September 19th, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^
I can see the chips stacking up on State’s shoulder
September 19th, 2021 at 6:43 PM ^
Disrespekt!
September 19th, 2021 at 6:46 PM ^
I like how the Spartan logo got snubbed in the graphic.
September 19th, 2021 at 6:49 PM ^
AP graphic makers couldn't remember what it looked like.
September 19th, 2021 at 10:29 PM ^
It’s a visual representation of “Sparty No!”
September 19th, 2021 at 6:46 PM ^
Where's Sparty's logo? Disrespect!
September 19th, 2021 at 7:33 PM ^
Poor little brother. No one pays attention to them, do they.
edit: I thought Sparty somehow wasn’t ranked. Oh well, my take generally stands.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:39 PM ^
*Staee
September 19th, 2021 at 6:32 PM ^
I will contend in this young season that Michigan is better than 16 of the 18 teams ahead of them. Georgia and Alabama are the two that would be ahead.
And I think the AP writers also want to hear Sparty whine about being ranked one spot below Michigan.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:22 PM ^
Not sure about the first part but the last part may be accurate. I'd actually put MSU ahead of UM right now in a simple spot swap. However, polls are a point of drama and ratings so it's entirely possible you're right.
As another poster mentioned, it's odd how the polls tend to be pretty much the same all the time...almost as if they're correlated in some basic sense and not at all independent. Crazy how that's always been the case.
So it's to early for me to argue where UM should be and I don't care after 3 games. I know that I'd put MSU ahead of us today if my vote counted.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:56 PM ^
MSU has played NOBODY.
- NW crapped the bed again against Duke. They are bad.
- Miami’s only win is against App State by 2 points.
Stop with the MSU garbage. They have played crap competition.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:18 PM ^
I definitely don't want to give Sharty more respekt than they are owed, but they have disposed of all the opponents they've played the way a good team does: They have won at the line of scrimmage, they haven't turned it over, and they've played solid defense. The same way Michigan has disposed of the not very good teams we've faced.
It's definitely true that every team they have played is very bad, but they have also beat every one of them convincingly - not on weird, fluky stuff, which would lead you to believe perhaps they could be a bit of a paper tiger for a lack of better term.
I think Michigan is going to have to play their best game of the year going into that matchup if they want to leave East Lansing with a W. I definitely think Michigan can win, but they are going to have to be very sharp, and match the intensity MSU brings into this game every year. Anything less, and I think Sparty has demonstrated they're good enough to beat any team in the B1G if they don't play a clean game.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:20 PM ^
We've also played crap competition. Yet people in this thread are claiming we're top 3 nationally.
September 19th, 2021 at 9:22 PM ^
Not going to say Michigan played Alabama, but Western looked good, Washington won and NIU was... terrible. Two or of three of Michigan's opponents might be decent?
September 19th, 2021 at 9:29 PM ^
Washington also list to something called
Montana
September 19th, 2021 at 9:59 PM ^
Western it seems most likely will make a bowl game. NIU is a question mark until we see how they perform in their conference schedule. 1-2 coming out of their non-conference schedule is about as much as they could have realistically asked for.
Washington is just a team that severely underperformed out of the gates, but if they can get their act together they have the talent to be a bowl team this season. Honestly with them, it seems like they need to get their collective minds right, and if they can do that they can be a plausibly competitive team.
Michigan it seems like hasn't really had to strain to much to get to 3-0. I do think this team has another gear, but they are going to have to keep getting better if they are going to compete for a league title (Clemson, for example, may not have to get any better than they are now). It appears to me Michigan has the ingredients required to be a legitimate contender in the B1G, but I also don't think the non-conference schedule opponents really change the narrative much one way or another. Basically, they did what a good team should do to each of the opponents they played. If they want to win @Wisc, @MSU, @PSU and beat Ohio State I think Cade will need to develop his consistency and the defense needs to tighten up the susceptibility to chunk plays.
September 19th, 2021 at 10:23 PM ^
So has Michigan.
It's basically the same schedule, WTF are you talking about?
