Athlon Rankings of All Michigan 2017 Opponents
Here's a link to the entire rankings. Click to read a description for every team. To the schedule!
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Sat, Sep 2 |
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3:30 PM | |
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Noon | |
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| Sat, Sep 16 | vs |
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Noon | |
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Sat, Sep 23
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@
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 Purdue (84) |
TBD
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Sat, Oct 7
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vs
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 Michigan State (49) |
TBD
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Sat, Oct 14
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@
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 Indiana (54) |
noon
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Sat, Oct 21
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 Penn State (6) |
TBD
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Sat, Oct 28
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vs
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 Rutgers (91) |
noon
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Sat, Nov 4
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vs
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 Minnesota (50) |
TBD
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Sat, Nov 11
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@
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 Maryland (57) |
TBD
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Sat, Nov 18
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 Wisconsin (12) |
TBD
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Sat, Nov 25
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vs
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 Ohio State (2) |
noon
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Some thoughts:
- Michigan is ranked 10--a touch high, but not that far off. I think high teens are a better fit.
- Though these are really early rankings, I like how the schedule shakes out. A quick gut check, plenty of games to recover and fine-tune, followed by a reasonable buildup to Ohio State.
- I don't think Athlon factored in Michigan State's attrition situation before publishing this (zero mention of key departures in their preview).
- If you have to play Air Force, better it come after Cincinnati, which is Michigan's easiest opponent according to these rankings.
- Similar idea for the Michigan State game coming after Purdue. I know State won't be great, but they always put together their best for Michigan.
- Wisconsin followed by Ohio State is going to be difficult, but I'm weary of Indiana going all chaos team on Michigan before the game against Penn State. It's not the same Indiana, but it's also not far removed from the Wilson-era, either.
EDIT: Fixed the game times, now in ET. Having trouble with some team logos.
What time zone is Athlon in? I presume they're in Europe based around those game times. Otherwise WD gon' be pissed.
I copy-pasted from google, so it's probably that site adjusting for my location.
The only thing I will say is that they are better than when they played M and not 39 points worse. I think they were missing 5 LBs for that game, but dang, prognosticators are just acting like they are the second coming of 'bama.
They relied on their opponent not adapting their gameplan after halftime, not to mention playing against teams with poor DB play. I think this year's game is a toss up, not because they're great, but because Happy Valley at night is a bitch.
beat OSU and kept pace with a red hot USC team. They have a Heisman candidate and potential top 10 pick in Saquon Barkley. Pretty easy to see why people are high on PSU.
First, thanks for posting. This is an interesting topic and a good way to look at the schedule.
Second, it's interesting to see Minnesota, MSU, Maryland and Indiana all clustered near 50 or so. It doesn't give the B1G a good look, but might make for some interesting games. (Or total sludgefart-fests.)
Third ... GAWDAMMIT I hate looking at our schedule and seeing MSU and OSU both home one year, and both away the next. It's like shotgunning a bottle of ipecac. Makes me want to trot over to "Camp David" to leave Brandon a flaming bag of poop on the porch.
It's kind of a schlep to Camp David. I suggest you stop by "Ever After" at 660 Barton Pond Drive to leave your tribute. It's still on the market - at $5.9mm it's now priced $1mm less than when he first put it up for sale a year ago.
So I clicked on the link, and it's in many ways a nice place (great view, great location, good windows), but also tacky as all get-out in many respects.
But the real nausea-inducing part is the realtor calling it "Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired". Because, you know - Wright just loved multi-tiered theatre-style media rooms, vaulted ceilings, and man-cavey shit.
(Also, I am surprised the address is 660 Barton Pond Drive and not 666 Barton Pond Drive.)
To match its gaudiness, it has a full three-phase service an its own transformer, something you can't really say about a lot of homes even in and around the river and the Barton Pond area. It truly is a work of ......something.
I'm not worried about MSU in the slightest. They are going to be absolutely awful and it's at home. And as stated below, DeBord is the OC at Indiana now. He is the absolute opposite of a choas team maestro.
And Jimmy will destroy them for firing Crean. Don't think for a second that's not how he operates.
If Speight can take a big jump forward it would go a long long way. I think that with a young team like this some early success could really make this team competitive as they grow and gain experience.
