Ranking Our Remaining Foes From Toughest to Easiest
So after one full week of the season, things have maybe adjusted a little in our minds. YES, IT’S ONLY ONE ONE WEEK, but … Ohio State is not invincible and Michigan State has issues. Iowa and Nebraska are worse than we thought they’d be. Maryland and Rutgers are a little better than we thought they’d be. Hawaii has overtaken UConn as the worst team on our schedule.
My personal ranking of our remaining games, from toughest to easiest (and there’s a pretty severe drop-off from No. 1 to No. 2):
1. @ Ohio State
2. Michigan State
3. Penn State
4. @ Iowa
5. Maryland
6. Illinois
7. @ Rutgers
8. @ Indiana
9. Nebraska
10. UConn
11. Hawaii
September 4th, 2022 at 3:25 PM ^
That 6 through 8 sequence.. I might change it ..
6. @ Indiana,
7. Illinois, and
8. @ Rutgers
Road games always have the potential to be challenging…
September 4th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Swap @ IU for UI
September 4th, 2022 at 3:30 PM ^
Scott Frost and all, but I would still move Nebraska up. And Indiana too.
September 4th, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
I tend to agree. Nebraska at 9 both looked right to me and scares the shit out of me.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:32 PM ^
MSU lost Xavier Henderson and Darius Snow to injuries Friday.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:45 PM ^
They’ll prolly plug a 2 star Panasiuk in there and he’ll end up all big ten. Im salty. I loathe sParty.
September 4th, 2022 at 4:32 PM ^
I have no idea who they are.
September 4th, 2022 at 7:44 PM ^
Henderson is probably their second best player on the defense, starting safety and pretty solid. Snow is a starting linebacker. I haven't seen anything saying they're out for the season though, so maybe they miss a couple games, but it's a long time between now and when we play them.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:33 PM ^
I think people are sleeping on PSU a bit; they have enough raw talent to make that a game especially if Michigan's pass blocking remains an issue. I remain unsold on MSU; they looked meh against a worse team than CSU and Akron (their next opponent) needed OT to beat an okay FCS team. I don't think we'll know much about them until they go to UW but at least PSU has gone and won a game against a good opponent.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:45 PM ^
Bronx, I’m not saying that you’re saying this - but - my view is that many people are being a bit tough - or harsh - about the football happenings in East Lansing.
My view is - I really appreciate their play. I liked - in fact, very much liked - how they played against Western on Friday evening. I hope they don’t change anything - and, I mean ANYTHING. I hope they keep doing - exactly what they did in their opener.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:46 PM ^
I agree -- PSU will definitely give us a fight. That was a solid win on the road in West Lafayette.
And, uh, famous last words, but I think we're sleeping on Rutgers too. I would have them fourth on this list. I don't see them being especially good, but they're not that bad, right? They gutted out a tough win yesterday on the road against an ACC opponent. And they nearly came back against us in the second half of last year's game...
September 4th, 2022 at 9:27 PM ^
Rutgers - and everyone else - plays us like it’s the Super Bowl.
Michigan against everyone!
September 4th, 2022 at 10:02 PM ^
Penn St's defense is going to be tough to go up against...but their O-line is still dreadful. Their run game isn't productive and Poor Damn Clifford will show a ton of moxie but he is going to get beat up every week.
September 4th, 2022 at 10:57 PM ^
You have to feel for Clifford. Dude is a decent QB but just takes a beating every game
September 5th, 2022 at 5:00 AM ^
And at his age, he doesn't recover like he did when he was 24.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:40 PM ^
I would swap MSU and PSU(I expect PSU to beat MSU).
Before yesterday, I had Iowa at Kinnick higher than MSU at the Big House. Might still be there…I could see MSU losing to Washington in two weekends.
September 4th, 2022 at 5:45 PM ^
We can beat Iowa if we hold them to 1 safety.
September 4th, 2022 at 8:10 PM ^
As someone in the Iowa thread said, against Iowa 7-0 is a three score game.
September 4th, 2022 at 8:38 PM ^
That's priceless and hilarious!
