M Projected 4th in B1G East by Writers
I would be surprised if this were the outcome, but M, MSU & PSU are in a virtual dead heat at 2-4. Predictably, OSU / Wisconsin are substantial favorites to win their divisions.
The only non-OSU or Wisconsin title winner vote went to MSU which suggests to me that there is someone who needs to be removed from the poll. That voter probably makes the difference between the 2-4 B1G East rankings as well.
Interested to hear folks' point of view on this...
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/big-ten/2018/07/20/ohio-state-favored-online-big-ten-preseason-poll/807484002/
I’d rather be predicted at 4th than 1-3. Leaves something to prove...
Yeah it doesn't really matter, the consensus is that there's a top 4 and those are the tittle front runners. It's kind of off topic from Michigan's ranking, but does anyone else think Maryland will have a break out year and make it a 5 team race? They were injury plagued last year and down to their 4th string QB. If the defense can get it together, their offense should be explosive.
No. They’ll be better but the B10 East has 4 teams that are clearly above the rest of the division.
I think they'll upset a team in that top 4 group (OSU, UM, MSU, PSU), but I think they are a year or two away from getting in the mix where they have a chance when the calendar turns to mid-November.
I guarantee Michigan wins the division and beats both OSU and MSU this year.
Agreed. I think this is finally the year he breaks through. It’s gotta happen now or it will never happen
But why is it now or never? Why could it not happen next year, or the year after, or the year after that? This now or never rhetoric does not make sense. (almost as annoying as the lazy media takes that Harbaugh is on the hot seat or that he is paralyzed against his rivals, etc)
He is not on the hot seat, but also needs to beat OSU and MSU. Going 0-4 against OSU and 1-3 against MSU is unacceptable. He was hired to win significant games and has not done that much yet.
MSU returns 19 starters including in an important position which is at QB. I don't see why it's crazy to have MSU ranked high. They won 10 games last season and returns just about everybody.
Because they really weren't that good. They were something like 23rd in S&P. Shit, they only beat us by 4 despite being +5 in turnovers and got absolutely hammerfucked by OSU.
Other teams can improve year to year you know...especially returning that many starters.
Really good teams don’t get beat 48-3 and barely win a game in which you win the turnover battle 5-0. They are a good team masquerading as a better team. They will have 8 or 9 wins and go to a shitty bowl because no one cares about them
So Ohio State isn't a good team after being drubbed on the road by an average, at best, Iowa team?
Shit happens in football. One game doesn't define a season, team, or program.
Ohio State had the 2nd highest S&P ranking in he country, unlike MSU. Also, getting beat 48-3 is not the same as getting beat 55-24. The Ohio State Iowa game was competitive going into the second half and Ohio State looked like a team that belonged on the same field as Iowa. They moved the ball well and had 375 yards of total offense. MSU on the other hand shouldn’t have showed up for their game against OSU. They were down 35-3 at the half and had less than 200 yards of total offense. They averaged 3.9 yards per pass and 1.3 yards per rush. Like I said, really good teams don’t get dismantled like that.
And now I hate you for making me defend OSU
Also I don't know what S&P is but it's not relavent...what's relavent is they beat us, won their bowl game, and finished ranked in the top 15...you know...a ranking that actually matters.
Maybe you should educate yourself. S&P is a more accurate measure of performance than media rankings, and it says that MSU wasn't as good as their record suggested last year.
Excuse me if I don't use a formula that a guy created in his mom's basement to rank teams...
Cool. From my post below:
Since the program "got rolling" (2010 - 2017) Dantonio has won 78 games. 9 teams have won more and 2 other teams have also won 78 games. MSU is actually 12th in win % (73.6%):
http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/calc-wp.pl?start=2010&end=2017&rpct=30&min=5&se=on&by=Win+Pct
Many people on this board (when they want to trash UM) say you are what your record says you are.
Well that makes Dantonio the 12th best coach in college football.
12th best. Pretty awesome at MSU!!
Yeah but since Harbaugh has been here, Harbaugh has more wins than Dantonio. I’m confused as to where Harbaugh falls then
While I agree that MSU wasn't as good as their record indicated last year, they return more starters than anyone in the NCAA. They'll definitely be formidable.
That MSU prediction is a bad harbinger for a school that relies on disrespekt among other things....
