Brett McMurphy AP ballot, M at 5

Submitted by Ezekiels Creatures on October 17th, 2021 at 11:23 AM

 

 

Ryno2317

October 17th, 2021 at 11:29 AM ^

He is just trolling OSU at this point.  They are clearly in the top 5, if not the top 3 and are very likely to be Big 10 champs.  I love his spirt, but come on.

jmblue

October 17th, 2021 at 12:30 PM ^

The rankings aren't intended to be predictive, at least not at this point in the season.  No one thought Iowa was actually the second-best team in the country, but their season to date (before yesterday) justified it.

Our season to date justifies a top 10 ranking.  Whether it still will come December remains to be seen.

othernel

October 17th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^

Unless McMurphy becomes the sole voter for the playoff, can we just wait until the polls come out to post about it? 

Then everyone can look up who voted whichever team wherever. 

Newton Gimmick

October 17th, 2021 at 1:26 PM ^

Yes, one of the fallacies of the conference-based thinking in the past 15 or so years is that if you are in a tough conference, you therefore have a tough schedule.  The SEC has played this trick for years: with an 8-game schedule in a 14-team conference, there is a high difficulty variance.  Compare Iowa's schedule vs Indiana's (or Nebraska's) this season, for example.

Ezekiels Creatures

October 17th, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^

I think you're right. But at least he has Cincy at 4, ready to fall out of the Top 4, and Alabama at 2, which is probably where they belong. Jimbo Fisher has been obsessed with beating Nick Saban, even to the point of neglecting preparing for other teams. I don't think Alabama is going to lose again, not even to Georgia. But that game will be a tough one to call a winner in.

He has three BIG10 teams poised to be moved into the Top 4: M, OSU, and PSU. Any of the three win out, I could bet Cincy will be moved down, and the BIG10 will be in--even PSU with its one loss to Iowa. I don't think Cincy belongs in the playoffs, even if they are undefeated---schedule is weak.

DHughes5218

October 17th, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^

If Michigan lost to the only top 25 team they played and then beat up on the bottom feeders, we would say they need to prove it against a good team. For some reason, we just automatically assume OSU is back on top. Maybe their QB can’t handle pressure and makes bad decisions.  We don’t know because they’ve only played the bottom half of the league. 

Spitfire

October 17th, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^

If that was my ballot I would swap the pair of Oregon/Ohio State and Iowa/Penn State. Iowa got outplayed badly yesterday. Why does he have Oklahoma State at 6? That seems high

dickdastardly

October 17th, 2021 at 12:12 PM ^

How long will that ranking last? Asking for a concerned Michigan fan who knows this ranking is based on other very good teams losing vs Michigan having signature beat down wins. 

Grampy

October 17th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^

I love me some Murderwolves, but I need more proof that the defense can stand up to a top-flight offense before I'm buying into a top-ten rating.  We would have problems scoring more than 25 points against an elite defense and it appears you can game-plan against our back 7 with a good passing attack.

UMForLife

October 17th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^

If we beat MSU, comments will be "they are a boom or a bust kind of offense". We beat PSU, it will be "Well, Clifford wasn't himself if he plays at all". We just have to wait for OSU. At that point, no one is interested in these rankings. So, enjoy the ride. No need to crap on every team we beat.

NeverPunt

October 17th, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^

It’s frankly amazing that we are standing here discussing a top 5 Michigan team after last year and expectations coming in to the season. It’s not been earned/proven yet and there is a lot of football to play but if you look at the schedule and squint you can see a sure win against NOrthwestern, likely wins against IU and Maryland, winnable games against MSU and PSU, and then of course there is The Game. There’s 100 ways they could lose any of these upcoming games, nothing is a gimme, but to say there’s a plausible way to see Michigan entering the OSU game unbeaten would have earned you a slap in the face in the offseason. It probably wont happen. But. It. might.

SBayBlue

October 17th, 2021 at 12:26 PM ^

"A sure win against Northwestern ", but then "nothing is a gimme", isn't exactly equivalent. 

While I think we will beat Northwestern,  they did beat Rutger by a larger margin then we did.

Is anyone else concerned that Sparty has two weeks to prepare for us and we only have one to prepare for them?