Final AP Poll is Out
One-loss Sparty gets stuck at #3, while two-loss Auburn remains #2.
FSU obviously received all 60 first place votes.
That conference that I refuse to name still ends up with 4 out of the top 7.
Other notables:
#12 Ohio State
#20 Notre Dame
#22 Wisconsin
Link:
January 7th, 2014 at 8:13 AM ^
Are we really in a position to laugh at MSU for "only" finishing 3rd?
January 7th, 2014 at 8:14 AM ^
We have nothing to laugh about.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:23 AM ^
I think that's plenty to laugh at. They were the only one-loss team in the top 9 and got the shaft. I think it's funny. What's funnier is we are gonna beat them in East Lansing next year. I enjoy anything that will give them reason to complain, and I will always enjoy it. Get over it. Was I pulling for them to beat Stanford? Kind of. Am I happy they got the shaft? Damn right!
Ask yourself this: Would they laugh at us if the roles were reversed? Your damn right they would, just like they laughed in 97 when we had to split the championship.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:25 AM ^
I could give a rats ass about Sparty. What concerns me is Michigan. The fact that we ended up 7-6 is not acceptable, Until we fix that, we shouldn't be laughing at other programs.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:30 AM ^
You deal with your grief your way, I'll deal with my grief my way. If you don't like it, move on. I prefer to be happy, so I choose to laugh at them regardless of the fact that they are on another level at this moment. That, however, is subject to change this year. Ask Auburn.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:12 AM ^
Auburn fired their national championship winning coach after one bad year. Michigan didn't even fire one assistant yet, and most likely they wont. So I am not sure where you are getting this confidence from that we will rock up to east lansing and get a win. At this point, I am just hoping for not getting a beating from them.
January 7th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
I laugh at Sparty too, but because they are Sparty and regardless of their football's team performance they are still less than Michigan. But to suggest that MSU should be humiliated or upset with finishing 3rd in the country, that's stretching and frankly...kind of Sparty.
Be better than them.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:31 AM ^
Good thing it's a little too chilly to start a morning couch fire.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
It's time for the coaching staff to prove itself.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:43 AM ^
So much this.
I was at a store in Chicago this past weekend, wearing a Michigan ball cap...a lady walked by me and said "Hey, how about dem Wolverines" with a smirk on her face. I was in the middle of saying, "Yeah, it was a disappointing season..." and before I could get the sentence out of my mouth, she says "Not like my Spartans..."
Ahhh, I see. Your question was all about you. All I said back was, "Yeah, you guys had a great year. Congrats." and I walked away.
I'll let her live in her world without any validation from me. Good on them for their year, but I'm concerned about Michigan and their future, nothing more.
January 7th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
and are a better person than I am.
January 7th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
a flood of quips came to mind a few minutes later and I wish I had the moment to live over again. lmao
January 7th, 2014 at 9:58 AM ^
Can't we laugh at them just because they're Sparty? I mean, regardless of what their football team did this year, sparty is always gonna spart. So...
Just sayin'.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
It makes me sick to my stomach to see Sparty where Michigan should be and Michigan where Sparty has historically been. Hats off to their players, and more sickeningly, their coaches. This year when Dantonio interrupts Funk at a coaching seminar, the coaches in the room will probably prefer to listen to Dantonio. That is how far we have fallen.
In 2014 the last few of Rodriguez's players are finishing out (and I thank them - they are warriors who have been through a lot). Auburn played for and almost won the national championship last night with two sophomore tackles, a redshirt freshman and a junior guard, and a junior center. Youth is not an excuse anymore. If the players don't execute after three fall practices in the system it is on the team and the coaching staff.
No more excuses. No more next years. This staff and this team of their players badly need to prove themselves.
January 7th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
...but you're reading way too much into my post. I'm still happier to be a Wolverine fan at 7-6 than a spartan fan at 13-1.
January 7th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
you can have fun at Sparty's expense.
Even at 7-6 it is great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
Go Blue!
January 7th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
"What concerns me is Michigan. We shouldn't be laughing at other programs."
January 7th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^
January 7th, 2014 at 10:08 AM ^
but I'm not sure we don't either. Not yet, anyway. That's the beauty of college football from year to year. (See also: Tigers, Auburn).
January 7th, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
Speaking of Auburn (posting here because I really don't want to start a thread for this), anyone notice Auburn's O-line depth chart? Starters have three 3rd year players and two 2nd year players. Backups are four 2nd year players and one 3rd year player. I'm really going to be sick of the youth excuse if Auburn can do what they did with a near identical 2-deep as to what we'll have next year.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^
Drugs, they are pretty amazing.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:53 AM ^
How did they get the shaft? There is absolutely no difference finishing third or second in the final poll. They beat Michigan again. They won the Big Ten title, which our team has not done since 2004. Yeah, reeeeeeally funny, chief.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^
You think we can laugh at Sparty for finishing 13-1, beating Michigan, beating Ohio State, winning the B1G and winning the Rose Bowl? You're scarin me, dude.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
Ask yourself this: Would they laugh at us if the roles were reversed? Your damn right they would, just like they laughed in 97 when we had to split the championship.You know how childish this sounds, right? "They'd make fun of us; therefore, we should make fun of them." Congrats on ceding the high ground as the "big brother" in that relationship.
