UM up to #10 in SP+
UM being Minnesota, that is. Michigan, on the other hand, is at #11... as per Bill Connelly's week 10 posting at ESPN.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:28 PM ^
Don’t try to be too cute.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
Dumb title.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
Don't try and get my hopes up like that again.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:33 PM ^
46th in offense is shameful with the OL, WRs, RBs we have.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
To state the obvious, it's weird how bad the QB play has been since Harbaugh arrived. I don't want or expect Harbaugh to shit on Shea Patterson, but I'd love to hear his thoughts on what's gone wrong, whether it's poor talent evaluation, poor development, poor play-calling, or something else.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
It’s the talent at the position
qbs on the roster since harbaugh arrived
Ruddock- best of the bunch and commanded the offense like we expect a QB to do so.
Bellomy
Speight- showed moments but he was coached up better than his abilities
JOK- self explanatory
Morris- I will always believe mono ruined his career.
Malzone- never was a Big Ten caliber QB
Peters- Harbaughs first real miss, hasn’t shown much at Illinois
Patterson- showed moments but is coached up better than his abilities, look back at Ole Miss never made reads.
McCafferey & Milton- Jury is still out, will look really bad if either pans out to be Peters.
November 3rd, 2019 at 4:31 PM ^
Probably has more to do with the turnover at offensive coordinator. Hard to build off of development when you start over every year.
November 3rd, 2019 at 7:33 PM ^
This is a tough one. Turnover at OC is definitely a factor but development and recruiting have been weird too. Easy answer is both but I'd lean more towards the OC turnover/philosophy. Pep, Drevno and Gattis haven't exactly done us any favors in the playcalling department.
Some QB's didn't develop like I thought they would (Peters) but that could easily be a lower ceiling than we thought too. But we've gotten more out of some guys than I thought we would (Rudock and Speight).
Harbaugh got a lot out of Rudock (yes, RS Sr. but JH got every last drop of ability out of him) and Speight before Iowa broke him. Had some bad luck with JOK and Peters was a swing and a miss on the recruiting trail or lack of development - not necessarily Harbaugh's fault (not absolving him either) if a kid doesn't develop as expected. You can't turn everyone into Andrew Luck.
I think Shea has been a victim of Gattis not playing to his QB's strengths. If we as fans can see Shea can't make the right RPO/zone reads and passing progressions it's gotta be obvious to the staff. More of the square peg, round hole BS we've seen since RichRod and Hoke.
As said before, McCaffrey and Milton are still TBD and I honestly have no idea what either will end up being but I'd be surprised if McCaffrey wasn't the starter next year.
To me, and my layman's eye and opinion, McCaffrey "looks" like he could be a good one, has the pedigree and he doesn't appear to have any issues with confidence, or competence, when he's been in there (small sample size, yes). He's certainly not afraid to pull it and run, his passing is 'check back later' but who the hell knows.
November 3rd, 2019 at 11:34 PM ^
I call bullcrap on talent. OSU has put out amazing QB play and their QBs suck at the next level. It’s more than a talent thing.
November 3rd, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
He was recently asked about the QB position development, as the reporter was trying to get answers to those questions and Harbaugh didn’t want to answer because he “don’t want to toot my own horn.” I think he’s pleased with the QB play and really minus the first halves of the Wisconsin and Penn State games, the offense has moved the ball really well. Early in the season they just killed themselves with fumbles. Things weren’t great Saturday, but it’s hard to complain about a 31 point win against anybody.
November 3rd, 2019 at 10:22 PM ^
Are those great WRs being used like they're great WRs? They get like 2 or 3 passes a game.
November 4th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
Considering Michigan's offense finished 2018 at #25 in SP+, the off-season coaching change - the change to which this drop in rating can be most attributed - does not appear to be having the desired effect. With 4 games left (incl. whatever bowl game), the prospect for matching last season's performance is not looking very great.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Michigan is 10 in Sagarin’s Ratings. Wisconsin is 8, PSU 5, tOSU 1. The other B1G UM is 25.
November 3rd, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
How can this be? We didn’t get enough yards against Maryland.
/s ...since digital snark is sometimes hard to detect
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
No politics.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:59 PM ^
I voted for Bush and I thought it was hilarious.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
Of course you did.
November 3rd, 2019 at 5:03 PM ^
If Gerald Ford was still alive, he would trip over a chair from laughing so hard.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
Townshend wisdom transcends mere politics!
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
Win the damn games, and we'll be Top 6 heading into OSU game. Just take care of business.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
If Michigan wins out until osu...it will be a top 10 Michigan vs a top 3 osu.
go blue.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:58 PM ^
This is probably true...I just don’t know how anyone can feel excited about this matchup. We’d have a better shot at coming in with zero expectations. I do envy your optimism though. Shea Patterson will not beat OSU, though I’m open to him proving me wrong.
November 3rd, 2019 at 3:18 PM ^
While I understand what you're saying, a turnover here and there and who knows. But, yeah, Shea will have no room for error and will have to get rid of the ball quick. Everybody keeps talking about Chase Young but the real issue is the rest of the DL. It's hard at times doubling him because of the rest of the talent on the DL. But, with that said, I think our defense matches up with their offense well, I guess we'll see.
