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:59 PM ^
October 2nd, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^
That we got too much of a boost, and they didn't get enough of one. That said, I do think we deserve a higher ranking than then, as we've accomplished more so far. But #12 is too high for us and #26 is too low for them. #16 and #23 would be more like it IMO.
After we BEAT them, though...that's another story ;)
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^
Not that I'm overlooking anyone, but if we beat a Persa-less Northwestern, squeak out a victory over MSU, and then beat Purdue, we could be ranked in the top 5. That would be absolutely hilarious, as I'd wager that if we were ranked #5, and played either the #4 or #6 team, we'd get blown out by 30+ points.
Still, this is great for Michigan football. We can play the, "hey, maybe we're not all the way back, but we're certainly close to getting there," card with recruits.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:29 PM ^
I think we'd have a tough time beating the #5 or #6 team in the country, but I don't know about us losing by 30. We've played one team already (ND) that has top 10-level talent (check the recruiting rankings), and we survived. We have a game-changing talent at QB. He can keep us in any game, especially now that our defense can actually get stops now and then.
October 2nd, 2011 at 1:31 PM ^
Well, Wisconsin beat us by 20 last year and we seem much better this year. They have a better QB but JJ Watt will be sorely missed when they play a team with an elite offensive player.
October 2nd, 2011 at 2:25 PM ^