arhopp

January 9th, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^

The bullishness on MSU is all based on Lewerke.  They lose their starting center and Rison, along with some other no names....hell, there whole team is no names.  They have very little depth.  If one of the recievers or Lewerke went down, theyd be FUBAR.

Joined: 07/13/2015

MGoPoints: 183

TK

January 9th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^

I doubt Rison leaving has much impact on them. He’s their #4 receiver behind Davis, Stewart and White. They return a bunch of starters of a young 10 win team. Their preseason ranking is not surprising at all. Im frankly tired of the narrative that this is the year they fall off the cliff. That was last year and I don’t think it’s bound to repeat itself for a while.

Joined: 09/23/2014

MGoPoints: 18078

goblue16

January 9th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^

As a Michigan fan I would not make a fuss about a team losing their qb to injury. With that said MSU should be ranked higher they are a better team at this point. Until we beat them next October in east Lansing they deserve far more hype

Joined: 03/28/2010

MGoPoints: 17468

B1G_Fan

January 9th, 2018 at 4:49 PM ^

 If the offensive line takes a step forward as a unit we'll be cool. The SC game we were down 2.5 starters and it erased any progress the line had made throughout the season.

Joined: 10/11/2012

MGoPoints: 3411

Mr poonsniffle

January 9th, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^

They didn’t do a lot of research for this article. Can’t say I’m surprised as this is just random speculation 8 months from the start of the 2018 season.

The article says we have 7 offensive starters and 8 defensive starters returning. They are saying that Chase and JBB are gone. It also calls John O’Korn a key loss, as it called him our starting quarterback.

Joined: 10/04/2017

MGoPoints: 802

goblue16

January 9th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^

Why is MSU at 9 surprising? They have an entire team coming back a team that showed improvement throughout the season and wins against PSU and Michigan. There only loses were to NW OSU and Notre dame all ranked teams

Joined: 03/28/2010

MGoPoints: 17468

Wolfman

January 9th, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^

"Speight I never wanted him to leave he was the best qb on the roster"

beside Harbaugh's name. If he bounces back as expected from the IA hit we win anwyhere from 12 to 15 in 2016 and Harbaugh has things started. This is jmo, of course, but if that occurs, we continue the roll right on into this year and things look completely different. 

It happens to all teams at different times, just a bitch to have to start with the transfer of power, and we all witnessed the change from his 4th qtr relief job to FT starter. That is some seriously good qb coaching, hell coaching overall and Harbaugh more than lives up to the hype. But that didn't happen and the man who is just as good of coach as he's ever been is being questioned by almost all who were in his corner.  Hell, some fans are even saying, "He's lost his fire. His heart is not into it, etc." Well that is not Jim Harbaugh. They don't realize when things slip that far that fast, a new approach is called for and instead of looking into the eyes of a young man who might have won 20+ at this point in his career is looking at a young man who is probably coming close to an anxiety attack just thinking of taking the field. 

And this is why i'm happy we have a Harbaugh, someone built for the fight, someone not just willing but capable of taking on the task of competely changing minds. He is thinking about fb when he rolls out of bed and slides into his khakis every day. They hired Harbaubh because they want someone in case the worst imaginable happens. Well, I can't imagine a more difficult start to getting this program back to where many of us are use to seeing it. Give thanks, and again jmo, whatever you believe in, we had a group of men intelligent enough to sign the man whose name kept appearing at the top of all the lists that are deemed most important at such times. 

I'm with you. Speight is not a sexy pick, no matter who's doing it. But he was as good as we needed to meet those check marks Harbaugh had listed. 

Joined: 07/23/2008

MGoPoints: 8259

Mongo

January 9th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^

We have serious wood to chop in the offseason - find a QB who adds value, develop a good enough OL, get better results from WRs, integrate new coaches ... not your typical challenges and still transitional on offense.  2019 feels like a top 10 team, next year we should start at best around #25 until we prove we can compete at a higher level than where we ended 2017.

