Michigan #20 on both AP and Coach's Polls
October 21st, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^
for this win
October 21st, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
it was a win against an unranked team.
October 21st, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^
An unranked team that played their best game of the year and has a top-5 defense
October 21st, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
I will never be confused with a voter in either poll, but unless it is coach in the B1G (or, more accurately, the SID/intern of a coach in the B1G) or a media member that covers the B1G, that level of detail is unlikely to make it into their calculus. Given how quickly the polls come out, and taking into account the time for tabulating results, etc., I doubt there is too much texture beyond final score and W/L records.
I am sure there are exceptions to the rule, such as writers that look at Sagarin rankings or efficiency metrics (which would capture "top 5 defense"), but the "best game of the year" is probably not getting picked up on outside the B1G footprint. This is especially true when the game is on BTN at 3:30, and writers covering the early/afternoon games are not watching a marquee game on ABC/ESPN or CBS late-night. That may, by the way, be one of the reasons that Michigan has recently gotten a big (probably more than deserved) bump for beating ND in recent years.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^
are for entertainment value.
October 21st, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^
Not yet. Not until we have a four team playoff with a selection committee.
Until then, they determine who gets to play for a National Championship and who potentially gets screwed.
October 21st, 2012 at 3:05 PM ^
Michigan State is good enough to be ranked even if they haven't played like it. Beyond that, with the amount of prep work they do for Michigan, the way that they save their best stuff for us, and the fact that emotions are so high, this is a very good win. A jump in the rankings is well deserved (though, as usual, mostly a function of what the teams around us did).
October 21st, 2012 at 12:38 PM ^
Some other teams around us took key losses: Iowa State, TCU...off the top of my head. That probably helped. Sometimes all you need to do is not lose to move up.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^
TCU lost? You're welcome :)
October 21st, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^
Michigan benefitted from WVU and Texas A&M taking dives in the polls for a second loss. Also, as Cincinnati found out, Big East teams who lose to anybody do not get ranked.
Michigan is the third-highest ranked two loss team (behind Stanford), so it appears that the voters are giving Michigan a lesser deduction for losses to two top-5 teams.
(EDIT: Oops missed South Carolina as a two-loss team ahead of Michigan as well, edited to note Michigan is third-highest ranked two-loss team)
October 21st, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
but I see no objective reason for either Stanford or South Carolina to be ranked ahead of us. Stanford "lost" to ND in OT and to Wash, who RR just destroyed last night. South Carolina lost to LSU and Fla.
October 21st, 2012 at 4:02 PM ^
They lost to LSU and Florida (destroyed by the latter, on par with our loss to Bama), but they've also beaten (quite convincingly) Georgia, a top 20 team. So they're justifiably ranked ahead of Michigan.
Stanford is a bit murkier. Then again, I'm of the honest belief that both Stanford and Michigan should have beaten notre dame, not that it really matters anymore.
October 21st, 2012 at 4:33 PM ^
October 22nd, 2012 at 12:23 AM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 4:47 PM ^
got destroyed by Florida, which is more of a negative than losing to Alabama in the first game of the year.
October 21st, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
Lot's of undefeated teams still.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
the rest of the year will be interesting.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
Next two weeks we should see Texas Tech, Mississippi State, Georgia, USC, Oregon State, LSU, and Notre Dame drop with losses. It'll be nice to leapfrog them with a win @ Nebraska
By seasons end Notre Dame, Oregon State, and Mississippi State should have multiple losses so we should jump them hopefully
And the last week and Conference Championships will shake things way up because all the top teams will play each other. Flurrrrida will play Flurrrrida State, then Alabama, South Carolina and Clemson will play each other. USC will likely play Oregon twice, and the two Big East undefeateds face off in the last game of the season.
We could be top 15 in two weeks, and if we win out we could be top 10 by seasons end.
October 21st, 2012 at 4:45 PM ^
Alright Nostradamus.
October 21st, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
20 was as high as we could go with other schools dropping out, it's nice to see that we did, and got some love in the coaches poll. BCS will probably do something unique like put us 25th, and a team unranked in all 3 other polls at 20 for no reason.
October 21st, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^
weeks, there will be many teams ahead of us lose. We should be able to gain a few more spots in the coming weeks.
October 21st, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
Our offense is great against bad defenses, which seems to apply here. Nebraska has a good offense (better than MSU, both personell and scheme wise) so I doubt we shut them out, but the way our defense has been playing I doubt they put up more than 20, especially after how we handled them last year. Them playing at night at home probably keeps it relatively close, but I'm not expecting tons of points. Not by them anyway.
