Perkis-Size Me

October 10th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^

Possibly, but I doubt it. I think you can attribute most of that 78-0 ass kicking, if not all of it, on the fact that no matter what we did on offense, no matter who we trotted out there, Rutgers just couldn't stop itself from getting run over. 

Harbaugh wasn't running up the score. At some point, there has to be a certain level of accountability placed on the other team to stop the other team's offense. Harbaugh essentially scripted out what he was going to do on every single play after halftime, with all of his third stringers and walk-ons in the game, and Rutgers STILL couldn't stop them. We only passed the ball three times in the whole second half, so that was giving Rutgers as much mercy as they deserved. 

And no coach, especially not Jim Harbaugh, will ever tell his players to go anything less than 100% on every play. Meyer wouldn't. Saban wouldn't. No coach who's worth his salt would do that. Would've been even more insulting to Rutgers had we done that. 

Not Harbaugh's fault that our walk-ons are better than their starters. 

RoseInBlue

October 10th, 2016 at 4:10 PM ^

Thank you.  It's been annoying reading people say Harbaugh's a dick for running up the score on poor Rutgers.  The man did everything he possibly could have except play the damn cheerleaders.  And at that point, they might have scored on Rutgers, too.  What were we supposed to do?  Tackle ourselves?  We can't do everything.  At some point, Rutgers has to do something, too.

jmblue

October 10th, 2016 at 4:30 PM ^

You seem to be insinuating that Harbaugh ran up the score.  He pulled his starters at halftime and allowed his backup QBs to throw three passes in the second half. 

How could Harbaugh have kept the score down?  Take a knee on every snap in the 2nd half?

 

WolverineHistorian

October 10th, 2016 at 1:52 PM ^

Nebraska at #9 is maybe a little too generous.  What's their best win?  Oregon who is currently 2-4.  And Oregon beats them if they would have kicked their PAT's instead of going for 2 on 4 of their 5 touchdowns.  Nebraska also had to come from behind in the 4th quarter to beat Illinois....at home.  Not so sure I'm sold on them.  Even with a loss, I'd put Wisconsin ahead of them.

Baylor at #8....who had to kick a last second field goal to beat Iowa State 45-42.  Also very generous. 

But 1- 7 seem right.  You could switch Texas A&M and Washington but that's obviously not a major difference. 

LSAClassOf2000

October 10th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^

Here's how our AP ranking breaks down by voter - LINK

Scott Wolf was the lone #1. Among the voters who put us at #4 are actually Pat Caputo and Matt Charboneau. Of course, Caputo also had TCU at #15 and Charboneau had Oklahome State at #16 on their ballots, so there's that too. 

CarlosSpicyweiner21

October 10th, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^

Not sure why we care about Rankings? If we win out we go to the playoff. Fans and rankings are simply around so those "fans" can have a dick measuring contest to kill the time between the beginning of the year and the end.

michgoblue

October 10th, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^

I am not too worried about where we currently stand, since beating OSU propels us to 1 or at least 2 in the final week (and, alternatively, if we lose, even if we enter the game at #1, we are almost certainly out of the top 4). 

But, for a moment, indulge this question:  Why is OSU ahead of us, based upon THIS SEASON?  I get that along with Bama, they have been the most dominant team in CFB over the past few, but based upon this season:

1.  We both played Rutgers.  We both blew out Rutgers.  While we won by more, not sure that this matters, as that only means that our second string might be better than OSU's second strong.  We both pasted Rutgers.

2.  Signature wins so far:  We beat Winconsin, and they beat Oklahoma.  Admittedly, our win was at home and was a lot closer, but at the same time, Winconsin is ranked well above Oklahoma.  We've beaten a top 10 team, while Oklahoma is currently 3-2, making their win look a bit less impressive.

3.  Rest of schedule.  OSU has played a crap schedule of Tulsa, Bowliong Green and Indiana.  We have played two crap teams (Hawaii and directional Florida), Penn State (kind of weak, but just had a nice win) and a fairly strong Colorado team.  This goes strongly in our favor.

So why is it that OSU is solidly ahead of us? 

Again, not really worried about this, more just curious.

South TX MFan

October 10th, 2016 at 2:53 PM ^

It's solely because OSU has been so good under Meyer and we haven't beaten them yet. They get a little too much credit for the OU win and we don't get enough for the Wisconsin win. Louisville and Clemson took turns leapfrogging us. We're in a good spot though. We just have to keep winning and it'll sort itself out.



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mackbru

October 10th, 2016 at 3:18 PM ^

Because OSU has an excellent recent track record, trounced OU on the road, and pummeled everyone else. It makes perfect sense. Michigan has beaten 1 good but not great top 10 team at home. The rankings are appropriate. And margin of victory over Rutgers is meaningless. They both dominated. And I bet Meyer made sure not to totally embarrass his buddy Ash.



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Carcajou

October 10th, 2016 at 4:52 PM ^

The eye test. Thus far, I have to say OSU has looked a little better over-all in most of their games. OK, in spite of the big plays Michigan was giving up in the first four games, Michigan's defense is probably better; but offensively OSU looks better- Barrett & Webber > Speight & The Gang of Four; and special teams...Allen's inconsistency hurts Michigan.

Add into it the recent track record of Ohio State, and Meyer, and the Oklahoma win being more impressive than the Wisconsin win, and it is no surprise to me that Michigan is ranked lower than OSU. And frankly, #4 might be a little high at the moment.

And honestly, I'd rather be the underdog when we play OSU anyway.

