October 30th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
Herbstreit just discredited himself by suggesting Temple, Cincinnati, and South Florida are powerhouses.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:39 PM ^
Great spot with potentially 2-3 ranked opponents left. Hoping we integrate Tarik into the game plan Saturday and Gary the Indiana game....hey Gary,Indiana.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:41 PM ^
The thing I love most about this year is if UofM wins out and they aren't in the CFP, instant mythical national championship!
October 30th, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^
Rose bowl baby. Not a bad consolidation prize at all.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
You know it!
Beat up a Pac12 chump, and forever profess Bama didn't want us!
October 30th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
Seems like Ohio state fans are somewhat clamoring for the rose bowl now. There is some satisfaction to thinking our getting to Pasadena would mean they have to settle for a lesser bowl.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:08 PM ^
Won't the Rose Bowl go to a conference runner up assuming that the champ is the CFP?
October 30th, 2018 at 9:16 PM ^
We should land there if we don't make the playoffs and are conference champs.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^
It will be a crime and force an 8 team playoff finally. If a one loss bama gets in the playoffs. The fans of conference champion Michigan and OU will raise hell.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
Due to the annual southern bias, I don't see Bama or Clemson dropping out even with a loss. We need LSU or ND to lose and even then will need to hold off Georgia, again because of the bias.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
Georgia will have to win the conference to jump us, and that's debatable since we'd be winning out too. More like Clemson Michigan Georgia Alabama at that point.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
Bama taking down both LSU and UGA is important. ND needs to remain unbeaten to solidify our schedule resume. UM needs to win out as B1G champ. That should put us in as #4 ahead of Oklahoma.
On a mission this year. Strap it on and let's find out. Go Blue !!!
October 30th, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
Hi. How about the SEC go fuck themselves. This process is stupid. Conference title needs to be prerequisite for a shot. (Sorry Irish - get on board.) Period. Thanks!
October 30th, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
Absolutely. Just take conference champs. Draw them in. No voting.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
It certainly would increase the parity between the conferences and force some southern recruits to look at other options...
October 30th, 2018 at 9:26 PM ^
This is a really good point.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
If Alabama loses Saturday, I have a hard time swallowing them still getting in the Top 4. They would have a whopping 2 wins in the Top 25, everyone else under consideration would have at least 3. I will be rooting against Mississippi St and Texas A&M to get that number to zero. The bigger issue would be if they beat LSU then lost to 1-loss Georgia in the SEC championship game.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
You're changing the metric mid-sentence. You either count a Top 25 win as the ranking when they played or the most-up-to-date/final ranking. If Bama's number drops down to zero, then so does ours.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
Opinion CFP. Worthless. Good job continuing the SEC rhetoric, committee.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
Seems about right... BEAT PENN ST
October 30th, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
What I figured, though ND behind LSU is a little surprising. My guess is LSU eats it Saturday and Michigan scoots into the 4th spot.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
I am so impressed with this team, players and coaches. I didn't have lofty expectations, especially after the first week. I know there is a lot left to accomplish, but damn is it nice to be part of the conversation.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
Near the top is fine. There's a lot of football to be played.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
Let's see how many SEC teams we can cram in the top 25 so we don't have to drop them in the rankings when they lose.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
Yeah, if they game it enough, no SEC team will ever lose to an unranked team once the conference starts. They'll always be good losses.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^
Just win this game first
October 30th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^
Win on Saturday and we’re in the top 4. No ifs, buts, or coconuts.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:03 PM ^
Where Staee and Mork at?
October 30th, 2018 at 9:33 PM ^
In the weeds...
October 30th, 2018 at 8:05 PM ^
Seven SEC teams is absurd. Must be nice to have three people on the committee.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:16 PM ^
They are all riding Alabama's coat tails.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:22 PM ^
Just win the Big Ten. All of the political BS is ruining the game. Give me the AP rankings again.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^
SEC is just being propped up by one program right now: Alabama. When Saban retires, all this SEC horseshit will go away, because many of their coaches are down-right awful (Coach O being one good example).
October 30th, 2018 at 10:50 PM ^
Who is worse (legitimate question), Franklin or Coach O?
October 30th, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^
We don't need to win in a squeaker over Penn State, we need to run it up, style points like Clemson has been doing with their weak@ss schedule, run it up!
October 30th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
Clemson has two wins over currently ranked teams. Michigan has zero. Their schedule isn't far behind M's right now. Theirs is ranked 29th and M's is 18th per FPI. Alabama's on the other hand.....
