ESPN ranks us the 11th best NFL talent producer of the last 30 years
We'll probably lose to UCLA just because of California's population, but seriously? How could anyone rank UCLA at #6 and Michigan at #11?
Agreed -- I rarely see UCLA near the top of lists like that.
There should be at least a few semi-objective measures of "pipelines." I wonder if anyone bothered to look at them.
well, according to espn, we already "lost" to UCLA. perhaps they don't have their space emperors straight? or don't know brandon graham's sack total includes a sack of the entirety of UCLA?
How the hell could anyone in this, or any other dimension, come to the conclusion that UCLA is a better pipeline?
That article, and declared winner, are an abomination. The Michigan Hating God continues his warpath...
Shows what you know about California Magnus (or at least LA). People here care very little about college football (relative to the rest of the country) and the ones who care about it the most are transplants from places like the Midwest.
Of the resident Angelenos who follow college football, most of them currently reside on the USC bandwagon.
A little anecdote to help prove my point: Last football season I went to the Coliseum when Oregon State played SC and the season before I watched Oregon play at UCLA. Both were conference games against Pac Ten contenders and neither game was even close to a sell-out.
True. That point slipped my mind. My best friend lives in LA and has mentioned that before.
As a sports fan, I'm kind of glad I don't live in LA. I hate all their sports teams (except the Clippers).
You're right, the click doesn't take much dedication, but knowing where to click does. Their dedication to college football makes them less likely to be reading ESPN college football page during the off season or scouring a blog that links to it.
EDIT: And where are the longhorns in this poll? Or the Sooners, for that matter. Not a lot of Big 12 love, that's for sure. OK St is the only team, and they're at 15.
I wouldn't be surprised if we beat UCLA. Or Pitt or Nebraska in the 2nd round. I'd actually be surprised if we lost prior to the 3rd round. The last few years haven't been great for talent, but prior to that there we have produced a lot. Actually 11th seed is pretty lame. USC is obviously the one seed, but I don't know enough about all other schools to judge that well. It seems like we are slightly out of place, though.
Umm, if you had clicked on the link to the right of the page that was linked you would have seen that we lost to UCLA.
I'm fairly sure that it is a poll that decides the winner (not Matt Wilkinson), to be voted on by the fans, that was just opened. I don't think anyone has lost yet. Currently, after 3,000 votes, 80% of America disagrees with Mr. Wilkinson, and selects Michigan as the better pipeline. I'll take 80% of America's opinions over Matt Wikinson (?) every day.
Yeah obviously I would agree with that.
I was mislead by the "And the Winner Is...." title on the matchup page. Figured it was already over.
...I encourage everyone to vote in the SportsNation poll box on the right. The way the WWL set this thing up is super corn-fusing with the "And the winner is..." block at the bottom.
Although, we will still most likely lose due to the high population of California. Maybe USC and UCLA will split the votes up and give us a winner. Or people vote for both and screw us. Either way, neither the opinion of this one guy, or the opinion of ESPN pollsters matters. The dude made some good points, but the polls are never realistic and are more of a population of ESPN users per state vote.
How do they have UCLA at #6 and then go on to say how Michigan has produced overall better players and more players recently? ESPN blows so big.
They use some formula that puts a lot of weight on Pro Bowl appearances, MVPs, and Super Bowl wins.
So, Jonathon Ogden gets a FREAKING TON of points for all of his pro bowls. Which, as ANY intelligent NFL fan knows - is a total joke for offensive lineman. Popularity contest does not even begin to describe it.
As a Lions "fan" (albeit, Lions free the last few years), whether ESPN ranks us #11 or #6 or whatever, it's great to see so many Wolverines in the NFL. Whether it's rooting for Manningham, Henne, Woodson or Woodley...it's nice to have something to watch on Sundays when the Lions are so continually pitiful.
Hmmm....I don't know if you could make much of a case for Pitt being at #3.
Unless they're counting Dan Marino as like 5 or 6 guys (which would be understandable).
This poll is such BS. I'd like to see a graph of the number of players from each of these teams in the NFL per season over the last 30 years. Michigan is probably top 10 every single season. Last I checked we were something like #3 behind OSU and Miami, maybe?
This poll is ridiculously biased because of our last 2 seasons and doesn't seem to take into account solid non-pro bowl players.
Personally, I think OSU should be higher too, and America seems to agree. PSU seems about right, I think Georgia is probably a bit better overall, but that 8-9 seems close. Michigan and OSU, I think, should both be the higher seed in the first round.
is 70, compared to 33 for UCLA........
Fuzzy math.........fuzzy math!
THEY DIDN'T EVEN PUT DAN DIERDORF IN THE TOP5!!!!!!!! Leon Hall, Breaston, Dhani Jones, David Harris, Jon Jansen, Backus, Jon Runyan, David Bowens, Baas, Braylon, Tuman, Manningham, Woodley, Henne, Grbac, Todd Collins, Cato June, Ian Gold, Larry Foote, how long is this list?!?!
Mike Debord!
He was before the "thirty year" mark.
You mean ESPN, of all people, would come up with a logically-challenged poll designed solely to garner web hits and spark internet discussion? Well, I never!
UCLA????? You've got to be kidding me. Typical ESPN logic.
If you took the time to look closer at the link, you would notice it was talking only about the 1st round. Not being a draft expert, it very well could be accurate.....what do you guys think?
YOU CAN KEEP NEGGING ME, I WAS JUST TRYING TO REVEAL THAT IT WAS ONE ROUND AND I THINK WE SHOULD BE RANKED ALOT HIGHER...
Well it doesn't matter what "seed" we are, we're kicking UCLA's ass in the sports poll.
then you lost me at ESPN.
I try really, really hard not to go to their website or their channels on TV.
I am glad the NBA is on ESPN because I don't want the NBA and it takes up a lot of their programming slots for a sport that I might give a damn about.
There are some redeeming qualities. Every time I see Herbstreit on Game Day, I get to be reminded of his performances (or lack thereof) against UM.
I agree with you about ESPN writers, but as a sports fan, how can you avoid watching ESPN channels?
Apparently the poll had nothing to do with it, we had 78% of the vote but they moved UCLA forward in the bracket anyway. ESPN is so lame.
Yet OSU, who was the 12 seed, advanced against the 5 seed Tennessee. I shouldn't be disappointed by this pointless exercise, but that's shitty.
We were the only team that won the sports nation poll on the right hand side of the page and didn't advance to the second round. ESPN needs to check their math me thinks.
Insert Dong Punch Here
Srs bsns.