W. Michigan is probably a small notch below Northwestern.
Miami is a small notch above Washington. I called them Washington with a better QB.
Youngstown St. and NIU are both TERRIBLE.
This is such a weird take when Michigan hasn't played anyone either. You're not making a point.
September 19th, 2021 at 10:53 PM ^
Western I would argue is a better team - perhaps significantly better - than Northwestern. It seems entirely possible Northwestern might be the worst P5 team in the country as it stands after Week 3. They are really, really bad.
September 20th, 2021 at 3:24 AM ^
NIU is probably not terrible. They beat a bad Georgia Tech team and the other loss to Wyoming isn't that bad, Wyoming could win the Mountain West. Not saying they are great or anything but they should do okay in the MAC.
September 19th, 2021 at 11:03 PM ^
We laugh about MSU and disrespekt, but no one shows them any respect.
They won two road games as dogs. Down vote this when we do the same.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
Why would you put Sparty ahead? Their body of work is not good. Northwestern is really bad. They just lost to Duke. Yeah the same Duke that lost to Charlotte. Youngstown St is well Youngstown st. Miami also is not good and hung in with MSU. Miami the week before went to the wire with App st. You just threw out a bad hot take. Maybe you should apply for 97.1 the ticket.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:44 PM ^
I would also put MSU ahead of UM. they’ve at least played a ranked team.
September 19th, 2021 at 9:13 PM ^
I mean, we wont know till the end of the season whether or not they played a "ranked team". Preseason and early season rankings are a joke and doubly so following the 2020 season.
September 19th, 2021 at 10:21 PM ^
Is this sarcasm? It is right? It has to be. Maimi had no business being in the top 25 except that sports writers are too arrogant to admit their pre-season rankings are total BS. Michigan is one of the few top 25 teams who have beaten an opponent with a victory over a P5 team. Michigan has two with WMU (Pitt) and NIU (GaTech...yes, the same one that took Clemson to the wire).
MSU has no such victories yet.
September 19th, 2021 at 11:14 PM ^
Thank you, people seem to be just ignoring the fact just because of how badly Michigan best those teams they may actually be decent to OK competition. Also Washington was able to put up 52 in thier first win of the season on Saturday. It's always like that with this fanbase though, if Michigan beats anyone convincingly, the narrative is "well they aren't any good anyway" the way NU and Miami look I'd give the edge to Michigans schedule at the moment.
September 19th, 2021 at 10:35 PM ^
It's one spot. This isn't really a hot take and clearly a lot of people agree with this take or they wouldn't be one spot behind Michigan.
It's not that big of a deal. Y'all are acting like he said he'd put Eastern Michigan ahead of Michigan.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:56 PM ^
Have another drink Ray!
s/
September 19th, 2021 at 8:12 PM ^
Lol we usually don't hit we're playoff contenders at least until after 4 games.
September 19th, 2021 at 9:13 PM ^
Hey, true that. No arguments. Let's see if we can continue looking great past the September hype train. The signs are pointing in the right direction at least.
September 19th, 2021 at 9:46 PM ^
I think the AP writers also want to hear Sparty whine about being ranked one spot below Michigan
Sparty is already screaming "disrespek" on Twitter because the media is paying more attention to us
September 19th, 2021 at 10:11 PM ^
I still think Tucker comes into the M vs MSU game far better prepared than Harbaugh. While it’s possible M is a much better team than I thought, I can’t shake the feeling that MSU is going to surprise a bunch of people this year and play at another level for the Michigan game.
As good as this Michigan team might be, we haven’t seen them on the road yet. Harbaugh generally doesn’t do as well on the road, especially against competent teams. Harbaugh also doesn’t do well against teams that are close to equals and MSU might very well be that.
September 20th, 2021 at 5:34 AM ^
Stop with the Harbaugh doesn't do well with equals. He has beaten them. Did you forget PSU beat down? Tucker love on this site is out of hand. Let us see what happens.
September 20th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
You're forgetting the Harbaugh rules for the people that want him gone:
1. Claim he never wins any big games
2. Identify multiple "big" games in the preseason that he absolutely must win
3. If he wins those games they are no longer big games. If he loses those games go back to claiming he doesn't win big games.