I think the defense may have more speed and athletic chops than even last year, but with the youth getting a win against Florida woudl go a long way, but with the Air Force system, you always have to be concerned.
Getting QB play that hits on all cylinders would be outstanding as that is where Michigan really struggled in the big games last year...cannot miss the easy toss and catches and most importantly need some of the long balls to connect as one of the most frustrating things last year was the number of long and short throws to WRs that had separation downfield with nothing between them and the goal line.
They are absolutely terrible and a Rutgers look-a-like.
With Purdue back on the schedule I went back and took a look at their recruiting from 2014 until now. I cannot believe how far that program has fallen. They are the only B1G team that has not secured a 2018 commitment. In addition, they have only recruited 1 four star since 2014 and zero five stars.
B1G Rivals Recruiting Rankings
2014 - Purdue 13th; 1 four star
2015 - Purdue 14th; 0 four star
2016 - Purdue 13th; 0 four star
2017 - Purdue 14th; 0 four star
2018 - Purdue 14th; not a single commitment to date
These guys are in trouble the next few years as they have fallen to Rutgers lows. Teams in the B1G West are getting an extra bye each year with them on the schedule.
I like our chances this year in West Lafayette......
all since June 8th, so you may have looked at old info
Good catch.
They should be ranked closer to Air Force. Certainly better than Rutgers and Purdue.
MSU is 39 not 49.
Are you sure they aren't in the 23-32 range?
Tell me how "high" 10 is once we take PSU to the wood shed again.
I think MSU is going to suffer this year just because of depth issues. They're down almost an entire recruiting class' worth of players. Even programs like Bama and OSU would suffer from that.
I do agree, though, that they will put together their best game of the year against Michigan. That game saves their season if they win, no matter if they go 0-11 the rest of the way. They'll make the plays they don't normally make. The question will just be if they can make enough of them. I think it'll be a bit like last year where Sparty comes out charged up, keeps things close for a little while, but their depth (or lack thereof) and lack of playmakers wears on them by the second half, and Michigan pulls away for at least a two TD victory.
Gary will also destroy Lewerke for 3-4 sacks,
I think someone did a post about rankings a month or so ago. Michigan was ranked in a simliar spot, and we took the time to see who was behind us. It may seem like we are more apt to be a teen's type of team right now, but if you look behind us, how many teams should rightfully jump us based solely on roster composition and other pre-season information? LSU? Louisville? I dunno man.
So there are 2 teams ranked below us (OSU & PSU) and two only slightly ranked above us (Wiscy & Fla). So, if the teams play to their abilities we should lose 2-4 games.
I think PSU is way over-ranked. But, I also know that will guranteed to a night game white out in State College and that is not an easy place to win, nor is playing in Wiscy. I still like us to go 9-3 in the regular season for the 3rd consecutive year.
We were 10-2 in the regular season last year, but we have finished 10-3 after the bowl games the last 2 years.
Curious to see how good Penn State will actually be this year. I could easily see them falling flat on their face this year and reverting back to 7-5, as they squeaked by several bad teams last year, even after beating OSU. But Saquon Barkley is a pretty damn good RB, and aside from going to OSU and playing us, their schedule is manageable.
I do not think they're an elite team, and I think if they did manage to make the playoff they would get annihilated by an FSU or an Alabama. But I fully expect a tough game from them this year. Beat up on them in front of their own fans in 2015, and hung, drew and quartered them in front of our own last year. They'll be motiviated in front of their own fans for their biggest home game of the year. Winning at night in Happy Valley is a tall order.
I would just love to see one more year of us completely shutting Barkley down and running McSorely into the ground.
If our d-line is healthy I think they affectively shut down PSU's offense. They would need some turnover luck or great special teams plays to win.
MSU at 49 is high. They are coming off a dreadful 3-9 season, and lost pretty much all of their best talent from a bad team.
I'd put them below everybody on Michigan's schedule except Purdue and Rutgers.
Has not improved related to Michigan by 53 points. We beat them by 39 in Ann Arbor last year and they are favored to beat us by 14 this year. I still have images of Barkley being stuff repeatedly and their QB flat on his ass several times. Our D-line will be good again and I see us winning in Happy Valley. Harbaugh vs Franklin is in our favor. Penn State had a soft cross-over schedule last year and are way over rated.
all wear some shade of red.
I wonder what that means in the continuum of cosmic meaning.