Phil Steele:Michigan has the most experienced depth chart in America, according to one measurement

Submitted by gmgoblue1205 on

Heres the article by MLive.com

 

 

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/06/michigan_has_the_most…

Throughout the final two years of Brady Hoke's tenure at Michigan, the word "youth" was tossed around quite a bit -- whether it made sense or not.

Moving forward for Jim Harbaugh in 2015, any talk about Michigan having a young roster won't make much sense.

According to Phil Steele's annual national two-deep depth chart breakdown, Michigan is the most experienced team in the country at this point.

Michigan has 14 returning seniors with starting experience, and another nine seniors who appear on the two-deep depth chart. Additionally, Michigan returns four juniors with starting experience, and nine juniors with two-deep experience.

Steele's formula for ranking the list reads as follows:

I awarded 3 points for every senior starter (2.5 for every additional senior in the two deep) 2 points for every junior starter (1.5 for every additional junior in the two deep) 1 point for a sophomore starter (0.5 for every additional soph in the two deep) then subtracted 1 point for every frosh starter and .5 for every frosh in the two deep.

Michigan ranks No. 1 on the list with 91 points, followed by Navy, Utah State, Air Force and South Alabama. A year ago, Michigan's 5-7 team ranked No. 122 (out of 128 teams).

The real question, though, is whether or not this means anything.

A year ago, the top five most experienced teams in the country were: 1. Texas-San Antonio (4-8), 2. Louisiana (9-4), 3. Indiana (4-8), 4. Central Michigan (7-6), 5. Mississippi State (10-3).

The four College Football Playoff teams ranked as follows: Ohio State (No. 109), Alabama (No. 107), Oregon (No. 31) and Florida State (No. 39).

Here are Michigan's experience ranks, and overall record, since 2010:

2010: No. 41 (7-6)
2011: No. 19 (11-2)
2012: No. 34 (8-5)
2013: No. 87 (7-6)
2014: No. 122 (5-7)
2015: No. 1 (?)

TheFugitive

June 15th, 2015 at 6:31 PM ^

What do the playoff teams have in common? They have really good coaches and Heisman candidates. Let's try that formula for the next 10 years and see what happens.

MaizeNBlueTexan

June 15th, 2015 at 7:43 PM ^

Looking at Michigan's ranking the past 5 years looks about right.

I'm hoping the results the past 5 years are from the teams raw talent winning games despite being under coached. 

It's also interesting to see a 11-2 season with a seasoned junior Denard Robinson at QB. However, we got a 5-7 season with 5th year Devin Gardner. The supporting cast each of those seasons played just as big a roll as the QBs. 

So many factors go into a football team winning games. I'm being optimistic and hoping that we flip the script from last year and utilize a game managing QB with an above average defense and better offensive supporting cast to get us to a decent record.

Coldwater

June 16th, 2015 at 12:12 AM ^

I'm so glad Steele came up with this stat. Michigan is no longer "young"



So if Michigan loses, we can't blame it on "youth" anymore. It'll be because they are "not good".

BlueKoj

June 16th, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^

I hear you, but if you give credence to this stat then the previous excuse seems to correlate...which you seem to dislike.

Luckily, I think there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about a much improved team this year. Lack of development in previous years may be a reason for less than ideal success, but youth won't be.

Chitown Kev

June 16th, 2015 at 2:16 AM ^

But a B10 championship, while not likely, would not surprise me. Not with Harbaugh as coach.

San Francisco didn't appear to be all that much in Harbaugh's first year, either.

Avon Barksdale

June 16th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

I still just can't seem to point my finger at a loss on the schedule. I've wandered my eyes to the 2024 schedule and see nary a loss in sight with Harbaugh leading the surge.

west2

June 16th, 2015 at 4:24 PM ^

but there are so many other variables.  New coaching staff, new starting QB, questions at receiver & RB, etc.   Phil Steele is very comprehensive and has not been high on Michigan the last 3 years which was on the mark.  Most sane college football analysts aren't going out on a limb about M just yet with predictions in the 8-4/9-3 range.   Wait till game 3 or 4 for that to change.