Michigan is tied for first in the country in wins against current top 25 opponents
Go Blue!
October 3rd, 2016 at 3:46 AM ^
Tennessee is such a fraud. The teams they've beaten Ohio, Florida, Georgia, App State, Virginia Tech aren't even good and they've been close to losing more than a few of them.
October 3rd, 2016 at 3:51 AM ^
And very lucky too... I want A&M to beat them badly, but we might have to wait until Bama. By the way, I'm not 100% convinced Alabama is better than Michigan this year. Or Ohio state, for that matter.
October 3rd, 2016 at 3:57 AM ^
Bama has some question marks on offense. They struggled some against WKU and Kentucky. Still a great team but I'd take Ohio State, Clemson, and us over them.
October 3rd, 2016 at 4:38 AM ^
Alabama is averaging 44 points a game this year. I'd be scared to see if their offense gets it going.
In my view Alabama, OSU, and Michigan are the three best teams thus far due to balance. All three teams can put up points and play great defense.
October 3rd, 2016 at 5:49 AM ^
I would add Washington after what they did to Stanford.
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:56 AM ^
Washington put up big numbers against Rutgers, Idaho, and Porland St. They stuggled against a beatup Arizona team. They did look good against Stanford but I am not convinced yet that they are for real. To me, that game exposed Stanford as a one man show. Shut him down and they have nothing.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:20 AM ^
Spread teams tend to be more capable of overcoming being beat up and putting up some numbers. Sometimes luck, sometimes depth.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:55 AM ^
NOT discrediting Washington. They deserve to be Top 5. That said, this Stanford team is good, but not great. Low end T25 Team. They will finish the regular season with 3 losses.
I think your legit playoff contending teams are:
B1G - Ohio State, Michigan
PAC-12 - Washington
B12 - None
ACC - Louisville, Clemson, Miami (yep, they look really good this year)
SEC - Alabama, Texas A&M, Tennessee
Non-Power 5 - Houston (this one is REALLY iffy. I almost don't want to include them)
After this week there should be even more clarity.
Teams that could get added to the list:
1) Arkansas if they knock off Bama
Teams that will be off the list:
1) UT v aTm loser
So after this week, I think you are down to 9 legit contenders.
Long Term:
Houston and Louisville play each other, so one is out
Clemson and Miami will either play each other or if they don't, that means one has a few losses
Bama plays Tenn and aTm
In my opinion, Washington is setup for the easiest run left. No ranked teams currently on their remaining schedule.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:06 AM ^
Too early to eliminate Wisconsin. I think you're listing "legitimate" contenders (i.e not undefeated Nebraska, with a reasonably easy road to the B10 Championship) but Wisconsin has proved that they can beat LSU, crush MSU, and give Michigan a real game on the road. If they can beat OSU at home, they're right there.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:56 AM ^
Wisconsin offense isn't playoff material and OSU will eat them alive.
October 3rd, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^
and they're a good team. If they should win out (very low probability with OSU looming but they could) then they're in easily because they'd be 13-1 with wins over #5 LSU, #8 MSU, #2 OSU and the winner of the East which is almost certainly a top 5 M or OSU. That resume has them in easily
Will a team with that offense beat a top 5 OSU twice or Michigan? Probably not.
October 3rd, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
Nebraska has just as much reason to call itself a contender as UT. If they run the table, they will make it. Luckily, everyone in contention has to play OSU this year so the schedule is balanced fairly.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:10 AM ^
I'd put Clemson and potentially Louisville on that slate before Michigan at this point. Clemson seems to finally be finding their rhythm on offense, and Lamar Jackson almost won that game for Louisville on Saturday night. In Death Valley no less.
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October 3rd, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^
Likely one of them will be in the playoff, and that looks to be Clemson at this point.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:26 AM ^
Western Kentucky, Kent State, and Kentucky.
No point in debating whether or not USC is actually any good at all. And a good Ole Miss team.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:32 AM ^
Our offense has a lot of question marks too. I'm not so sure I'd take us over them as of now.
I'd say the CFP rankings, as of now, would be 1. Ohio | 2. Clemson | 3. Bama | 4. Michigan. Houston, Washington, and Texas A&M are looming though.
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:01 PM ^
Louisville would be a matchup nightmare for Michigan.
October 3rd, 2016 at 3:57 PM ^
I want Tennessee to win out in this same Sludgefart fashion they've been doing. I'm sure the ESecPN network has been calling them gutsy wins from a truly talented team or something but the part of their games I caught were simply hard to watch.
Anywho, let them take Alabama's place in the playoff through another fluke game. Then we can beat Tennessee by 100 and drop the gauntlet to the south.
October 3rd, 2016 at 6:49 AM ^
They will lose soon. I hope they beat Alabama, but they will not.
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October 3rd, 2016 at 8:00 AM ^
Tennessee's problem is that they aren't showing up until the second half of games, and they've luckily had a soft enough schedule so far to get away with it.
