Michigan moves to #12 in AP top 25
October 7th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
Texas at #9 and OU at #11 is a complete fucking joke. Worthless no defense conference.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
I found Texas the biggest shocker. What a joke.
October 7th, 2018 at 10:20 PM ^
They fucking lost to Maryland. Fucking 80 yards and 2 first downs through 3 quarters Maryland.
That's shouldn't be on the resume of a top 10 team.
October 7th, 2018 at 10:30 PM ^
We doubled up the team that beat them, we both have one loss with Michigan’s on the road to a top 5 team. Yes, why is Michigan ranked below Texas?
October 8th, 2018 at 3:07 AM ^
Texas has 3 wins better than our best win
October 7th, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
But The Red River Rivalry get such high amounts of publicity that I am really not surprised by that
October 7th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
Really depends on your philosophy. Texas has the biggest marquee win of the 1-loss teams with a win over OU, so they deserve to be near the top of that heap in my opinion (even despite their loss to Maryland). Penn State has a close loss to Ohio State and some pummeling of bad/mediocre teams, so there’s a lot of projection there, but it’s understandable.
The one that baffles me is Washington. Their loss to Auburn is looking worse and worse and their best win is a home shellacking of BYU. Otherwise 7 point wins over ASU and lowly UCLA? Probably shouldn’t be top 10 and definitely shouldn’t be in front of us and OU
Edit: I’ll add that Texas has also beaten TCU and USC. Both in pretty convincing fashion. I think Texas’ ranking is earned.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:30 PM ^
PSU lost at home to OSU. IMO, game location is worth factoring in - they should be penalized more for that than us losing at ND. They also went to overtime with Appalachian State.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
And they looked like they were in a dogfight with illinois for 3 1/2 quarters. That score doesn't justify how close that game was to being an upset.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^
I know the pollsters would deny it strenuously, but brand recognition both for the program and especially for head coaches plays an undeniable role in rankings this early in the season.
Peterson has a great reputation among the media and other coaches across the country, and getting UW into the playoffs a couple of years ago still has a carryover effect. Agree that their loss to Auburn is looking less impressive right now.
Herman doesn't have the head coaching resume of Peterson, but he's regarded by many as a legit offensive genius who sprang from the forehead of renowned offensive genius Urban Meyer, and being at a historical blueblood program like Texas amplifies his reputation, deserved or not. On paper they have three excellent victories; we'll see what TX does after the glow of the OK victory subsides.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
Texas dropped 8 spots in S&P+ off the Oklahoma game --- they're now #38 overall in S&P+. I view that as a bit of a warning sign as regards Texas. Turnovers helped them beat them Oklahoma, and the advanced analytics are noting that sort of thing.
But that said, a win is a win. And teams should be ranked by resume vs. advanced analytics. I agree with you as regards their resume. It's pretty darn good. They have 3 nice wins, and even their loss was a close one on the road against a team that isn't ghastly terrible.
If I'm going purely off resumes, Texas is top 15 (at least).
October 7th, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
No question their resume is top 15. Top 10 is laughable though. USC and TCU aren't that good. OU may not even be.
October 7th, 2018 at 5:01 PM ^
Their “resume” says they are #38. Don’t be a fool and only look at wins and losses. Sure winning a game ugly is better than losing pretty, but we need balance. If S&P says 38 maybe somewhere around 20 makes sense.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
Agree about Washington being too high. They have not been impressive. It will all work itself out.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
Washington is the perfect example of how dumb poll voters are. Wash lost to Auburn which isn't a very good team, definitely was overrated to start the season. But instead of rethink Washington's full resume after Auburn loses another one, AND without even considering how bad it is to play nearly evenly with UCLA, the voters blindly move Wash ahead of teams that lost in front of them.
None of this will matter for the CFP. They've shown a pretty good ability to assess teams for their current resumes and not for preseason expectations.
It also doesn't matter for M. They'll move up if the keep winning.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
Texas I'll give credit to for beating a couple of ranked teams; OU has beaten nobody of consequence this year and nearly lost to Army at home. I get that they look good on offense, but their defense has been suspect for some time and I think Mayfield covered for a lot of it last year in a way that Murray hasn't quite been able to.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
Texas has beaten one ranked team. And lost to one unranked team. An unranked team that M beat easily by 21.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^
And? The comparable 1-loss teams (Wash, PSU, OU and us) have no wins over currently ranked opponents.
That’s why I mention philosophy. If you’re comparing losses, ours looks the best followed closely by PSU. Texas would be last in that category.
But, If you’re comparing wins, Texas has the best win of those teams. I guess maybe we should bring LSU into the discussion in that case, as they have two wins over ranked opponents, with their only loss to what seems to be a pretty good Florida team on the road.
The truth is it’s a mix of quality of wins, quality of losses, and projection. All these teams have chances to prove themselves (except maybe Washington, depending on how much you believe in Oregon and Stanford)
If we win the next two, we’ll be in the top 7 when PSU comes to town. Count on it.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:41 PM ^
Everyone thinks Florida's pretty good until they play us....
October 7th, 2018 at 3:53 PM ^
Just pointing out that they don't deserve credit for beating a second ranked team (the guy said a "couple" of ranked teams) when that team was ranked merely because they were overrated in an early season poll. Neither USC or TCU are ranked right now and both are around 35th in S&P+.