At this snapshot in time, I would bump Maryland up over Iowa. We are going to have to score more than 10 points to beat Maryland at home.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:45 PM ^
I have zero fear of Iowa. Zero.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
You better hope their punter doesn't see this
September 4th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
I don’t fear Iowa as a team. But I fear Kinnick.
Something about Iowa playing there allows them to play up or down to all of their competition in a given year.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
I don't fear Iowa at all. I do fear Kinnick just a little.
September 4th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
I think their game plan will be to score 10-15 safeties against us.
September 4th, 2022 at 7:53 PM ^
In kinnick, this is a very real possibility. That place is a house of horrors.
September 4th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
Iowa will go 1 of 2 ways. If its a nooner, they arent scoring. If its a night game, it’ll be terrifying
September 4th, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
And in either scenario, Kirk Ferentz will get hard and possibly even pre-cum upon punting from the opponent's 39 on 4th and 2, pinning UM inside the 10 yard line.
September 4th, 2022 at 10:31 PM ^
Kirk Ferentz's keys to winning football:
1. Win the field position battle
2. Win the time of possession battle
3. Win the total punt yardage battle
September 5th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
Never write that sentence again. Never!
September 4th, 2022 at 4:17 PM ^
It’s too early to make any definitive evaluations of our opponents. Remember that most people on this blog were losing their minds over our team after how Michigan looked in the first handful of games. One or two games is to soon to really know what a team’s season will look like.
September 4th, 2022 at 4:30 PM ^
- OSU
- PSU/MSU tie
- Iowa
- Rutgers/Maryland tie
- everybody else
- hawaii
- uconn
September 4th, 2022 at 4:40 PM ^
I can't help but think that Nebraska is going to eventually regress to the mean. Don't love Frost, but he didn't forget everything about coaching before going to Lincoln, and has a reasonable level of talent. Iowa seems a lot less worrisome than they did on Friday, but Kinnick at night, blah, blah, blah.
September 4th, 2022 at 7:47 PM ^
What is Nebraska's mean under Frost? A 5-7 team? It's not like last year was this random bit of bad luck, he's been bad there for years now. Now, I don't think they'll be terrible, but I think they cap out as a middling West team.
September 4th, 2022 at 9:47 PM ^
He's gone 4-8, 5-7, 3-5, 3-9 and 1-1 so far.
September 4th, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
Where would you put Colorado State?
September 4th, 2022 at 8:12 PM ^
In the rearview.
September 5th, 2022 at 8:26 AM ^
As Charles Woodson would say…In The Dirt
September 4th, 2022 at 7:44 PM ^
Didn't think this was worth a new thread, but about to watch LSU vs. FSU and realized I really can't stand Brian Kelly.
I thought I just hated ND and just happened to be another insufferable piece of their program...but nope...he sucks.
I actually think I hate ND a little less with Freeman as coach tbh.
September 4th, 2022 at 10:47 PM ^
Agreed, Freeman seems very authentic, and even being a Buckeye, he is likable. Brian Kelly, not so much. That commit video still gives me nightmares….
September 4th, 2022 at 11:35 PM ^
same, although still hate ND
September 4th, 2022 at 7:49 PM ^
I would flip Rutgers over Illinois and Nebraska over Indiana.
September 4th, 2022 at 7:53 PM ^
Pretty weak schedule.
September 4th, 2022 at 11:33 PM ^
Looks good, although I would flip Iowa and PSU considering at Iowa /Kinnick and having PSU at the Big House. Im too lazy to check but believe its been forever since we defeated Iowa at Kinnick
September 5th, 2022 at 12:56 AM ^
I think the mighty Wolverines win all these games, but here is what I think order of teams is:
an Ohio State
Penn State
Michigan State
Iowa
Nebraska
Maryland
Indiana
Rutgers
Illinois
UConn
Hawaii
September 5th, 2022 at 9:16 AM ^
I would definitely move Nebraska up om your list. They've been losing a lot but they are always competitive.
September 5th, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
Fair. I don't see a loss on the schedule.
September 5th, 2022 at 6:54 PM ^
This could be the easiest schedule UM has had in a long # of years. If they don't go 10-2 it is clear Carol Hutchins needs to be fired.