2012 Preseason AP Poll: Michigan #8
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
August 18th, 2012 at 10:56 AM ^
voted Michigan #1 in his June poll too.
http://www.illinihq.com/sports/illini-sports/football/2012-06-04/asmuss…
August 18th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^
Here's the same info in a format that may be easier to manipulate and/or check out highs, lows, each voter, etc. Here's Michigan.
August 18th, 2012 at 10:24 AM ^
Arkansas #10 with JLS as coach....
August 18th, 2012 at 10:53 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 10:44 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
You don't really expect UM to beat Bama, do you?
Personally, I'm just hoping UM looks respectable (and cursing Dave Brandon for scheduling this game).
August 18th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
Personally, I'm just hoping UM looks respectable (and cursing Dave Brandon for scheduling this game).
So hold on, we always complain about a lack of quality games in the OoC season, and now that we have a game, it's "Damnit Brandon, why did you schedule this game!"
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 10:30 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^
I might have to visit the ole rcmb for some good laughs....those guys are going to be taking the preseason ap poll extremely seriously.
August 18th, 2012 at 11:52 AM ^
over East Landfill from here.
And in other off-topic RCMB new, they are up to 40 pages on the debate over the solution to the equation 48÷2(9+3)
Also the "orgy teacher" may be hot or not
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 5:32 PM ^
2.2857143 be so elusive? Oh! MSU students. Makes sense.
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!
August 18th, 2012 at 10:30 AM ^
14 days.......
August 18th, 2012 at 10:31 AM ^
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 10:37 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 10:45 AM ^
Now let's get this Pick Six competition going again!
August 18th, 2012 at 10:48 AM ^
Seriously, How drunk was this guy when he voted. God bless crown royal.
August 18th, 2012 at 10:55 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 11:05 AM ^
From Notre Dame beat writer Eric Hansen of South Bend Tribune with Michigan at #15:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/top25/index.php?SITE=AP&name=HANSEN
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 11:40 AM ^
Polls don't matter. The goal is to win the B1G championship and beat ohio.
This Is Michigan.
August 18th, 2012 at 11:51 AM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 11:55 AM ^
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 5:25 PM ^
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 3:36 PM ^
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.
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.
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.
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 |
August 18th, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 3:16 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
If Lou Holtz had a ballot, Notre Dame would have a #1 vote, too.
August 18th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^
I can't believe there is only one voter who knows what the hell he's doing. Thank you, Bob.
August 18th, 2012 at 7:02 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 3:48 PM ^
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.
August 18th, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
August 18th, 2012 at 6:10 PM ^
Agreed. Downvoting seems to be becoming more and more popular lately...
August 18th, 2012 at 6:24 PM ^