October 7th, 2018 at 4:33 PM ^
Ah, fair point.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
No way I can justify putting Texas in the top 10 with a loss to Maryland. Texas looks to be an "ascending" team, but not top 10. They gave up 45 pts and moved up 10 spots in the rankings. They are not deserving of a 10 spot bump.
Also, Dicker the kicker...so they have that going for them.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
Agreed if we gave up 48 points be it in a win or a loss we're going to drop in the polls
October 7th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
Neither Texas nor OU play any defense.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:29 PM ^
Texas has a pretty damn good defense actually.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
TX isn't horrible defensively, but they're not near the top in most categories.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense/sort/yardsPerGame
October 7th, 2018 at 2:54 PM ^
They have a pretty good defense for the Big 12, but nationally they are 35th in S&P+, which in theory takes into account a lot of the "Big 12 offenses" factors in the raw numbers. That's about where NW and IU hang out. I think they have a solid defense, but they won because their offense put up 48 points, not because the defense held OU to about their season average in yardage and points.
October 7th, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^
Nobody in the Big XII had a "damn good" defense.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
The Coaches poll has Wisconsin at 10 and Texas at 14, though, which is...interesting...I mean, Texas still lost to Maryland and Michigan did lose on the road to a now Top 5 team...but whatevs
October 7th, 2018 at 3:13 PM ^
It really only matters in the end take care of business however recruits do look at polls the higher you are the more attention you get from recruits so we do want to get as high as we can possibly get right now
October 7th, 2018 at 3:38 PM ^
That top 5 team has to go into Evanston too and play the Wildcats who are gaining a ton of confidence.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
Ha. Is the Big 12 the SEC now? I didn’t see two top 10 teams. I saw two top 15-25 teams who don’t play a lick of defense. Both are going to be 2-3 loss teams
October 7th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
No, they're not. They'll be 1 to 2 loss teams because they play a Big 12 schedule from here out. One of them will be conference champs and a probable playoff berth. Where they will continue to not play defense and lose a 45-42 game.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:40 PM ^
I don't know about a probable playoff berth for OU or Texas. The Top 4 "probables" at this time are Bama, Clemson, OSU and Notre Dame. If they stumble, UGA, or UM/PSU might be the next up.
My guess is that WVU is the Big 12 team with the best chance of getting in. Based on SOS (and a potentially undefeated ND)....I think it will be hard for a one loss Big 12 team to make the playoff. SEC, ACC, B1G and ND would all get there first.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
I will disagree on a 1-loss ACC team. The ACC is awful this year. I would assume Clemson goes undefeated and gets a spot. If they stumble, I think a 1-loss Texas is in over them or Miami.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^
Somewhat unlikely that the Big 12 gets a team in at this point.
Just not enough spots considering where ND sits, Bama and UGA, Big ten winner, Clemson, etc.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
West Virginia will end up the best Big XII team
October 7th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Being behind both Texas and OU is a little annoying (don't forget that OU almost lost to Army) but whatever.
Is PSU actually higher ranked now than before the OSU game? Weren't they like #9 before then?
October 7th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Yeah, for all the credit Texas is getting (bumped 10 spots!) for beating OU, what has OU done? Needed OT at home to beat Army. Relatively close game against Iowa State. Only one win over a team with a winning record and that's a bad Baylor team that won't have a winning record in two weeks.
OU has a worse resume than Michigan. Worse loss (neutral field to a worse team than M lost to), worse wins, more close calls to inferiors teams.
Their defense is atrocious (69th S&P+!!).
October 7th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
Not defending OU or Texas, but enough of the "almost lost to" whatever team. You "almost" make a valid point, but not really. Michigan "almost" beat ND, but they didn't. Let's not get too worked up over these meaningless polls, a simple eye test is really all it takes. It will work itself out , a lot of footballs left.
October 8th, 2018 at 1:21 AM ^
Uhh, what do you think the eye test is?
If you go into OT against Army, that says to my eyes you were only slightly better than Army on that day and that means you were pretty bad on that day.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Texas in the top 10 is all you need to know about how worthless the actual results of college football games are, it's all about the brand. From losing to Maryland and being unranked to going to the top ten for beating TCU and Oklahoma. Wow. Total joke
October 7th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
Beating TCU and OU would be like us beating Wisconsin and OSU. I’m fine with giving credit to Texas for those wins, despite the worse week 1 loss. They have 2-3 better wins than we do at this point.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
TCU is terrible. Couldn't even gain 300 yards against Iowa State. OU has a sick offense but funny how people just forget they were in overtime with Army a week ago.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
We are in perfect position to get well inside the Top 10 with wins the next 2 weeks. Let's do it!
October 7th, 2018 at 2:26 PM ^
We should already be. We have a better resume than Texas, Oklahoma, Washinton and Penn State tbh
October 7th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
Texas no way. They have a worse loss but 2-3 better wins than we do (TCU, OU, USC looks a lot better than Maryland, NW, and Nebraska).
OU is there based on reputation of the last few years. Their offense looks just as potent as when Baker was their QB. The D has always been suspect, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in a rematch with Texas for the conference title the way the Big 12 is going (WV may have a say in that however)
I agree with you about PSU and Washington.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
These polls are often such a joke. If (I know it might be a big-ish if) we win out, we go to the playoff. I can't imagine our loss to ND at night, in their stadium, to start the season and after seeing how they've handled their business since then, is enough to deny us a playoff berth assuming we win out. That being said, they can F off ranking Texas ahead of us.
October 7th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^
Zero chance M gets left out if they win out.
October 7th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
Texas still carries a very big stick.