Swing factors - Shea could be dynamite, we find our redshirt OTs are ready to compete after Herbert turns them into men, new coaching demands our young WRs make plays at this level.

So I would say #25 pre-season with good upside if we can get some big wins on the road.

Joined: 06/25/2016

MGoPoints: 9585

Hotel Putingrad

January 9th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^

that means everyone else is competing for 2 spots. Even if everything breaks right (Patterson is cleared, Newsome returns, play calling starts making sense) it's probably not reasonable to expect us to make it.

Joined: 12/10/2014

MGoPoints: 211988

LSAClassOf2000

January 9th, 2018 at 6:25 PM ^

The Way Too Early rankings always start discussion, but it's the Valentine's Day rankings and the March 11th Because Why Not rankings that REALLY get people talking, in my experience.

ESPN's college football writer, as there is but the one now after the layoffs, is going to be in a real bind for content. He can only make it so interesting, folks.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130623

Ajcoss

January 9th, 2018 at 7:00 PM ^

When do we find out if he's eligible this fall? After last night, it's clear we need a guy a QB who has the "IT" factor. Haven't last 2 years.

Joined: 01/04/2017

MGoPoints: 8208

BraveWolverine730

January 9th, 2018 at 7:45 PM ^

8-5 team returns 17 starters and one side of the ball is top 10. Starting in the top 15 is perfectly reasonable. I know the bowl game sucked, but the majority of this board is suffering from recency bias something fierce.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 4188

Indonacious

January 9th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^

I don't see how we can be ranked this high as of now for a variety of reasons.

1) Who will the offensive coaches be?
2) Who will our QB be? 
3) Who will out OTs be?
4) Will we change our playcalling at all?

Also, as an aside....our schedule is BRUTAL as many have noted. I hadn't really taken a close look but wow.

@ND
Nebraska (with Frost should be much improved)
@NW
Wisconsin
@MSU
Penn State
@OSU

Hell even mary should be much better without having to play their 5th string QB.

 

Joined: 01/03/2012

MGoPoints: 16597

JWG Wolverine

January 9th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^

Stupid. Don’t post these. Rankings don’t mean shit right now. I want us to be unranked in fact until it matters. Ignore the stupid number, and just worry about winning games. Rankings will be guided by that (obviously). The more meaningful discussion starter would be a way-too-early record prediction article.

Joined: 01/07/2017

MGoPoints: 28434

Mar

January 9th, 2018 at 8:45 PM ^

On one hand, we were possibly 3 plays away from being 11-2. 1) DPJ TD catch/Peters not getting hurt against Wisconsin (two plays); 2) Metellus dropped INT against OSU; 3) Higdon fumble on 4-yard Line against SC. I have zero doubt we win OSU and SC with those two plays and am very confident we beat Wisconsin if DPJ is (correctly) ruled inbounds. What if we were 10-3 this year? Is the difference between 8-5 and 10-3 that big? Would we be ranked preseason top 5 if we went 10-3?

Look. I know we sucked. But I think it is hard to deny that we at least beat OSU and SC if those two plays go the other way.

[Don’t come back with a “yeah but Indiana” reference. We controlled that game for 55 minutes.]

Joined: 11/30/2012

MGoPoints: 147

MGoStrength

January 9th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^

I don't see it, but what do I know.  Call me surprised if MSU has a better record than UM next season.  Also a little surprised Wiscy is that high.  They have to play PSU next year, but not MSU or OSU.  They lose a lot on defense, but seem to replace LBs pretty easily.

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 20002

Indonacious

January 9th, 2018 at 9:21 PM ^

MSU has an easier schedule than us with 2 less difficult games and having relatively more of their tough games at home versus us. It wouldn't be hard for them to end up with a better record than us.

Our tough games:

@ND
Nebraska (with Frost should be much improved)
@NW
Wisconsin
@MSU
Penn State
@OSU

Their tough games:
NW
@PSU
Mich
OSU
@Nebraska

 

Joined: 01/03/2012

MGoPoints: 16597