October 30th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
I was expecting us to be #6, so this is good. We are definitely in a “win out and we’re in” spot. Even with all the Alabama love, there’s no way a 12-1 big ten champ I kept out unless the Other power 5 champs are all undefeated. Especially if that 12-1 champ comes from the Big 10 east with 0 conference losses.
The SEC bias is alive and well, but we are in excellent shape to be in the top 4 if we win out.
Go Blue!
October 30th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
What exactly does the committee see in Alabama and Clemson;'s record thus far to have them over Notre Dame? Notre Dame's resume is much better. I know that ND hasn't looked very impressive in most of their games, but they are still undefeated. Clemson's schedule is a joke and Alabama's has been as well, up to this point.
October 30th, 2018 at 8:52 PM ^
Notre Dame has won some close games. I think the metric they are looking at is more akin to points scored vs allowed, but it translates the same. Clemson and Alabama are at a 3.0 vs P5. Notre Dame is at 1.77. That is a big difference.
Or we could list the people on the 13 member committee with ACC or SEC ties
1) Rob Mullens, Chair, (SEC)(ACC)
2) Bobby Johnson (SEC) (ACC)
3) Ken Hattfield (SEC)(ACC)
4) Frank Beamer (ACC)
5) Todd Stansbury (ACC)
6) Scott Stricklin (SEC)
Then we have
2 PAC-12
1 Big-12
1 MAC
1 C-USA
1 MWC
1 B1G and Notre Dame (Gene Smith-OSU), so the lone "B1G" rep hates Michigan's guts with a passion.
Also full disclosure a member of the committee went to school at Michigan in like 1970 (Herb Deromedi) but didn't play or coach there and spent decades coaching at Central.
October 31st, 2018 at 12:32 AM ^
Both passed the eye test and are superior team over ND. They have a bunch of NFL players on the team especially Alabama who has it in spades.
The committee are using a combo of eye/resume test. Plus Football Outsiders F+/- rankings has Bama and Clemson as top 2 team in the country
October 30th, 2018 at 8:37 PM ^
If Michigan beats Penn State, beats Ohio State, and wins the Big Ten championship, then I won’t give two shits about these rankings. This Michigan team will have already accomplished more than the last 20.
That said, anybody that thinks there is a snowball’s chance in hell that Michigan is left out of the playoff in that scenario, doesn’t understand just how difficult the remaining schedule is. Penn State is no slouch, but Michigan has not beat Ohio State in the Shoe since 2000. Please take a moment to think about what your life was like 18 years ago.
That said, I remember that game sealing 4th and 1 Henson bootleg touchdown like it was yesterday. Would love to feel that feeling again.
October 31st, 2018 at 2:53 AM ^
with a healthy henson, UM is likely the 2nd best team in the country that year. that said, i'm glad they didn't play miami.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
I hate the SEC.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^
Would the committee put a 1 loss Alabama (non conference champion) over a 1 loss B1G Champion Michigan? Both with losses on the road to top 3 teams. Not to be a homer but to me this is a no brainer.
If the committee cares about such metrics as SOS, conference championship, and overall trend (loss in week 1 vs. loss in week 10) then Michigan has the edge. If they are going based on the proverbial "eye test" then Alabama might be favored.
All this is interesting, although the only thing that matters right now is Penn State.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:41 PM ^
No. They might put them in over us if we have 2 losses (see Last year) but not if we both only have 1 loss. Losses would be equal and us being B1G champs is the tiebreaker.
October 30th, 2018 at 10:19 PM ^
I think we need Alabama to play a close game against a difficult opponent to simmer down the ESPN pundits. I think it'll happen this weekend. That 14.5 point spread is ridiculous. LSU will keep it close and probably have a chance to win late in the 4th quarter. I won't say LSU will win but at least it'll make Alabama mortal again.
October 31st, 2018 at 2:49 AM ^
you are dreaming
October 30th, 2018 at 9:30 PM ^
WOO HOO! 5th never loooked soooo gooood.
We are 5 and still alive!
October 30th, 2018 at 9:33 PM ^
I don't want to make the playoffs just to get jail sexed by Alabama. Hopefully there's a way around that scenario.
October 30th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
Oh ye of little faith. If we are good enough to get into the CFP, I give us a realistic chance to beat Bama. Give JH and Don Brown several weeks of prep time for Bama and they will have a great game plan and a team that can execute it in both sides of the ball.