.....like rape cover-up and prison to play programs.
To borrow a line from little brother, preseason rankings are garbage! We’re awesome!
Seems a not unreasonable projection, given our recent QB and OL troubles, not to mention the daunting road schedule looming. If we can begin to turn the offense around, we might be able to claw our way back up to third in the B1G East, which is JH's high water mark so far, after all. Maybe move up a little more in 2019. Trying to be a realist here.
So many people and so much dumbness in the world. Don Brown's third year at Michigan. This defense for the most part in their second year and are not all newbies anymore. That defense held it's own last year against everyone it faced except when the offense took the wind out of it's sails. Watch the Penn State game on youtube. Michigan was smacking that offense around in their superbowl white out night game in the first quarter. That's a very young defense that caved in. The offense lost like 8 starters from 2016 and all of the replacements were pups like the defense. The offense had no passing game because, well, we all know why. Many reasons but if you're reading this, just think for a second and try and remember all of the circumstances that the team had to deal with in 2017 and just realize how much of a change has came about in 2018. Use your head before you type anything and basically just shut the fuck up!
Smacking them around? Did they not score on their first fucking play?
Second play - McSorley actually was smacked pretty good on the 1st play by Gary.
This post has it all,
We were really winning despite being blown out.
Next year well be awesome
It was the other team's superbowl...
Nicely done poster!
Can’t really argue with that prediction. Harbaugh has to beat OSU and MSU this season. You can always count on Michigan to underachieve. Harbaugh has to flip that script and figure out how to win. If it doesn’t happen this year it will never happen.
I really don’t know what to expect this year. I do expect the Michigan offense to not be completely inept this year. I am hoping they have gelled and are clicking by the time they play MSU and the game. I really hope they can stay healthy because I believe this year could be special. I really don’t care where someone has them projected, we will find out where we are at after they play the games. If they can get past ND, lookout. This defense is amazing and it is my belief that if you get even an above average offense this is a playoff team if healthy. Go Blue!
This is the 8th year cleveland.com has done this poll. Last year was the FIRST year where the poll's voters got the B1G Champion correct:
2011 - predicted Nebraska over Wisconsin. Was actually Wisconsin (picked 1st for division) over MSU (picked 2nd for division).
2012 - predicted Michigan over Wisconsin. Was actually Wisconsin (1st) over Nebraska (3rd).
2013 - predicted Ohio State over Michigan. Was actually Michigan State (3rd) over Ohio State (1st).
2014 - predicted Michigan State over Wisconsin. Was actually Ohio State (2nd) over Wisconsin (1st).
2015 - predicted Ohio State over Wisconsin. Was actually Michigan State (2nd) over Iowa (4th).
2016 - predicted Ohio State over Iowa. Was actually Penn State (4th) over Wisconsin (3rd).
2017 - predicted Ohio State over Wisconsin. Exactly correct.
So, take the poll for what it's worth. If you're picked to win your division, you've actually made the title game only 6 times out of 14. If you're picked for 2nd or 3rd, you've actually made it 3 times out of 14. And a team picked for 4th has made it 2 times out of 14 (with 1 Title Game win as well).
OSU fan here....looking at Michigan's schedule (objectively), I see a 10-2 season with loss to ND (1st game on the road at night) and OSU (just cuz, but also it's on the road and OSU will be amped up for the game..I think Dwyane Haskins may be a good counter to Michigan's man blitz defense). The schedule is just too hard and filled with trap games (Northwestern, Nebraska-sorta)
If Michigan is healthy this year they will win the game. If they had any kind of quarterback play last year you lose. I do wish Jt was still here and Haskins never came in last year jt was over rated. Good luck to you
If Michigan finishes 4th in the B1G East this year, I'll release the pee tape.
This changes my outlook on the season.
Makes me almost want Michigan to finish 4th. Almost.
You will need to take a golden shower if we finish in 4th place again.
Ah, we've reached peak July....
I can't wait until someone at some blog out there ranks the restrooms at Big Ten venues. Give it a week, folks.
Don't care what Writers think,,,,,,EVER.
Why would you be surprised?
