ATHLON Ranks 130 College Football Teams: Michigan ranked #5
This ranking is not a pre-season ranking. It's where Athlon predicts teams will be end the season ranked on January 8, 2019, the day after the National Championship on January 7:
This is not a preseason 130 ranking of teams going into the season. Instead, this ranking takes into account where we project teams to finish after the national championship in January. Athlon Sports projects where every team will finish in the final rankings at the conclusion of the upcoming season.
LINK: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-all-130-college-football-teams
Notables:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Georgia
4. Ohio St
5. Michigan
Projecting Michigan to finish No. 5 might come as a surprise to some, but the Wolverines are poised to rebound in a big way. Coach Jim Harbaugh's team returns 14 starters.... Michigan's offensive line has been a source of concern in recent years and enters the 2018 season with a few question marks. The addition of assistant Ed Warinner should help the offensive line take a step forward in 2018.... The skill positions are stocked with promising talent.... The unquestioned strength of Harbaugh's team remains its defense. If Michigan is going to earn a CFB Playoff bid, it will have to do so on the road. The Wolverines must play at Ohio State, Michigan State and Notre Dame....
9. Wisconsin
....with matchups at Michigan, Iowa and Penn State, this fall's schedule features more obstacles to another unbeaten regular season.... Jonathan Taylor set a new FBS freshman rushing record with 1,977 yards and 13 touchdowns on 299 attempts.... Helping to clear rushing lanes for Taylor is the nation's No. 1 offensive line.... The Badgers suffocated opponents last year, holding them to just 13.9 points and less than 100 rushing yards a game. However, (defensive) coordinator Jim Leonhard has holes to fill at every level.... The list of departures is lengthy and significant....
11. Penn St
The Nittany Lions have made considerable progress on offense over the last two years, but coordinator Joe Moorhead left for Mississippi State following the 2017 season. Franklin opted for continuity by promoting Ricky Rahne to take over the play-calling duties, and he will be under pressure to keep this attack firing on all cylinders.
12. Michigan St
With 19 starters back and home games against Ohio State and Michigan, coach Mark Dantonio's team should be in the mix to win the Big Ten title.... Michigan State may be due for some regression in the luck department after winning six games by 10 points or less last season.
15. Notre Dame
The biggest question marks for the Fighting Irish remain on offense. Will quarterback Brandon Wimbush take a step forward in his second year as the starter? And how will the team replace standout linemen Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey?
35. Iowa
Ferentz’s team has a favorable slate, which misses Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State in Big Ten crossover play.... The question marks are bigger on defense. Iowa loses all three of its linebackers
40. Louisville
Life after Lamar Jackson won’t be easy.... Dae Williams, Colin Wilson and Trey Smith should handle the bulk of the work at running back. Without Jackson, Louisville will likely ask more out of this position group after no running back accumulated more than 100 carries last fall.... Louisville’s rebuilt defense, and new quarterback, will be tested right away with a matchup against Alabama in Orlando to start the year.
45. Purdue
....the hire of Jeff Brohm quickly changed the fortunes in West Lafayette.... Brohm will have to retool (the) defense....
46. Northwestern
Pat Fitzgerald’s Wildcats might be the toughest team to predict this preseason.... With the uncertainty surrounding the offense, Northwestern can lean on its defense early in the year. This unit held opponents to 20.1 points a game last fall and is expected to be strong once again....
51. Maryland
Injuries took a toll on coach DJ Durkin’s team last season.... The offensive line returns four starters and has quietly developed into a strength.... Durkin has Maryland moving in the right direction
62. Nebraska
Scott Frost was one of the top hires for the 2017-18 coaching carousel, but it may take a year for the former Nebraska QB to get all of the right pieces into place.... Nebraska faces Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State in crossover play, which adds another obstacle to Frost’s debut.
63. Indiana
Missing Wisconsin in crossover play is huge, but Indiana still has to play the big four in the East....
73. Minnesota
As expected, Fleck is reeling in good talent on the recruiting trail, but Minnesota might be a year away from marked improvement in the win column.
87. Rutgers
New play-caller John McNulty is Rutgers’ ninth offensive coordinator in nine years, and he’s tasked with developing a unit that averaged only 18 points a game last fall.
91. SMU
The Mustangs snapped a streak of four losing seasons in a row, reaching seven victories and a bowl under former coach Chad Morris. He left for Arkansas this offseason.... Defense has been an issue for SMU in recent years, and this unit gave up 36.7 points and over 475 yards a game last fall.
