2012 Preseason AP Poll: Michigan #8

Submitted by Leaders And Best on

Bob Asmussen of Champaign News-Gazette voted Michigan #1.

1 Southern Cal (25) 10-2 1,445 6
2 Alabama (17) 12-1 1,411 1
3 LSU (16) 13-1 1,402 2
4 Oklahoma (1) 10-3 1,286 16
5 Oregon 12-2 1,274 4
6 Georgia 10-4 1,107 19
7 Florida St. 9-4 1,093 23
8 Michigan (1) 11-2 1,000 12
9 South Carolina 11-2 994 9
10 Arkansas 11-2 963 5
11 West Virginia 10-3 856 17
12 Wisconsin 11-3 838 10
13 Michigan St. 11-3 742 11
14 Clemson 10-4 615 22
15 Texas 8-5 569 NR
16 Virginia Tech 11-3 548 21
17 Nebraska 9-4 485 24
18 Ohio St. 6-7 474 NR
19 Oklahoma St. 12-1 430 3
20 TCU 11-2 397 14
21 Stanford 11-2 383 7
22 Kansas St. 10-3 300 15
23 Florida 7-6 214 NR
24 Boise St. 12-1 212 8
25 Louisville 7-6 105 NR


http://bigstory.ap.org/college-football-ap-top-25

Bob Asmussen Champaign News-Gazette ballot: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/top25/index.php?SITE=AP&name=ASMUSSEN

KAYSHIN15

August 18th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^

Im expecting us to look good doing it. I believe that first place vote is the first of many we will receive this year. You should feel that way too if you really believe in what Hoke and the crew are building. Bama is young and this is the most vulnerable they will be all year. We will take advantage of that.

Logan88

August 18th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^

First off, don't include me in your "....we always complain about a lack of quality games in the OOC season..." statement because I don't feel that way at all. I'm always in favor of playing a moderately challenging OOC schedule, but that is NOT what UM is doing this season. This is an insanely difficult OOC schedule and UM will not get rewarded for it.

The smart way to schedule OOC games is to play against teams whose names you recognize but aren't really all that great. To wit, OSU is playing Cal this season. Cal is a "name" team in that you don't snicker when you see OSU is playing them, but they are actually not that good so they should be a pretty easy win for OSU. In my opinion, Cal is only marginally better than Air Force (who UM is playing after Bama) and Air Force is only UM's 3rd hardest OOC game. Stupid scheduling by Brandon IMO.

All I am saying is, don't go whining at the end of the season because UM only finished the regular season 7-5 or 8-4 while thumping your pulpit about how important it is to play a tough OOC schedule. If UM had scheduled intelligently (already having road games at ND, at Nebraska and at OSU), they would have played 3 "easy" OOC games besides the ND game to improve the chances of getting to 10 wins and a season that the fans could be happy with.

ZooWolverine

August 18th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^

Not as mushroom-cloudy as I would have predicted, but there are some racist comments about "Poles."

Also, I thought you were being hyperbolic, but nope--both are real topics on the front page and there really are 40 pages trying to solve a simple expression, and from a quick glance at page 1 and page 40, the whole thing is still about trying to calculate the answer.

LSAClassOf2000

August 18th, 2012 at 10:28 AM ^

Back on the 1st of this month, a thread asked the blog to predict the AP and Coaches' Poll preseason rankings. This blog can certainly call them - 5 got the Coaches' ranking right, but 6 folks got this one correct. Good job, MGoBlog!

 

Eye of the Tiger

August 18th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^

Even though the SEC is generally considered the best league (for good reason). USC is the most complete team, and has the clearest roadmap to an undefeated season, though playing Oregon twice won't be easy. 

Logan88

August 18th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^

Based on my expectation of UM finishing the post-season 9-4, even that is a little bit higher than I think UM will wind up in the final poll. I forsee a 16-20 ranking for UM when all is said and done.

Given UM's depth issues on both sides of the line and the brutal schedule, I'll be perfectly happy if they meet my prediction.

Harperbole

August 18th, 2012 at 11:51 AM ^

While there are a few teams too high IMO (Oregon, Arkansas) and a few teams a little low (VT, WVU) I think that Overall I'd say the AP has come up with the most reasonable poll this year. Of course It's also great to see someone is giving us that MNC love also.

RedGreene

August 18th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^

You don't know how anyone can put together a poll be fore the season starts... yet you go on to say where you think Michigan should be ranked?  I love sparty logic.