BeatIt

October 10th, 2016 at 9:42 PM ^

Our schedules are comparable with osu having the better win  @ Oklahoma. Um trailed colorado 28-24 until their QB was knocked out. UM barely beat Wisconsin @ home 14-7 against a very pedestrian offense. OSU has the more experienced QB.  OSU has the #5 offense UM #35,Defense  OSU#4 UM#1 SOS OSU #14 UM #18

 Also with such a young team i think we have a little more upside for improvement then um. I think UM's success will be determined by Speight's development.

As far as the "Game" goes I like our chances at home  with the more experienced QB. Should be a good one. Good luck the res of the way until, the "Game" of course, lol

                                               

The Legion

October 10th, 2016 at 2:36 PM ^

Was anyone else impressed with the play of the freshmen safetie Metellus (#13) and Hudson (#7) is the 2nd half of the game? I was, especially Metellus. He was laying some nice hits and seemed to be basically everywhere. Good for the future perhaps

war-dawg69

October 10th, 2016 at 2:42 PM ^

There should be no coaches poll after what fat ass punk bitch phil fulmer did, period. To me it has zero credibilty and don't even pay attention to it.

Champeen

October 10th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^

Michigan gained 5 ponits from last poll, from 1334 votes to 1339.  OSU lost 7 votes, going from 1451 to 1444.

MSU is NOT ranked in the top 41  :)

Tennessee lost, but did NOT drop.  Miami lost on last second PAT, and dropped 6 spots.  That is BS IMO.

I just look at AP, because coaches is obselete and should simply become extinct.  Its worthless.

 

BornInAA

October 10th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^

These polls don't matter only who comes out of the conference championship games.

Michigan and OSU will not both be in the final 4 because 1 will beat the other. And no, they will not put both in as it's quite likely Baylor and Boise will be undefeated.

Forget Lousiville and FSU, Clemson wins that division and these two are therefore out of the conference championship game.

Alabama will win SEC, so forget all other SEC teams.

The 4th slot will probably be PAC-12 champ if Wash runs the table (which I doubt), if not it could be Baylor.

All Baylor has is #19 and #20 left on schedule. 

Boise State will be undefated but out because they played no one this year. They get in if Baylor and Washington choke.

Texas A&M will lose at least 2, same with Nebraska and Tennessee.

 

Final four:

Alabama

Clemson

Michigan vs OSU winner (Michigan)

Baylor

llandson

October 10th, 2016 at 3:15 PM ^

Curious, what would happen if OSU beats Wisconsin this weekend, but then Wisconsin wins Big Ten Championship over UM or OSU. Who makes the playoff?

Perkis-Size Me

October 10th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^

At that point it depends on what else happens around us. A two loss Wisconsin is not making the playoff, but they'd almost assuredly get the Rose Bowl. But at that point:

Are there any really good one loss teams that just missed their conference title game? If not, and Wisconsin won out aside from this weekend, I could see an argument being made for UM or OSU to still get in, as long as they went undefeated in the regular season.

Would also have to consider the possibility of Baylor making it through the season undefeated. If they win out, they're in.

But the more than likely scenario would be the Big Ten is left out. I don't see Alabama, Clemson, W



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Ali G Bomaye

October 10th, 2016 at 3:44 PM ^

The rankings only matter at this point insofar as there are seven teams that control their own destiny: Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan, Washington, Texas A&M, and Nebraska. For each one of them, if they win out, they're in. The only intrigue on our end is if we finish with one loss. 

If we lose to another team, but beat OSU and win the B1G championship, I think we're in. In that case, even if the SEC, ACC, and Pac-12 each produce an undefeated champion, the choice for the fourth spot is likely between us as the B1G champion and a one-loss team that isn't a conference champion. And we'd have two recent excellent wins on our resume, over OSU and the B1G West champ (likely Wisconsin for a second time or Nebraska).

If we win every other game but lose to OSU, I think the equation changes, and we're probably out. Then it's possible that the B1G, SEC, ACC, and Pac-12 each have an undefeated champion, and we're out. And even if one or two of those conferences have a team that loses a game but wins the conference championship (Clemson? Washington?), I think the selection committee would choose a one-loss conference champion over picking us as a one-loss non-champion. Our only chance would be if two or more P5 conferences have champions with 2+ losses, which would require some upsets.

So ultimately, it all comes down to the OSU game (and the B1GCG). We can even afford to drop a different regular-season game without hurting our chances too badly.

MichiganForever

October 10th, 2016 at 4:43 PM ^

Sometimes I like to go onto opponents message boards after wins and enjoy their suffering and the lamentations of their women. However, going on the Rutgers board its like I was apart of some terrible event, like the aftermath of a warcrime. Like the UN anyday now is gonna hit Michigan with sanctions for crimes against humanity. I feel like we should be paying some sort of reparations like some great cultural calamity has occured. Literally it looks like a mental image of the Mongolian invasion of Persia or the sack of Baghdad. This event is going to seered into the consciousness of Rutgers fans for years, a terrible tragedy to only be spoken of in whispers. We went in dry and im not entirely sure it was consensual.

 

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Carcajou

October 10th, 2016 at 5:04 PM ^

Too many variables that can't be controlled. Too much football still to be played. And they are based on a bunch of opinions, man.

Wasn't really a fan of the BCS or the playoff, but we all know the four-team playoff is inherently unstable [that is unless 1A evolves into a different structure, with 3 super conferences, plus 1].

The best thing about expanding to a 6 or 8 team playoff where all P5 conference winners get automatic spots is we can refocus on spending September thorugh November talking about conference races