93. Western Michigan
As expected, the Broncos took a step back in 2017.... The defense is (head coach) Lester’s biggest area of concern.... The front seven must be rebuilt
95. Illinois
The Fighting Illini are just 5-19 over the last two years.... In an effort to hit the reset button last fall, Smith and the coaching staff went with a youth movement.... With few seniors expected to find a place in the starting lineup this season, Illinois’ 2018 season is all about growth and development.
105. Central Michigan
Coach John Bonamego has guided the program to three consecutive bowl trips, but that streak could be in jeopardy in 2018. The Chippewas must replace quarterback Shane Morris, and the receiving corps was decimated by personnel departures.
130. UTEP
The Miners were the only FBS team to finish 2017 without a victory..... a unit that averaged only 11.8 points a game last fall.
Photo: Kevin Goheen/Land of 10
"Michigan State may be due for some regression in the luck department"
Don't get me wrong, Michigan State is going to have a damn good team this year, but I would say they are more than overdue for some bad luck when it comes to football.
It's already pretty even. Did you forget they had somewhere between 3 and 9 unlucky games the year before?
I saw a couple of those games 2 years ago. QB indecision could be why they lost them. I don't think it was bad luck.
That team had some locker room cancers, a horrible senior QB and a freshman QB that wasn't ready. Good teams don't run into some bad luck and end up 3-9. Look at Michigan this year. They lost two QBs from an already inexperienced team, lost some really close games, and faced MSU in a monsoon and Penn State in a whiteout coming off of a bye and they finished 8-5. It wasn't a ton of bad luck that leads you to 3-9
Just curious, how did you decide the teams for which you included the description?
Thanks for including UTEP. I was really curious what Athlon had to say about them.
I'm assuming UTEP is ranked last and it's always a curiosity as to who is ranked last on the list.
I did put in UTEP for that reason.
Pretty simple really. Big Ten, local teams, out of conference opponents and for some reason Louisville. Lol. Must be his 2nd team.
I included Louisville because I think the fall they could take without Lamar Jackson could be interesting.
No they are not my second team.
BIG 10, some Michigan out of conference, Louisville because it might be interesting to see what happens to them without Lamar Jackson, and UTEP at 130--just because they are 130.
Oh, I put in Central because Shane Morris was noted.
I wondered the same thing. you have BIG teams obviously, OOC opponents for Michigan, but then Louisville?
In case anyone (like Bluey and his band of MGoBlog enablers) is curious about the 247 recruiting profiles of Wisconsin's offensive line, which was described as the country's best, here they are (composite and position):
LT: Michael Deiter (NA, 62)
LG: Jon Dietzen (343, 34), Jason Erdmann (walk-on ... no 247 recruiting profile)
C: Tyler Biadasz (NA, 52)
RG: Beau Benzschawel (NA, 130)
RT: David Edwards (638,21)
Three "NA" rankings and one walk-on in the top six ... three of those guys made the SI list of top 100 players.
Benzschawel was 6'6" and 240 and Edwards 6'7" and 240 as HS seniors (i.e., "TOO SMALL").
Recruiting rankings matter, but they're not destiny.
Source: https://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2018/3/7/17066038/wisconsin-football-2018-michael-deiter-jon-dietzen-beau-benzschawel
That's a program advantage. They've always done great things with less on the offensive line.
We... haven't.
Excellent point, in addition wiscy is a perennial fraud as year in and year out plays one of the softest schedules in the country AND they play in the B1G West so they have only have 1 or 2 challenging games per year. Easier to get the team and OL up for those few games.
Wisconsin benefits from easy access to all that cheese. 330 pounders don’t grow on trees. They grow on cheese.
MSU too high. Otherwise Athlon is nailing it this year.
UGA too high as well. They will come back to earth a bit with all their attrition.
I want this to be true so bad. We have to ball in Gary’s last year.
I agree with your sentiments, but why settle for fifth when you can attain top 4/ playoff?
I definitely want the playoffs, but after our finishes the last couple years, I would be happy finishing 5th in the country.
Actions on the field will speak volumes
Potential is there no doubt...2018 will be a good year for Harbaugh and Company
Any close observers saw that abysmal QB play led to 4 of last seasons losses, Shea should fix that immediately. Even sort of decent QB play last year gets us to 10-3 at worst.