1 percent

August 18th, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^

So, you are definitely a sparty due to the use of 'bro.' And he is saying you knocked preseason polls and then went on to say where you thought Michigan should be ranked in the preseason.

Leonhall

August 18th, 2012 at 5:25 PM ^

Dont tell me I'm a Sparty...both of you are clueless in that regard. The reason why I don't like preseason polls is due to the fact that they are based off what??? Pure speculation, the opposite of any poll for the remainder of the year. Personally, I think we are more in the range of a 13-15 team but what is that based off? That is the reason why I dislike preseason polls...they are based off nothing and just create overreactions of why certain teams are ranked where they are. So there you have it "bro...."

DeepBlue83

August 18th, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^

13-15 would be more reasonable for us.  With our talent level and depth, especially on the lines, and our schedule, it will be tough to do better than 9-3, and that's probably not good enough for a top 10 finish.

GoBlueInIowa

August 18th, 2012 at 3:36 PM ^

Completely agree that is where we should probably be.



I say the real determining factor of the season (low teens or top five) may come down to Denard realizing or not that the 3rd or possibly 2nd option when he drops back is him tucking and running. I can't count the times where we got killed by opposing QBs dropping back, if the first two options aren't open tucking it and running for 11 yards in a 3rd and 8 - think McNab, Prior, Smith, Young, etc. if Denard can realize that he does not have to prove he can pass every time that he drops back. That if the back 7 have to respect him taking off, that it will open everything up. Think about a DB covering a 15 yard out on a 3rd and 8 - Denard starts moving towards the line of scrimmage on that side, if as a DB you realize that he is probably going to take off, that if you don't attack now that he will get 10 yards before you make up the 5 - what do you do? What they will start to do is start cheating up and leaving their coverage, which will then open up some huge plays in the passing game. If Denard does this, it could be a very special season - BIG title, Heisman, and possibly playing for it all.



Now if Denard continues to try to find someone and just throws it up for grabs, we will still have a successful season but not a special one.

Leaders And Best

August 18th, 2012 at 12:01 PM ^

The journalists in the Big Ten footprint were much lower on Michigan than the ones outside of Big Ten country.  I think the average rank for Michigan of Big Ten journalists is between 10 and 11, and that includes Bob Asumssen's outlier.  Probably where I would have had us ranked as well.

Big Ten journalists were higher on MSU and Wisconsin than others and lower on Nebraska in addition to Michigan.

LSAClassOf2000

August 18th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^

I wondered about this too - here are the average rankings given to various Big Ten teams by reporters in the Big Ten footprint:

MICHIGAN 10  
MICHIGAN STATE 13
NEBRASKA 18
OHIO 16
WISCONSIN 11
     
ALABAMA 3 2.55
LSU 3 2.82
USC 2 2.45
OKLAHOMA 5 4.54
OREGON 5 4.63

For contrast, I took some perennial favorites as well and did that calculation, then realized that rounding up wasn't sufficiently transparent. To the right, I left some numbers beyond the decimal point to show how closely they are clustered in the selected ballots. 

Leaders And Best

August 18th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^

Chart.  Including Philadelphia may be a stretch, but Penn State is the closest major BCS team. OSU and Nebraska average is inflated because cannot accurately include NR in the average, but Nebraska's Big Ten average is still higher than their actual rank even without the NRs.

  Michigan MSU Wisconsin OSU Nebraska
Ft Wayne 11 18 8 16 21
Champaign 1 14 11 20 18
Lincoln 12 7 15 20 16
Lansing 13 9 12 18 NR
Columbus Dispatch 9 15 11 12 18
Wisconsin 14 8 11 NR 18
Minneapolis 11 9 15 7 NR
Ann Arbor 8 12 11 13 18
Columbus radio 10 16 12 14 18
Cleveland 9 14 12 17 16
Cedar Rapids 11 16 10 19 12
Philadelphia 8 12 14 NR 17
South Bend 15 10 6 22 19
           
Average 10.15385 12.30769 11.38462 16.18182 17.36364

 

Logan88

August 18th, 2012 at 4:40 PM ^

Man, I am so sick of dicks who down vote any opinion expressed on a topic that isn't rapturously enthusiastic about how f*cking AWESOME!!!! UM is going to be this season.

If you don't agree with an opinion just reply with your (hopefully, well reasoned) response, downvoting should be left for truly offensive posting behavior, not just "I don't like your opinion" votes. That is just so lame.