October 21st, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
I actually think we match up great w Nebraska.
We have a good rushing D. Nebraska still can't pass that well.
We have a good rushing O. Nebraska doesn't play defense
M 42 Nebraska 17
October 21st, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
be a better game than yesterday was.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^
I thought yesterday's game was terrific. An emotional, well-played and well-coached defensive struggle that came down to a do-or-die FG attempt at the end. I'm sorry you didn't see it that way.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
in terms of less mistakes on our part. I should have been more clearer.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^
Nebraska passed pretty well against NW in the 4th QT. Maybe that has more to do with NW's secondary, but our secondary isn't exactly on lockdown mode.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
especially with Blake hurt.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:26 PM ^
Actually, Nebraska is #3 in the B1G in passing offense, #1 in passing efficiency.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:41 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
Yeah, this will one of the most important and difficult games this season. I hope we don't have the emotional let down after the MSU game. I still don't know what to think about Nebraska. The only good win they have this year is the UW game, but that before UW finally got their shit together, and they still only won by 3 at home. Then barely squeked one out against NW...but I'm still nervous as hell. The stakes are huge.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
First time any of these players will step foot inside their stadium to play a game, and a night game at that.
They'll be out for revenge as they handed us a lot of points last year with turnovers.
I agree we do match up favorably against them but I feel this will be a test, esp after coming off such an emotionally charged win yesterday.
October 21st, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
Of where we are right now, relative to the rest. I think we could take Stanford and S. Carolina, but they also play in conferences that are stronger at the moment, and have wins over ranked teams (Stanford over USC, South Carolina over Georgia). Makes sense that they would be ranked ahead of us.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:54 PM ^
play in a tougher conference. I could see us beating them.
October 21st, 2012 at 3:35 PM ^
Stanford and toUSC have power running game that Michigan defense have struggled to stop this year with the exception of MSU game.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 4:09 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 1:11 PM ^
point. We did give away the ND game. But top 15? idk.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^
Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Kansas State and Notre Dame Which one would you rather play.
I'm just hoping OSU stays undefeated until Michigan plays them and then draws Oregon state in the rosebowl.
October 21st, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^
Who I would want: Notre Dame again. We would beat them soundly.
Who I would not want: Don't want any part of Oregon, and while we would play better, we are still not up to Alabama's level.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^
October 21st, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
Not sure about that.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
I think they'll be a two loss team in short order playing @Oklahoma, and @USC, but there's some ND schadenfreude waiting to happen by Thanksgiving. Michigan winning out and beating Ohio on the last week and ND losing at USC on the last week should drop them under us in the rankings. Especially if we win the B1G Championship game after.
There are a couple situations where ND doesn't even make a BCS bowl this year either with a last week loss. There are 3 BCS At Large berths. ND gets one automatically if they're in the top 8, but with two losses, one on the last week, they won't be in the top 10. They also aren't eligible if they're ranked lower than 14th in the final polls. A last week loss to 2 loss USC could drop them to 15th.
The 3 BCS At Large berths could also get taken by schools with better records. If FSU and Clemson both win out then Clemson won't play in the ACC Championship but will be a 1 loss team, and get one of the At Large births being ranked so high, the Big12 doesn't have enough teams for a Championship Game so KState wins the Big12 Championship, and 1 loss Oklahoma gets the second At Large berth, and the Big East could have 2 undefeated teams surviving their way up the polls. If Louisville and Rutgers both beat Cincy then face each other at years end as undefeated ranked teams then one of them will get the last BCS At Large berth being ranked higher than 2 loss ND.
It'll be so funny if it happens after all the daily hype on ESPN
October 21st, 2012 at 2:16 PM ^
we would have won, imo, but there would have been no end to the flack Borges would have taken for it. It is only now that we have enough confidence in our defense that we don't need to plan for Denard miracles in every game. What confidence it took to kick that last punt!
October 21st, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^
It can not be understated how much our defense playing well helps our offense.
In games when our defense has struggled and it became clear that our offense was going to have to score every time with the ball, our offense, especially Denard, tried to do too much and made mistakes.
Our defense playing well calms our offense down and lets them do what they do best.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^
Michigan wins out and the polls take care of themselves. I actually like where Michigan is right now. Those two high-profile loses have them somewhat under the national radar. They just have to keep winning and we will see where they are at the end of the season.
October 21st, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^
OSU drops a couple spots. At least we know some people are paying attention.