Magnum P.I.

October 14th, 2012 at 12:30 PM ^

Why is Ohio not among the lowest ranked undefeated teams? They should be below Oregon St, Mississippi St, and Louisville with the way they've played. Every win has been a squeaker except Nebraska.

BlockM

October 14th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^

Yuk yuk yuk, you know what I mean. Rankings will never be based on team A beat team B who beat team C.  Just because one team beats another in one game doesn't mean a) that they'll be ranked higher or b) they're the better team. 

BlockM

October 14th, 2012 at 5:17 PM ^

Hah, you're right, and I apologize. I always jump to that argument when people complain about how one team is ranked higher than another despite just losing. 

EGD

October 14th, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^

There are still lots of undefeated and 1-loss teams, since we are only two weeks into conference play.  If we beat State, we should make a pretty good jump.

EGD

October 14th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^

MSU's record may not be very good, but I still think a win against MSU will carry some cachet with the AP voters because MSU has beaten us four straight seasons.  Ending that streak sends a clear signal that the program has taken a step forward.  

Then again, you could be right.  State doesn't really get a whole lot of national respect even when they are winning, so maybe the voters will not think much of a UM win.

Mmmm Hmmm

October 14th, 2012 at 12:51 PM ^

The Big East and Big 12 have a number of teams ranked above Michigan that have yet to play each other; it is unlikely that all stay ranked where they are after head-to-head games lead to some or all of them collecting some losses.  Voters have not tended to give teams in the Big East (unlike *cough* the SEC) the benefit of the doubt when the lose a few league games.

turtleboy

October 14th, 2012 at 3:59 PM ^

I was looking at that, too. Teams ahead of us likely to lose, or get challenged soon:

#3 Florida could lose to South Carolina this week, and Georgia/FSU wont be easy. 

#4KState will be challenged by Texas Tech, TCU, and maybe Texas. 

#5Notre Dame should've lost twice now at home, and likely will @Oklahoma and @USC.

#8Oregon State hasn't beaten anybody, and likely won't survive against Washington, Stanford, Cal, and USC.

#10Oklahoma has trap games @Iowa State, @West Virginia, and @TCU. They can run up the score, but they defend like Baylor.

#12Florida State should derp away another game, or maybe two, just because that's what they do. @Virginia Tech looks like the ideal game to lose, so they'll probably crush VTech and lose to Duke for no reason, lol.

#14Clemson still has VTech, NCState, and South Carolina, and they let everybody put up 4+ touchdowns on them.

#15Mississippi State plays @Alabama, A@M, and @LSU. Yeah.

The Big East teams like #16Louisville, #19Rutgers, and #21Cincy all play each other soon. We'll jump them in no time.

#17West Virginia got humiliated against a normal Texas Tech defense. At this rate losses to KState, TCU, Oklahoma, and maybe even @Iowa State are in the cards. @Oklahoma State will be Baylor round 2, and it's even remotely possible that their last game against Kansas will be their only other win this year. They're eerily reminiscent of 2009/2010 Michigan: Great out of the gate, struggling for bowl eligibilty by seasons end.

#18Texas Tech plays @KState, and @TCU next. Those 3 I expect to take turns losing to each other.

#22 Stanford will likely lose @ Oregon.

 

DanGoBlue

October 14th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^

Michigan's losses are to the #1 & #5 teams in the poll, while Stanford's losses are to the #5 & an unranked U-W team. Both of Stanford's losses are more recent. The reasoning isn't there, but these things (polls) are not about reason. Better to be aware, but not care too much.

Rose Bowl ho!

 

turtleboy

October 14th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^

By seasons end I expect Ohio to keep surviving and staying ranked, and then we beat them at seasons end. When we do ND will likely have already lost @Oklahoma, and just lost @USC. Can you imagine the schadenfruede when we pass 2 loss ND in the polls? Oregon against Bama for the BCSNCG, Michigan/USC for the Rose Bowl, and one loss Big12, ACC, and undefeated Big East teams in the other 3 bowls blocking ND from the BCS. Lmfao

coastal blue

October 14th, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^

We're going to be a slow rising team this year. Even though I think we've been just as impressive as say, Ohio State, the fact is we did lose two games early and that sets a team back. 

We also don't have many chances to jump a bunch of spots due to our own performance. Two of our big games (MSU and Nebraska) are looking less and less like potential impressive victories. As of now, Ohio is the only ranked team on the schedule and they have looked as shaky as a 7-0 team can be. 

 

Muttley

October 14th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^

We are a close #2 in the two-loss club, so we're not going to get much upward movement in the unrecognized two-loss group.

However, my rule of thumb is that if you continue winning, it takes about 3-5 weeks to halve your ranking.  If we continue winning, we'll rise to a respectable ranking in the relevant-to-fan-talk polls.

aiglick

October 14th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^

I think it's still pretty fair. If we win the next game I think the needle moves a little more but again at that point State would be a sub-.500 team (please please please) so probably not much. This year everybody is right that the rankings mean next to nothing to us since no Big Ten team is getting a second BCS bid due to extenuating circumstances (lol Ohio).

If things keep going to plan then by the end of the year the Rose Bowl could be a Top 10 affair with Michigan having a somewhat decent chance to get a Rose Bowl win for the first time in a long time and a pair of BCS wins in a long, long time.

All that said let's just focus on State and beat the crap out of them, politely.

snarling wolverine

October 14th, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^

Forever, actually. We've never won back-to-back BCS bowls (or equivalent, in the pre-BCS era):

True, although it's worth noting that before 1975, the Big Ten didn't allow its teams to go to bowls other than the Rose, and prior to 1972 you couldn't go to that two straight years, either.

artds

October 14th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^

The fact that our two ass-whoopings were nationally televised is costing us at least 3 spots in the polls and probably more.

No worries. If in fact this team is worthy of a BCS bowl, they will have an opportunity to crack the top 14.