Elite Defense, upgraded Oline coach, better position coaches, Tarik Black is back, two absolute beast carrying the rock, a legit first round draft pick in Shea Patterson at QB, but they’ll finish 4th in the east? Let’s take a look at last year. It took MSU and OSU playing against JOK without a clue he doing and we took both of those games basically to the wire. We could of beat Wisconsin if they didn’t kill Brandon Peters on a questionable bullshit late hit. Only game we got skunked in was Penn State. Even that game was a one touchdown game at half. Fuck outta here.
Agree with a lot but not Shea--he's getting way too much hype for a guy that hasn't played in the offense, and who actually got outplayed by his replacement last year after his injury. Their offense is very QB friendly, so it reminds to be seen how Shea will do here. I do expect him to be much better than anyone here last year though, so that will be an improvement
Patterson only has to be good. Not a weakness that good defenses can take advantage of. The hype is irrelevant to what the team needs from him to be successful.
I hope they pay attention to things like this and use it to become nasty, pissed off, junkyard dogs.
No way to tell which writer voted MSU to finish first, but his name probably rhymes with Pram Pouch.
Really, though, I don't care what the writers votes. It will be won or lost on the field.
It's not crazy by any means. MSU won more games than us last year and returns the most starters in the NCAA according to Phil Steele. We're in the top 10 there, but OSU will be ranked above us 9 times out of 10 simply because they're Ohio State and win 10+ games every year while pulling in top-5 classes. Penn State, however, is an interesting one to watch. They lost maybe the best player in the country and the best OC in the country, and return fewer starters than almost anyone in the NCAA. They also return the fewest starters in the conference.
PSU and MSU are definitely will be very interesting this year (along with UM). If PSU goes 10-2 then I think I will have to admit that Franklin is a very good coach, at least.
If MSU can stay on track and the next 2 out 3 regular seasons are 10-2 (or better) then I think I will have to admit that Dantonio is a elite coach. Lower end of elite, but still elite. Certainly one of the five best coaches in the game today. Right now I consider him near elite because he is winning a lot of games where he is. Where Saban basically ran away from. Of course it took Dantonio his fourth year to have a great season, but it was great at 11-1. Though his fifth and sixth years were only 10-2 and and 6-6.
And if Harbaugh can't put together a 11-1 or better regular season, at least 1 in the next 3 years, I think I will have to say he may not be the right coach for UM. And I'm the biggest Harbaugh fan there is.
Harbaugh's track may well be closer to what Dabo Swinney had at Clemson than we would like. Dabo won only 10 games in the regular season in his 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th complete years at Clemson (Dabo's first year he was interim head coach). Finally in Dabo's 7th season Clemson went undefeated in the regular season. And they won a championship the next year.
Really looking forward to the season. I am usually too optimistic but I think 11-1 is quite possible. The key is the offense. If we can crack just 50 in S&P and FEI on OFFENSE I think we will go at least 10-2 (minimum of 9-3). If we can crack even 30 in both S&P and FEI on OFFENSE, I think we go at least 11-1 (10-2 minimum).
Good post.
Do you think Michigan having to play two of their more formidable opponents (Wisconsin and MSU) on their 7th and 8th consecutive week of football throws an additional wrench in things? Especially that 8th straight game on the road at MSU. That’s the one part of the schedule that I think has gone unspoken from a bye setup perspective.
Good point about the bye but OSU also has 8 games without a bye.
MSU gets their bye early but it may be too early (after week two). And MSU has to play @PSU the week before UM.
UM DOES have to play Wisc before @MSU so that mostly cancels out.
UM does have the hardest schedule in B1G but I consider it more of a slight disadvantage than a serious one. I mean with a below average offense (instead of abysmal offense) last year, UM is 10-2.
If the offense just improves to average in Div 1A I see 9-3 as a floor and 10-2 as likely. And in case the offense is AVERAGE in the P5, lookout! I see 10-2 as an extremely unlikely floor and 12-0 almost as likely as 11-1.
But if the offense sucks again, well, we are looking at 7-5 to 9-3.
Dantonio is already elite, I think that's pretty clear, especially after last year's rebound
Yeah, no kidding. Once he got his program rolling and had his players as upperclassmen, here's what his win totals look like:
11
11
7
13
11
12
3 (LOLwut)
10
This is at a program that has been awful historically and that has traditionally had the second pick of in-state recruits in a state that isn't even all that great when it comes to high school talent.