September 20th, 2021 at 9:54 AM ^
"I still think Tucker comes into the M vs MSU game far better prepared than Harbaugh."
Tucker has coached exactly one game against Jim Harbaugh, and it was against a historically bad and dysfunctional Michigan team that began the season as one of the least experienced teams in the country, even before injuries and pandemic opt-outs further weakened the roster.
This is on top of the fact that Mel Tucker's entire head coaching career consists of 27 games total.
Jim Harbaugh has 222 games under his belt as head coach, including 64 in the NFL where he took his team to three NFC championship games and a berth in the Super Bowl.
I'm not one of those Michigan fans who automatically believes every year that MSU has no chance to compete with Michigan—I'm the opposite of that—but claiming that Mel Tucker will be "far better prepared than Harbaugh" is simply ridiculous.
September 19th, 2021 at 6:35 PM ^
It's funny how these two different sets of voters (the athletic department interns, er, "coaches" and the AP voters) manage to arrive at basically the same conclusions every week. Michigan just happens to enter both polls at #25 last week and then coincidentally moved up six spots in each poll this week.
Makes me wonder if a lot of these interns just call up the sportswriters and ask how they voted.
September 19th, 2021 at 6:41 PM ^
WE WANT BAMA! WE WANT BAMA! WE WANT BAMA!
September 19th, 2021 at 6:56 PM ^
You’re not supposed to post about rankings on this board. Rankings don’t mean anything!!! Talk to me in November!!!
s/
September 19th, 2021 at 7:04 PM ^
Here's the link to our page on the PollTracker, incidentally - LINK
It is not updated for the current poll as yet, but likely tomorrow, you'll be able to see which pollster ranked us where, if you are a sicko like me that level of detail intrigues you.
The breakdowns for previous weeks are here, if you're curious.
September 20th, 2021 at 10:06 AM ^
I just looked at the rankings by the two knuckleheads who still have Michigan unranked. Good lord—imagine truly believing that Iowa is the fourth best team in the country.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:06 PM ^
What is keeping Coastal Carolina in the top 25? The only "Power 5" team on their schedule is non-Power Kansas, which they easily beat. Otherwise, it looks like a MAC-like schedule at best such as their victory over Buffalo by 3 points. Don't get it.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^
They have Jerterrion Johnson, A. Pylon Sith and Mike Hunt…a formidable trio.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:18 PM ^
Preseason polls. They did well last year and almost the entire team returned so they will be awarded a spot so long as they don't lose.
Because preseason polls!
September 19th, 2021 at 7:11 PM ^
Credit where credit is due to Iowa, but let's be honest there is no way they are currently the 5th best team in the country.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:05 PM ^
Well, destiny is coming. They have 3 really tough games yet. If they win out they will probably be deserving of the playoffs. But turnovers were a huge factor against Iowa St. And I saw most of the Kent St game. The game was closer than the score indicates. So, I don't know about them winning those 3 games. Any of them. But they should all be great ones!
September 19th, 2021 at 9:21 PM ^
Penn State is a really tough game. Wisconsin on the road is kinda tough. Playing Minnesota is not what I would call a really tough game.
September 19th, 2021 at 11:49 PM ^
Iowa had a tough time at home against Kent State. Minnesota just dominated Colorado, at Colorado. It's tough to play at Iowa, I know. But Minnesota is much better than Kent State.
September 20th, 2021 at 12:09 AM ^
Numbers from the Minnesota game
September 19th, 2021 at 9:39 PM ^
Maryland could be a trap game there.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:16 PM ^
I'd move that top-25 around a lot but I've never cared about it this early in a season.
I'd have MSU ahead of UM with no major change but a swap in spot, UF ahead of OSU, CC back a few spots, ND back a few spots, Iowa and PSU ahead of Oklahoma.
That's about it but I'm not a stickler about polls this early. I actually don't think there should even be a preseason poll but that's a debate that's been had so I'll shut up now.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:28 PM ^
Michigan State has no logo by their name. Disrespekt.