That being said, if they don't show up for all four quarters against Alabama in a few weeks, they are going to get absolutely curb stomped. Hell if they don't show up until the second half next week, they could even lose to A&M. This is their first real road game this year.
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October 3rd, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^
>> if they don't show up until the second half next week, they could even lose to A&M. This is their first real road game this year
Pretty sure their Hail Mary win was in Athens, not at home. That is a definite road game for them, despite the number of Tennecheat fans in Atlanta who find their way into the stadium for that matchup.
October 3rd, 2016 at 5:48 AM ^
So much for "the worst non-conference slate Michigan's ever faced"
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:08 AM ^
Impossible! ESPN told me we haven't played anybody! However, the SEC...
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October 3rd, 2016 at 6:56 AM ^
I think the Colorado win is looking better and better every week. They're in great position to go to the pac12 championship game.
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:54 AM ^
Not sure they'll get there over Utah, but it's a possibility. Luckily they get Utah at home. They've got two tough ones coming up against Stanford and USC, so that should tell us a lot about how good Colorado really is.
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October 3rd, 2016 at 8:03 AM ^
this weekend if Sefo Liufau is back in the lineup. Although the backup Montez was shellshocked vs. our D, he did lead CU to its first win in Eugene in 40+ years.
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:39 AM ^
to Cal this weekend. The Pac 12 South is a free for all again.
USC is the only team in the South with 2 conference losses so they're in a tough spot but not impossible, but they also have Washington left on the schedule. SC really has to win out and would need Utah to lose 2 more times along with beating Colorado and UCLA and both of those teams losing one more.
Arizona, USC and Arizona State each have in division losses to someone so they already need someone else to lose twice. UCLA and Utah have a conference loss but not a division loss, while Colorado has no losses but has yet to play a South division opponent. That starts next week at USC which was an outstanding game last year in Boulder.
I won't even guess who wins the South, but certainly Colorado has shot in a division full of pretty even teams.
October 3rd, 2016 at 7:59 AM ^
Has a great shot against both SC and the tree. Stanford is decent but overrated. They looked sloooow against Washington. USC, guess it depends which team shows up, but I still think the buffs are better. We will see I guess
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:28 AM ^
I guess if we win out, it is not going to matter(double negative coming!), no matter what!
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:32 AM ^
Tennessee has been behind in all five wins this year. I know that because I kept my eye on the Florida game ticket prices on stubhub the first few weeks as I need to buy six. Was hoping someone would beat them to lower prices. Never happened.
That said there is something to be said about a resilient team like that. Still dislike them very much. But to score 35 unanswered against Florida after being down 21-3 is pretty impressive.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^
hasn't played anyone yet, and they get a reeling fsu team this week.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^
hasn't played anyone yet, and they get a reeling fsu team this week.
October 3rd, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^
Whatever.
It just boils down to:
The winner of The Game goes to the playoffs.
October 3rd, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^
If Clem n Bama lose, the loser of The Game could go too.
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October 3rd, 2016 at 6:35 PM ^
I hope hope hope you're right because it says a lot about Big Ten health.
But the memory of the sabotage of 2006 still stings with me, so I still see the rest of the NCAA itching for an excuse to reduce Big Ten representation in the playoffs. A fresh loss by either Michigan (no) or Ohio State (yes) gives them a excuse to do exactly that, even with a Clemson or Alabama loss earlier in the season.
I just think there will be too much sympathy from the rest of the FBS schools for the argument that The Game is effectively a playoff game itself, reserved just for the Big Ten.
I think that's bullshit, but there's too much incentive for the REST of the NCAA to use that argument to keep BOTH schools out, No Matter What.
October 3rd, 2016 at 11:03 AM ^
Michigan is also tied with Western Michigan and Nebraska with most wins against B1G teams this season to date.
October 3rd, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
Overall opponent record:
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) October 3, 2016
Bama 11-14
Ohio St 8-10
Clemson 15-9
Michigan 16-9
Wash 11-13
Houston 10-12
aTm 15-10
Louisv 12-12
Tennessee 16-8
October 3rd, 2016 at 2:59 PM ^
that is going to change drastically.
October 3rd, 2016 at 2:59 PM ^
that is going to change drastically.
October 3rd, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^
sorry.
October 3rd, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^
some info earlier on Michigan not getting shown love in the media and no respect in the polls, we got jumped by louisville and clemson and now Washington in some...anyway it got negged to hell and deleted however....Now looking on twitter Deveon Smith and Channing Stribbling seem to echo my sentiments! NO LOVE ! i know we just be patient and win games and it will all work out. Just hate all the hate. And another thing this is a damn sports blog, im an alumnist, please dont whine and cry about my punctuation or spelling sometimes i miss yes, but at least you can read and understand, I graduated already please dont grade my paper....sorry for the rant but sick of the idiots on here that NEG people because of that...put down your tea and crumpets and grab a damn Brat (with no Ketchup) and a beer....Anyway check out their twitter accounts! GO BLUE!
October 3rd, 2016 at 8:38 PM ^
Ellipsis much?