Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports Picks Michigan's Best Team.
Here's Ben's take. This would make a nice, big poster in the locker room:
Michigan
Michigan State: It's been clear-cut for several years now. Michigan State has owned its rivalry with Michigan lately, finished with a better record last season and would probably be favored against the Wolverines if the game were played today. Spartans coach Mark Dantonio played a lot of young guys during 2016's disappointing 3-9 season, but in the long run, it appears to be paying off. Sparty enjoyed a seven-game swing in the win column in 2017 and several of those players are juniors and seniors now.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
Yawn - clear cut? That's just silly. It will be another road win vs. sparty for Coach Jim and company.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:14 PM ^
Fake News.
August 15th, 2018 at 11:02 PM ^
Isn't "Faux Mo" French for "Fake News?"
August 15th, 2018 at 5:16 PM ^
Ain't even mad. Let's play football.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Interesting, because we played a lot of young guys last year and managed to do a hell of a lot better than 3-9.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
I can see the reasoning from an outsider. They beat us at our house, and they have more starters coming back. We play them at their house, and we still don't know if we have an offensive line. Simple logic really. Just win.
August 15th, 2018 at 7:12 PM ^
Exactly. Our fans are getting all offended for no justifiable reason. Maybe if the offense wasn’t trash last year MSU wouldn’t be the favored team this season. Maybe if we weren’t STILL wondering if we’ll have an O-Line this year MSU wouldn’t be favored. Maybe if the QB wasn’t STILL a question mark this year MSU wouldn’t be favored.
If we want to stop all the negative takes by neutral sports writers, then we need to start proving it on the field. Actually do that and you won’t see any more articles about Sparty like this.
August 15th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
Speak for yourself - we aren’t offended, just bemused by the nonsense.
August 15th, 2018 at 7:14 PM ^
It's not even close to black and white. Michigan had next to zero passing game and it was a very young but good defense. Michigan was in the game to the end in all of those losses. I still live by it to this day after re-watching that Penn State game when the anger went away, that a young team in that night game white out had a chance but it slipped at the end. It really wouldn't take much improvement to win those other four.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:19 PM ^
Who?
August 15th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
Finely laconic. Well played.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
I don't think you understand how bulletin board material works.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^
So? They were better than us last year and return more starters than we do. Unless you're the type to just bury yourself neck-deep in the comfort of recruiting rankings to make your predictions, then Michigan State should be the favorite.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:37 PM ^
Were they? Or was our QB play so atrocious and the fumble luck so one-sided that they eked out a 14-10 win?
August 15th, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^
Or was our QB play so atrocious
Last I checked, how good your QB is directly factors in to how good your team is.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
They weren't the better team! They just beat us because they played better and won more games!
August 15th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
Doesn’t sound like the better team to me. The better team actually loses close because they don’t need the validation of actually winning the game...all they need is the moral victory from losing close.
August 15th, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^
Didn't we call like 14 passes in a row in a monsoon or something? I think we could build a good case for an insanity plea...
August 15th, 2018 at 6:38 PM ^
You're not wrong. But I don't think they were overall a better team, just better at one key position as well as lucky.
Luckily that position should be fixed this year, so I would regard Michigan as the favorite.
August 15th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
Every position is part of the team.
August 15th, 2018 at 6:54 PM ^
We lost our starting QB, an experienced signal caller. How good would MSU have been if Lewerke got injured?
August 15th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
While never wishing an injury, this would obviously have been huge. They have fallen into an number of really good QB's over the last decade, and he's the latest to bail them out with some pinpoint throws at the right time. Hopefully we're even or better in this category this year.
August 15th, 2018 at 7:33 PM ^
I can guarantee State wouldn’t have won 8 games with Terry coming in to quarterback in the third game due to injury and then having DeWeaver come in after Terry got injured.
August 15th, 2018 at 9:21 PM ^
Perhaps that why you brought in Warriner? Not our fault you couldn't even pass protect against Purdue.