January 7th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
But I have a hard time believing we will go into EL next year and win. I think we win at Cbus before we win in EL.
And thanks to the B1G offices for screwing us YET AGAIN with the schedule flip. Honestly, how do we get boned every time there is a schedule change? At least we get Minny and Indiana at home again! Poop.
January 7th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
You say:
"Ask yourself this: Would they laugh at us if the roles were reversed? Your damn right they would, just like they laughed in 97 when we had to split the championship."
Some say:
"Two wrongs don't make a right."
I say:
"Don't act like a spartie."
January 7th, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
January 7th, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
We need to start small and just try to beat a team on the road who even has a winning record. The last time we did that was 2010 vs. Notre Dame.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:02 AM ^
January 7th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
and a 3 loss Stanford team has no business in the top 10.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:13 AM ^
Where Sparty is. Better than where we ended up.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:15 AM ^
January 7th, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^
SEC is your answer.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:21 AM ^
Maybe Sparty would have had a shot, but we never really saw them play against a team with anything that approximated the passing attack that FSU possesses. Both Ohio and Stanford were primarly run first teams.
Jameis and friends are a whole different level. Sparty also never played anyone with defeneses and team speed as good as both teams showed last night.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^
I actually think MSU deserves the no 2 spot. They looked impressive against both Stanford and OSU when it matter most. While the Buckeyes d did indeed suck at the end of the year, I would argue the team speed on OSU rivals an SEC school. Would have liked to see Auburn's run game vs. Sparty. Next year, (and I truly, truly hate to say this), we might see MSU in the final four. Its likely them, OSU or Wisco at this point right?
Friggin, ugh.
This too shall pass.
January 7th, 2014 at 4:52 PM ^
January 7th, 2014 at 8:16 AM ^
Wow, can't remember the last time a team won the Capital One Bowl and ended up in the top 5.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:45 AM ^
In 2006, Wisconsin beat Arkansas to finish #5.
In 1995, Tennessee beat tOSU to finish at #3, and Georgia Tech finished at #2 in 1990 after beating Nebraska.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:56 AM ^
I was wrong - I can remember that!
January 7th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
off the top of his head. You obviously googled that. Either that, or you'd be a helluva Jeopardy player with all that useless knowledge rattling around in your head.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:07 AM ^
has an AFCA Crystal Football with "1990" written on it...pretty sure that means they finished higher than #2 after winning that game..
Man, I miss those days. The BCS was bad, but I'm not convinced the playoff system is going to be any better.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^
The SEC, where things like loses to Tennessee magically disappear.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:16 AM ^
Playoff right now
January 7th, 2014 at 8:24 AM ^
You are probably right. But remember, even if this was a playoff year, Sparty probably would have been on the outside looking in. I think Stanford would have gotten that 4th spot over them.
Of course the bowls this year showed that to be a flawed idea, but if the 4 team playoff was this year, I see it going like the pre-bowl BCS rankings: FSU, Aub., Bama and Stanford.
Just another argument to prove that we still don't have the right system.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:53 AM ^
This is why being concerned with the perception of the strength of the Big Ten is still valid in a playoff world.
Also, it matters for playoff seeding. When the Big Ten does manage to overcome perceptions and get in, we don't want to always be the "4th seed" and be matched up against the #1 team. If that happens a lot and we lose those games it will become a vicious circle of constsntly being left out or being the 4th seed when we make it in.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:15 AM ^
I think a system where the conference championship games are the first round of the playoffs, then the conference champtions get seeded and continue the playoff from there is the best way to go.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:31 AM ^
We don't even have all teams abiding by the same salary caps.
/s
January 7th, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^
Lets make this like the old basketball tournament. 32 teams baby! Have it go right up to March Madness. Clearly 64 would be too many, then you'd get stuck playing pushovers like Akron.. oh wait... ;) I do agree with conference championships but then which conferences get in? ACC/Atlantic/P10/B1G/B12/SEC? That's 6 is there a first round bye for the SEC and another conference or are we scraping for the MAC and um....Sunbelt champions?
January 7th, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^
THe AAC, ACC, Big 12, B1G, C-USA, MAC, MWC, PAC12, SEC, SBC plus Independents. Of these, the AAC, Big 12, and SBC do not have a conference championship game, so they can play each other plus the highest ranked independent or highest ranked remaining team. This would be a 16 team playoff system. This really only adds 1 additional week to the schedule compared to what is currently played. Obviously there are flaws, but it does give everyone a shot and takes it out of the hands of the voters, save for 1 spot. If independents don't want to get the shaft, join a conference.