Michigan ranked # 5 in the AP Poll
1 Alabama 8-0
2 Clemson 8-0
3 Notre Dame 8-0
4 Louisiana State 7-1
5 Michigan 7-1
6 Georgia 7-1
7 Oklahoma 7-1
8 Ohio State 7-1
9 Central Florida 7-0
10 Washington State 7-1
11 Kentucky 7-1
12 West Virginia 6-1
13 Florida 6-2
14 Penn State 6-2
15 Texas 6-2
16 Utah 6-2
17 Houston 7-1
18 Utah State 7-1
19 Iowa 6-2
20 Fresno State 7-1
21 Mississippi State 5-3
22 Syracuse 6-2
23 Virginia 6-2
24 Boston College 6-2
25 Texas A&M 5-3
NW is 27, MSU 29, Wisconsin is receiving votes
October 28th, 2018 at 4:49 PM ^
Crap. I missed it. Thank you.
October 28th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
Being in the Top 10 is UCF's reward for going undefeated. I don't mind it. They won't sniff the playoff unless we have a year like 2007, where pretty much everyone has 2+ losses.
Frankly, Fresno St and Utah St are probably better than UCF, but both have a loss (to Big Ten teams!) and started lower in the polls.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^
Might not be the worst thing for a UCF to make it to a playoff only to get destroyed by a Bama or Clemson. Would show voters to never let that happen again.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
Ah, not this year; we’re interested in a little local club making the CFP
October 28th, 2018 at 6:23 PM ^
No way did my post imply UCF should make it ahead of M. If we win out we would definitely be top 3. Teams ahead will stumble. Its always assumed that the teams ranked at top this time of year will be there in the end but it never happens. Bama, LSU, or UGA will lose a game. Gotta believe Notre Shame will lose one down the stretch. They've barely hung on for 3 or 4 of their wins.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:01 PM ^
By that logic, neither MSU nor OSU will ever return to the CFP, which is fine.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^
Our SOS gets worse the more Wisconsin loses. We need Wisconsin, Penn State and MUS to winmmout so our strength of schedule looks better. If the BIG keeps beating up on each other that only makes our schedule look worse. Need Notre dame to stay undefeated too.
October 28th, 2018 at 5:35 PM ^
Wait, I thought we neeeded them to lose so they don't get in over us.
October 28th, 2018 at 6:25 PM ^
You want the teams ahead of you to lose Wonderlic.
October 28th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
Since you brought up ND, they haven’t really played anyone either. They played us, and the rest of their opponents are essentially .500 teams when averaged together. Their opponents just haven’t won many games at all.
October 28th, 2018 at 10:59 PM ^
According to the current rankings Michigan doesn’t have a win over a top 25 team. Given how Wisconsin has looked this year you can’t argue they should be top 25 and northwestern still has a loss to Akron to overcome.
October 28th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
This was going to be a pretty interesting polling week, as 11 ranked teams lost, including 9 of the bottom 11. That allowed Iowa to stay virtually in place. Ohio State jumps over UCF despite neither team playing. I was a little surprised that Georgia didn't jump over Michigan with a big win over a top ten team, but once you look at their overall resume, I think they got that, and a lot of this poll, right.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:41 PM ^
Was going to point this out in the appropriate thread. Found it interesting - #'s 15, 16, 18 (lost to 17), 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, & 25 all lost. Besides 18 Iowa to 17 PSU only one other, 24 Stanford lost to a higher ranked - 14 Wazzou. The rest of those lost to unranked teams.
October 28th, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
UAB ranked ahead of Wisconsin Oregon and Auburn. Two years ago their football program was shelved. Look out for Bill Clark as a coach on the rise. They play Texas A M at seasons end.
October 28th, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^
Go Blazers! Blaze up! Or whatever they do...
October 28th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
Blazing up probably won't work.
October 28th, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^
Last year in week 10 there were 13 undefeated or 1 loss P5 teams. This year there are 10.
Last year there were 2 G5 teams ranked in week 10. This year there are 4.
Last year every ranked team had either 0, 1, or 2 losses. This year 2 teams are ranked with 3 losses.
This year there's a lot fewer elite teams and the middle is a lot more condensed. It seems like either you're elite or part of a huge mess where anyone could beat anyone, which is why 9/11 teams ranked 15-25 in week 9 lost (one of the winners was PSU who played another team ranked between 15-25).
It seems to me that you're going to have a lot harder time telling what wins are actual quality wins. NW looked like a blemish on our resume, now they may be a top 25 team and the B1G West champ. Wisconsin and MSU were preseason top 10ish teams, neither are ranked now. This is the same all over college football (remember when Auburn vs Washington was supposed to be a playoff preview, or when LSU had "elite wins" over Miami and Auburn?).
October 28th, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^
That was my thought as well. It seems like the middle of the P5 is a soup of a bunch of decent to good teams. Everyone's just guessing from #15 to #40 who is gonna be 10-4 and who is gonna be 7-6 and who's gonna be everywhere in between
October 28th, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
Wisconsin (#4), Washington (#6), Miami (#8), and Auburn (#9) are all preseason top 10 teams who have dropped out of the rankings entirely. MSU (#11), Stanford (#13), USC (#15), TCU (#16), Florida State (#19), Virginia Tech (#20), Boise State (#22), and Oregon (#23) are all preseason top 25 teams who have dropped out as well.