November 10th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^
I hear ya on not wanting to come into The Game with expectations, but it has happened before. Notable (recent) wins, and an almost win, include..
1995: #18 (8-3) Michigan beat #2 (11-0) OSU - ruining their undefeated season and a chance at a national title.
1996: #21 (7-3) Michigan beat #2 (10-0) OSU, in Columbus, again ruining their undefeated season and shot a national title.
2013: unranked (8-3) Michigan ALMOST upsets #3 (11-0) OSU.
So there is precedent that a Michigan team that has no business beating OSU can actually do that. Shea Patterson is no Devin Gardner but it IS possible Michigan can pull off an upset, especially at home.
November 3rd, 2019 at 3:08 PM ^
Mich will get more love in the polls just prior to OSU if they win out and are 9 and 2. Of the next two games, @IN makes me nervous.
November 3rd, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
We should absolutely destroy Dumbtonio and little brother - everybody has this year. But yeah, I agree with you, Indiana makes me a little nervous too.
November 3rd, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
Indiana games are always weird. I’m sure we’ve been circled on their schedule and they will come at us like it’s the Intergalactic championship game of the century.
November 3rd, 2019 at 10:23 PM ^
If it's that way, even if Michigan wins, Ohio St still goes to the BIG 10 Championship, and probably into the final 4 playoffs.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
I love clickbait
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
A real knee-slapper.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
Am I the only one who feels like S&P isn't really passing the eyeball test this year? I honestly can't figure out how our defense could be ranked as high as it is or how Minnesota is a top 10 team according to advanced metrics
November 3rd, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
Connelly said something about how they've had the luck of facing a string of backup QBs, and are beating up on the lower half of the Big Ten with their running game (while the conference itself is elevated). Therefore they might be a smidge overrated. The last third of the schedule is much tougher, so they will corroborate their ranking or drop accordingly.
November 3rd, 2019 at 7:36 PM ^
It's possible Minnesota could lose-out the rest of the way. I don't buy their rankings either.
November 3rd, 2019 at 10:02 PM ^
I can't imagine them losing to Northwestern, even with Fitzgerald's usual knack for playing teams close. Northwestern has some of the worst QB play I've seen from a non-Rutgers Big 10 team.
However, it's very possible Minnesota will be underdogs in their other three remaining games.
November 3rd, 2019 at 9:00 PM ^
Their luck with the schedule has definitely propped them up. They would lose 3-4 in the east.
November 3rd, 2019 at 8:21 PM ^
Someone talked about this after Penn State, but good teams score points against good defenses nowadays. That's just how it is. I know everyone hates Franklin and thinks he's the worst coach in the conference somehow, but he's not that bad, and they have some weapons (and they use them). Michigan's only really poor performance on D this year has been against Wisconsin.
If SP+ is really off, then Minnesota should get blown out, as it stands now they should be slight underdogs. Their rough start is a bit overblown. Their close wins sure as hell don't look any worse than Michigan against Army. One of their close wins involved a bunch of crazy bad turnover luck. And the last 4 teams have been weak, but they've hammered every single one of them. And yes, that matters. Just like Michigan struggling against a bad Army team was an indication of what might happen against Wisconsin.
November 3rd, 2019 at 1:59 PM ^
It's still not clear to me why Northwestern University is NU and the University of Nebraska is ALSO NU.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:11 PM ^
As they say, in Lincoln the N stands for Nowledge.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:33 PM ^
Case in point:
Scott Frost criticizes players for wearing hoodies during warmups…while wearing a hoodie https://t.co/gtHjQ04jMW
— Saturday Tradition (@Tradition) October 27, 2019
November 4th, 2019 at 5:10 AM ^
Big 12 schools have a tradition of flipping the initials so that they're unique to the more common initials
KU, OU, CU, NU despite the fact that all schools are University of...
It's dumb and makes the schools look like they don't understand how acronyms work. Perfect for the big 12
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:06 PM ^
Rowing the douche canoe.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
little man in the boat
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
Worthless thread
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:23 PM ^
Sounds about right. Ok offense, great defense.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Minnesota wants bama
November 3rd, 2019 at 10:25 PM ^
Be careful what you wish for.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
Fell for the clickbait title.
November 3rd, 2019 at 2:44 PM ^
I know SP+ is near gospel to some, but the rankings don't make sense to me. Minnesota at #10? Washington, Iowa St, and Texas A&M in the top 20? Feels like whatever fancy stats they're using are getting duped because none of that passes the eyeball test
November 3rd, 2019 at 8:24 PM ^
A good exercise to think about is who do you put over them? People seem to have some ideal about what it means to be a top 20 team, but give us a few teams you think should be ranked above Washington, ISU, and A&M. It's harder than you'd think. Mizzou? No way. MSU? No. 5-4 Miami? No.
t's college football. Teams are flawed. That's why it's fun and crazy.