August 15th, 2018 at 8:56 PM ^
Yeah, but this is M go blog, where we actually cope with losses by recalculating the score of the game to prove that we won.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:53 PM ^
Quarterbacks are generally considered part of the team.
They beat us, and won 2 more games than us on the season. Arguing that we were better is just being stubbornly stupid.
August 15th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^
1. They didn’t face wisconsin
2. Had their toughest non conference game at home, which they lost
3. WSU was playing without most of their key players
Michigan has more talent. Injuries, poor coaching on offense, and youth were why Michigan lost last year. I also think Michigan has improved more than Sparty has.
August 15th, 2018 at 7:43 PM ^
Yeah, when people say State won more games so they were better and don’t mention WSU playing without their NFL drafted QB (who was replaced by a sophomore making his first start)and 2 of their top 3 WRs, I become skeptical of their football analysis.
August 15th, 2018 at 9:17 PM ^
I think they were also missing a defensive starter and Hercules mata’afa didn’t play the first half or something, their best defensive player.
August 15th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^
Oh my god, the excuses. Are none of you capable of taking off the maize colored glasses?
August 16th, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^
I don't know. Are you capable of performing an analysis more refined than adding up wins and losses and drawing a definitive conclusion that you suggest should be unassailable?
August 15th, 2018 at 6:39 PM ^
I think the teams were fairly even overall.
Per usual, Sparty was luckier (just like they were in 2015).
August 15th, 2018 at 8:57 PM ^
Or had a better coach. Man, OSU has been really lucky the last decade versus you guys too. Or maybe the better coaches.
Nah, lucky. That's it.
August 16th, 2018 at 10:24 PM ^
You guys keep banging the "luck" drum, and frankly it's an imbecile's take if you're trying to make the case that MSU is "always lucky." If you find someone's being "consistently lucky" in football, it means they're a well-coached team that's consistently capitalizing on opportunity.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:31 PM ^
Respekt!
August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
And a year ago around this time, the media had pretty much buried Dantonio after finishing 3-9 in 2016 and following the season with 5 players getting kicked off the team for sexual assault.
September 1st cannot get here fast enough. 2018 will be a huge game for the narrative, and I think it is fair to say that Michigan and Harbaugh need a win this year much more than Dantonio to start putting an end to these hot takes. He is 1-2 against MSU with some of the worst bad beats I have ever seen a coach take in a rivalry. I wouldn't exactly call that clear cut, but whatever.
August 15th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
Would the loss count twice? 2 losses + 1 = 3. If you are trying to look smart and shame the levelheaded Michigan fans who are confident we have a superior football program, at least get your elementary math correct.
August 15th, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
It might feel like two losses. Our game against OSU felt like 3.
August 15th, 2018 at 9:22 PM ^
Feelings math - very sparty of you; but admittedly, that must have been a humiliating loss.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
That’s just like, you’re opinion, man.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
What rich clickbait that is. A substantially identical article was just posted to the Freep's website under the byline of "Kirkland Crawford." I've never heard of Kirkland Crawford or Ben Kercheval before this afternoon.
It almost seems as though a single software algorithm produced both articles at the same time.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
Actually Kirkland Crawford is reviewing CBSSports.com's Ben Kercheval article for the Wolverine and Spartan fans for the Freep.
August 15th, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
OMG, you are totally correct. My bad. I couldn't bear to even give both articles that minimal level of comprehension.
I submit however; the vintage clickbait observation is only made more true.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:43 PM ^
This isn't over. It'll never be over.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:45 PM ^
that's cute
August 15th, 2018 at 5:52 PM ^
Meh. Let’s just play some damn football and settle this on the field.
August 15th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^
If they build a dome over their stadium that produces rain, Michigan loses their top 2 QBs, drevno comes back to call the plays for that game, and no one who was a first time starter last year got better, maybe moo u has a chance
August 15th, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
I think they would still be decent if the top 2 QBs get hurt. McCaffery and Milton > Wilton and O'Korn.