Phil Steele Pre-Season Rank: Michigan 12th

Not to be dismissive, but in the new College Football Playoff era, I could not care any less about pre-season rankings.

Iowa would have made the CFP if they hung on against State last December. That's friggin' Iowa, who didn't play Michigan, MSU, OSU or PSU on their regular conference slate.  Whose non-conference was Illinois State, Iowa State, Pitt & North Texas.  Who was ranked #64 by ESPN preseason a year ago.  --- That mediocre team with a junk schedule would have made the f***ing CFP with one more defensive stop.

We're in the B1G.  A B1G champ from Ann Arbor, led by media-magnet Jim Harbaugh will go to the playoff every single time - even with a loss.  That's all.  Rankings be damned.  Win the B1G.  Make the playoff.  If they don't do either and they put together another 10-3 season?  What's that end up?  Ranked 10-20?  Somewhere in there?  I don't know, I don't care and it won't matter.

#1, 3, 12, unranked, whatever.  Win the B1G.

Preseason rankings....lost decade that followed a shitload of 8-4.....we just need to win...our opponents need to win games that aren't against us...beat our rivals..[copy/paste]

I don't much care about preseason rankings, but this actually feels a bit low.  UM is probably a top-8 program this year; but putting Tenn and Washington above UM seems a bit optimistic, given UT's yearly hype-to-crash trajectory (and to say nothing of the off-the-field issues), and Washington, while very talented, still has a number of questions about consistency.

Can we borrow that chip on your shoulder?

I know some people might lambast my comment and feel I should either "go big or go home." But I don't think this prediction, as the current situation stands, is that far off. Questions about who will be the QB,  very shakey LB play that will likely rely on true freshmen and a guy who, to date, has not played the position in a live game. Decent to good running game, but not anything to write home about yet, along with a good (but not yet great) offensive line. At least not one that's proven it can be great week in and week out. 

Michigan certainly has the potential to crack the top 4, but I would not peg them as one of the four best teams in the country right now. The teams that surprise me in the top 10 are LSU, Washington, and Tennessee. 

Steele is placing a lot of trust in a Washington team that went 7-6 last year. Tennessee is yet to prove that it can actually finish in big games, despite its horde of talent. And LSU has yet to prove under Les Miles that it will ever be more than a one-dimensional offense that looks like its fresh out of 1973. Fournette is a man among boys, sure. But as Alabama proved, he can be bottled up by a good defense. Right now, I'd probably peg Clemson, Alabama, FSU and maybe Oklahoma as my top 4. 

preseason polls are stupid but not meaningless. Being ranked high early is like getting a mulligan in golf. Being lower ranked means you have to work harder to get to the top and pollsters are likelier to  knock you for any stumble. Very few  rank based purely from on field results and like to justify their preseason bias.

But #12 seems on the low side of fair to me. And this year the above won't matter mutch. If we drop a game early we deserve to get punished.