Michigan #25 - AP Poll

Submitted by mzdmv on

Michigan is #25 in the AP Poll.

Top 5:

1. Alabama

2. Oregon

3. South Carolina

4. Florida

5. West Virginia

 

B1G:

8. Ohio St

25. Michigan

.....welcome to the 2012 B1G season everyone!

 

Full poll HERE

Perkis-Size Me

October 7th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^

Only Michigan and Ohio are ranked. Welcome back to the Big 2, Little 8.

The back-to-back MSU and Nebraska games will likely be the defining moments of the season. If we can knock both of them off, which is very doable, I'd say we have likely punched our ticket to Indy. Still, I guess we can't write off Northwestern.

DanGoBlue

October 7th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^

Alabama gave a nationally televised thrashing in all facets. And Notre Dame harnessed Denard and revealed the ineffectiveness of the offense on national television too. Michigan's offense has been far too one-dimensional, even in the games won handily. As much as I love seeing Denard do what he does best (tucking and running), the offense needs to step it up.

Relying solely on Denard's running is unsustainable long term and won't be enough to stay at #25. He's not going to hold up through the B1G season running 20+ times a games. As much as I don't want to see him throw the ball (still smarting from ND), Michigan needs to find a way to establish a passing game to keep teams honest and open things up for Fitz & Rawls.

tbeindit

October 7th, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^

I don't agree with this statement AT ALL.  The problem isn't running Denard, the problem is we're not running him enough.  You see the instant impact he has when he tucks the ball.  The other thing I think people are discounting is the fact that he isn't taking many hits.  This is not 2010 Denard, it's rare that he will be involved in a physical tackle anymore.  I remember specifically watching for it during the Purdue game and seeing him just go out of bounds or dive early to avoid hits.  He's not going to wear down from these type of hits, if anything I think he gets beat up more in the pocket than running the ball.

With the players we have on offense, the whole game should start by running the ball, either with Fitz or Denard.  Our passing should not be the main part of our offense, it should just be something to threaten the defense and use in late game situations.  Look at the game against Purdue.  Yes, I know it's Purdue, but the passing was more of just a threat then anything else.  

DanGoBlue

October 7th, 2012 at 9:23 PM ^

I don't think running Denard more is key to sustained success. Michigan's offense is becoming incredibly one dimensional and I don't mean running versus passing. I mean running Denard versus anything else. Michigan needs to be able to run Fitz and Rawls effectively, but the passing game is not keeping teams honest and opponents are lining up and begging Denard to beat them. Yes, that's worked and may very well work well enough to get through a chunk of the B1G season, but you're not going to convince me its sustainable. Successfully running Fitz & Rawls is sustainable and to do that Michigan really needs to develop enough of a passing game to at least threaten other teams and loosen things up front.

Sten Carlson

October 7th, 2012 at 3:27 PM ^

So let me get this straight Dan.  You don't want Denard to run because you think he's going to get hurt --despite the fact that he's not missed significant time since 2010 -- and you don't want to see him throw.  Sure am glad that YOU are not the OC for Michigan.

Face it, Michigan's offense revolves around Denard.  He's a great runner and a fine passer -- he just had a bad game versus ND in the face of a gap blitzes.  I am not disagreeing that Michigan needs to get the RB more involved.  But, all the team can do is what is can do.  Denard isn't going to get hurt, and he's going to throw.  Deal with it.

DanGoBlue

October 7th, 2012 at 9:30 PM ^

I think you're mistaking my intent. The reluctance to pass expressed in my post is more of the moment, being fresh off the ND game and was intended a bit tongue in cheek. Denard definitely needs to throw more to keep teams honest and open things up for the backs. More balance in his use would serve the rest of the Michigan offense well and make Denard even more dangerous a runner.

Lac55

October 7th, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^

Florida at #4 is to high. They beat a over hyped LSU team that almost lost to Auburn. They will come down to earth soon enough, but this type of thing happens when a conference wins 6 straight national championships. The SEC is Bama head and shoulders above everyone else. Even though S.Carolina looked very good last night, Georgia's probably just not that good. J. Clowney did look like a straight animal coming off the edge. It will interesting to see them play Bama.

superstringer

October 7th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^

Now that TCU has to play real opponents... I think the bashing they took from Gee and others (well, more "other") about their schedule might hold some water.  I know they didnt have Pachall yesterday, but that can't alone explain how woeful they looked.  Now they have to play a real conference schedule every week, and needless to say, they aren't going 11-1 or anything like that.  They probably would get beat by 7 teams in the BigXII(10).

Boise State, at least, was smart enough to lateral into a new conference that utterly sucks, and is going to get worse.

08mms

October 7th, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^

I might put them there.  To be fair to ND, they have one of the few schedules in CFB this year that I think can trurly suss out how good of a team they are.  So far they've been some pretty good teams, and if they can continue it against Stanford/USC/Oklahoma, I'd be willing to say we lost to a top 5 team, even if I'm not sure I'd say that during our game against them.

EGD

October 7th, 2012 at 3:48 PM ^

Regardless how "good" ND is, the fact of the matter is they've got wins over UM, MSU, Purdue, and The U. At some point you've got to rank a team for what it has already accomplished, not for what it's capable of doing (or not doing) in the future.

Perkis-Size Me

October 7th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^

I'm amazed Penn State isn't getting more love. I understand their not being ranked, but they're riding a lot of momentum, and have won 4 in a row, including beating a top-25 Northwestern yesterday. Instead they get 1 AP poll vote.

Outside of Michigan, I think they are the one team left on OSU's schedule that can beat them.