4/10 preseason top 10 and 12/25 preseason top 25 teams have dropped out of thr rankings completely.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:17 PM ^
Polls before October shouldn't be a thing. This is part of the reason why.
October 28th, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
Hope Bama/SEC don't pull a fast one and lose so they can get two teams in.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
I expect something like that at this point. Last year, the SEC was probably the weakest it has been in my lifetime. And the championship game STILL involved two SEC teams.
I think Alabama is in the playoff regardless of the outcome of their game with LSU next weekend. So, they have it pretty good.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
You know "they're the best team and they're so much better than any other team". I think I have heard this about 15 times now. Funny, when I look at the defensive unit rankings I don't see them there. Everything changes for your all world qb when he can't find a receiver and has three guys in his grill on every play.
How pathetic everyone scrambling for this absurd four team playoff which was promoted and pushed by the SEC.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^
On ESPN's CFB breakdowm show Jim Mora, Jonathan Vilma, and Heather Dinnich all said Michigan should be a comfortable #5 over Georgia in the first CFB Playoff Poll Tuesday.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:19 PM ^
can't disagree but still think we'll get screwed.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:23 PM ^
If we win out, no way we miss the playoff. Chill.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:41 PM ^
Agreed. The chicken little attitude here is insane.
October 28th, 2018 at 7:06 PM ^
They also seem to forget Bama got in over 2 2 loss Conference champs. 2, not 1. 2 loss champs who both got beat badly in both losses.
Too much listening to talk radio, not enough utilization of grey matter.
October 28th, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^
I think it’s 60-40 we’d get in over a 1 loss Oklahoma but it’s by no means a shoe in. If Michigan wins out that means both osu and psu have another loss. That leaves psu as probably a ceiling of like 15th and osu a ceiling of like 8th. Those are the only two teams you can say with any confidence will be ranked wins at the end of the year. It’s not going to be the strongest resume and it’s unlikely beating whichever team comes out of the west is going to provide any sort of boost while it’s theoretically possible ou could get a game against a top 15 West Virginia or Texas as their last statement
October 28th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
It seems so clear to me the best way to minimize most of the controversy is to expand to 8 teams total with the Power 5 champions each getting automatic bids.
The 3 at large would be plenty most years to accommodate a mix of a good ND team, strong 2nd teams from Power 5 conferences, or the occasional outstanding Group of 5 team.
Anybody at #9 arguing they should be #8 wouldn’t have a super plausible path to becoming NC anyway. At that point, the arguments would boil down to seeding and match ups within the 8 team bracket.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
All divisions need to be 10 teams. They all play each other and send their leader to the conference championship. That would leave everyone proving their spot on the field. Top 4 conference champs are in. To hell with Notre Dame.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:04 PM ^
Doesn’t help. No matter how many teams are in, those on the bubble will complain.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:38 PM ^
No, it does help. It allows for 3 at large along with the actual P5 conference champions. That’s real criteria not just “the 4 best teams.”
The chances the absolute best teams are left out of the equation, in an objective selection process, greatly diminish with 8 teams vs 4.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
1997 all over again...
We'll face Wazzu in the Rose Bowl.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:51 PM ^
No. That's not the goal.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^
Yeah, I know, but I can't shake the feeling LSU will beat Alabama but lose to Georgia in the SEC playoff, and we'll be left on the outside looking in...
October 28th, 2018 at 5:44 PM ^
Bama always loses one...
October 28th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
Lol, it’s damn possible.
October 28th, 2018 at 3:56 PM ^
Crush Penn State.
October 28th, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
As I said in the coaches poll thread, this coming week is an elimination week in the SEC.
LSU plays Alabama and Georgia plays Kentucky. An Alabama win basically eliminates LSU. The loser of Georgia-Kentucky is eliminated. The loser of the SEC title game is likely eliminated. The worst case scenario for Michigan, assuming they win out, is Alabama losing to LSU, finishing 11-1 and missing the SEC title game.
October 28th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^
1-8 pure blue bloods, no big deal in any given year
9 through 11... Sweet Mother of God
October 28th, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
I'm surprised Georgia isn't ranked ahead of us.
October 28th, 2018 at 6:38 PM ^
Many of the talking heads seem real high on M right now. That's why they caught up in coaches but not AP.
October 28th, 2018 at 7:14 PM ^
Well, the best opponent Bama has faced is Tex A&M. Next best is Ole Miss...
I’m sure Bama is a really good team, but whooing up on Tennessee and a crappy Louisville just doesn’t do it for me. LSU should provide the best Defense Bama has faced.
good thing is that LSU Bama will negate one or the other this week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the committee keeps both in top 4. I’ve seen projections with Bama LSU both in the playoffs while Michigan and Oklahoma are left out. That will be so disappointing...and so typical
October 28th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
Just WIN the rest, and we're IN.