October 27th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
It would be awesome if Michigan won out. Probably will not happen and may not win the BIG, but if they were to win out and finish 10-2, beating Notre Dame, MSU and osu - that would be a hell of a season in my opinion.
October 27th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
Yeah but unfortunately Harbaugh would have to be fired because he didn't win the Big Ten. That's how it works apparently
October 27th, 2019 at 1:03 PM ^
Lol at making up hypothetical scenarios to defend Harbaugh from now.
October 27th, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
Lol at policing threads the day after a top 10 win for comments too flattering of Harbaugh.
You're just going to have to take the L on this one. There's a few more very unlikely chances for you this year, but you're likely going to have to wait until OSU to start up with your bullshit again.
Your team will need to replace Dantonio, you should place your focus there
October 27th, 2019 at 2:58 PM ^
Aww shucks, you got me. I'm a sparty on the super long con.
It's not my fault the win wasn't good enough for some of you guys.
October 27th, 2019 at 11:43 AM ^
Full rankings.
(Jesus, after being a mess last year, OSU is #1 in defense - and #5 in offense)
October 27th, 2019 at 11:50 AM ^
I guess that Mattison hire worked out for them. But Mattison defenses had a tendency to wear down while he was at Michigan, and not be at their best in November. Let's hope for the same this year.
October 27th, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
Mattison was the perfect DC for OSU's roster. He coaches a solid, safe, bend but don't break defense. When you have the superior talent that OSU has, you don't need fancy stuff to confuse offenses, just play your assignment and count on your guys beating their guys. If you don't give up big plays, the offense needs to out scheme your defense again and again to score and odds are in your defense's favor.
When you don't have that talent advantage, you are better off with an aggressive defense going for big negative plays. Sure you give up some big plays, but a sack or big TFL can quickly shut down a drive and kick the offense off the field.
And I think the wear down over the season was more due to lack of quality depth at Michigan, and a poor offense on the other side of the ball. When the game stays close, you have to play your starters more while Mattison can easily pull anyone at halftime so far this year.
October 27th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
I'm hoping this year is the inverse of past years. This time it will be OSU, not Michigan, that peaks too early, and Michigan the team that has it all come together with a great game plan. Plus this will be OSU's (and Day's) toughest road test thus far.
And reminder: Ryan Day has never beaten a Top 10 team!
October 27th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
Clearly there's an inverted pentagram under midfield at that stadium. We're gonna need a young priest and an old priest, just not from South Bend... we'll need much, much better priests.
October 27th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
Good thing we don't play at that stadium this year.
October 27th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
It's annoying though. It seems like we're always the decided underdog in years we play OSU at home and closer to even with them when we play them on the road. I don't care what Vegas says, home field advantage in college football is huge. Look at the PSU, Wisconsin and ND series recently.
If we could have played them at Michigan Stadium in 2006 and 2016, we're probably in the BCS/playoff those years. Maybe even last year, too. That was a wobbly OSU team coming off an overtime scare at Maryland. Coming home to the Horseshoe was exactly what they needed.
(OTOH, if we had gone to Columbus in 2017 with John O'Korn at QB, that would have been rough...)
October 27th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Agree 100%. We always seem to be in Columbus in years that we're even or slightly favored. Home field advantage is very real in college football.
October 27th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
A quick google search shows that NFL teams win about 58% at home and college teams about 59%. But that includes a lot of cup cake games for college teams, so it seems like it is lower for college teams. I couldn't find any stats for conference games only which would be more accurate.
I am suprised it is that high in the NFL and that college may be lower. You would think professional would be less subject to crowd noise, travel etc.
https://www.lineups.com/articles/how-important-is-home-field-advantage-in-the-nfl/
October 27th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
I think it's apples and oranges though, as the disparity between the best and worst college teams is bigger than that between the best and worst NFL team, I think. The NFL has some bad teams every year of course, but they're not usually Rutgers levels of inept. College has a bunch of teams that bad every year.
If you could limit the sample to say, the top 60 college teams in a given year, I think you'd see homefield being pretty significant (more than the NFL).
October 27th, 2019 at 11:51 AM ^
#balling
October 27th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
The cream is rising. This is a great team; a sleeping giant that has awoken. Go blue!
October 27th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Finish strong!! Keep the intensity at all times!!
October 27th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
Indiana (23) is now ahead of Notre Dame (25) for state dominance
The Big 10 East has 5 teams in the Top 29 (most of any division). The Big 10 overall has 5 of the Top 12 (almost most -- SEC has 5 of Top 13).
October 27th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
Is this the first year in like forever that Indiana became bowl eligible before Michigan? They hit it a few hours before Michigan.
Indiana hasn't had 7 wins since 2007 and 8 since 1993.
Entertainment-wise, I'll be curious to see if they can win another two (Northwestern & Purdue) to crack 8 wins.
October 27th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^
Gotta give credit to that Jack o Lantern Tom Allen for getting IU bowl eligible before Halloween.
Then again I don't think Indiana wins many games in November so they better clinch now.
October 27th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
Better to see these stats as we head into the last 4 games and not the first 4 games of the season.
October 27th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
What’s crazy is that based on these numbers, Michigan is almost sure to be a much bigger favorite against MSU than Indiana. If Vegas tracks closely with this (it doesn’t always), and if the games were played today, we’d be only a 3-4 point favorite at IU and a 10-12 point favorite against MSU.
That IU game always seems to be a trap game. Going to be even more do this season.
October 27th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
Is there anywhere to look at the SP+ numbers in more detail like you could before Connelly went to ESPN? All I'm finding is his weekly list article on ESPN.
October 27th, 2019 at 6:48 PM ^
I'm most surprised that MSU is somehow #29 in SP+.
That game should be an easy win, but I have a feeling it'll be close/ugly. It's their Super Bowl, especially in a year like this where there isn't anything else left for them. That said, I'm confident Michigan wins as of now, I just think it'll be closer than most people expect.
October 27th, 2019 at 11:23 PM ^
Maybe. But it is at home. Could be wrong but always seemed in the Carr days we'd beat State easily at home and then on the road it'd be a real fight no matter how good or bad State was.