Michigan moves to 19 in AP, stays at 22 in Coaches Poll

Submitted by WichitanWolverine on

Sparty still ranked in both polls (25 and 24 respectively).

I thought there might be a chance A&M would move into one of them after a tough loss against Clemson, but that has not happened yet. 

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freelion

September 9th, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^

I think we got punished too much for losing on the road to ND. Anyway we have some top opponents this year that will move us up a lot with wins

Joined: 10/03/2013

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B-Nut-GoBlue

September 9th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^

Ridiculous Texas A&M isn't ranked.  Herbstreit said it on the broadcast but how is that team, after that performance, not ranked?!

 

Coaches hate Harbaugh.  Shocker we don't move (also....maybe we don't deserve to, but yea, punishment for a road loss to ND at night.  Them only beating Ball St. by 8 I think hurt us).

Joined: 09/30/2011

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Gobgoblue

September 9th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^

By almost all accounts, coaches seem to like Harbaugh.  They think the media goes too crazy for him, but I can't think of anyone who hates him besides maybe Pete Carrol?  Even Dantonio and Urban have a level of respect for him, though it doesn't seem to be reciprocated much. . .

I think it's hard to move the needle on us when:

1.) We lost the only meaningful game we've played thus far.

2.) Coaches don't pay attention to teams not on their radar, like, at all. 

Joined: 07/07/2012

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evenyoubrutus

September 9th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^

I don't want to hear any Sparties complain about Michigan getting the benefit of the doubt ever again. They lost to a team that would probably have finished 2nd to last in our division and they're still ranked.

Joined: 11/04/2008

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TrueBlue2003

September 9th, 2018 at 5:58 PM ^

And that was a true night game in Tempe.  It's very rare that B1G teams that go west actually have to play that late instead of a 330 or 8pm ET start.

And MSU was relatively in control at 13-3 before falling apart in the 4th quarter.  They had given up 3 points and a little over 200 yards in the first 44 minutes of the game.  Then gave up three drives of 60+ yards, 13 points and over 200 yards in the last 16 minutes of the game.  Definitely seems like that late start time on the road had a big impact.

One thing that did stand out was all the zone they played that left guys wiiiiiide open.  I don't remember seeing them play so much zone but their secondary could be an issue without Josiah Scott.

Joined: 01/05/2010

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jmblue

September 9th, 2018 at 6:30 PM ^

I’m surprised MSU lost (I went to bed when it was 13-6) but I thought the game was fairly evenly played.  If ASU had lost it would have been in large part due to their QB misfiring on deep throws over and over, a la Rudock vs. Utah.

Those late starts are a fact of life in the desert in September and I wouldn’t schedule an Arizona team (or UNLV) for that reason, unless they were only willing to come here.

Joined: 11/07/2008

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Matte Kudasai

September 10th, 2018 at 8:44 AM ^

ASU actually looked pretty good.

I thought it was a joke that Herm got the gig but they certainly looked like a well coached team.  They did abandon the run, but even then they had WR running open consistently.

On defense, they were co-ordinated well and were successful pressuring Lewerke on a consistent basis.

And finally, their clock management at the end of the game was perfect.

It will be interesting to see how they do the rest of the way but they were definitely not a bottom rung BIG team.

Joined: 05/04/2016

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oriental andrew

September 9th, 2018 at 4:02 PM ^

Looking at the upcoming schedules, you have to think that msu will win (or at least be heavily favored in) their next 3 games (@Indiana, vs CMU, vs Northwestern). 

Then they play @PSU the week before Michigan in EL. Chalk up PSU as a loss and you have a 4-2 sparty squad. Of course, even if they lose to PSU and UM, they only have one more "challenging" game left with osu in EL. Otherwise, the rest of the games are "should wins" for them. 

Unless they screw the pooch somewhere, they're an 8-4 (maaaybe 7-5) squad this season. 

Michigan has a really tough stretch with Wisconsin, @msu, vs PSU, then @osu to close the season. It's one of those crazy things where an 8-4 season would actually not be THAT bad, although I would absolutely love to beat sparty, nittany, bucky, and bruty (just to keep the theme going)

Joined: 06/30/2008

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LKLIII

September 9th, 2018 at 4:54 PM ^

That’s the crappy thing about this schedule imbalance. We could have a markedly better team this year, but due to the schedule only improve by a game or so & go 9-4 or so by the time bowl season is over.  Meanwhile, had we fielded this years team against last year’s schedule, we could easily have had a 10 win season. 

 

I guess only time will tell.

Joined: 11/06/2013

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TrueBlue2003

September 9th, 2018 at 6:05 PM ^

If we have a markedly better team this year, we should beat PSU and Wisconsin at home and MSU on the road just like we did in 2016.

PSU and MSU appear to both be worse teams than they were last year (with PSU expected to be worse).  Jury is still out on just how tough our schedule is based on early poor results from future opponents.

Win the games.

Joined: 01/05/2010

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Wolverine 73

September 9th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^

Rankings this early are dopey.  They shouldn’t rank teams until after the fifth week when voters have a chance to watch teams play opponents of varying quality.  

Joined: 08/03/2009

MGoPoints: 27282

Ty Butterfield

September 9th, 2018 at 3:24 PM ^

Seems right. Also I hate to say it but I don’t think Michigan would have beaten ASU last night. I think the heat would have done them in just like it did for Staee. 

Joined: 09/07/2009

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flashOverride

September 9th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^

Coaches' Poll is always dumb early in the season. Michigan and Southern Cal...

- both trucked similarly bad teams at home (though Michigan did by twice as many points)

- both lost road games to very good teams (though Michigan did by half as many points)

- Michigan's loss was last week. USC's was yesterday

Now you can say I'm nitpicking, they're one spot higher. Yes. But that still indicates more coaches voted for USC over Michigan than vice-versa, and, based on available data, I don't know how you could do that.

EDIT: I'll grant ND's performance against Ball yesterday was unhelpful

Joined: 08/04/2013

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PapabearBlue

September 9th, 2018 at 6:57 PM ^

Oklahoma jumped 4 spots, including us, in the coaches poll. They did so by beating a fearsome 0-1 South Alabama that went 4-8 last year, prior week they beat Missouri State who went a whopping 3-8 last year.

Polling is a fucking joke.

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