yea, it's crass and shouldn't have been posted here ..... but c'mon. A lot worse has been joked about while holding a beer and passing the bottle of Jack Daniels (to the right) and the joint (to the left) around the bonfire ....
This isn't a preseason top 25. This is where Athlon thinks teams will finish at the end of the 2019 season.
An important note on Athlon's top 25 for 2018: This is not a preseason ranking of teams going into the season. Instead, this ranking takes into account where we project teams to finish after the national championship in January.
That only makes it more ridiculous to have Michigan at 5. Frankly, it doesn't even make sense to rank that many B1G teams that high. There's no way 5 B1G teams finish in the top 12. They play eachother too much.
The SEC would like to have a word.
Or maybe they look at this years team objectively and think they will be very good. I personally think this is the best team we have had since the 90's, but feel free to keep thinking we suck because of our struggles last year.
the B1G finished with 4 teams in the Top 12 (4 teams in the Top 10 in 2016).
If the B1G teams win their big OOC games and then do well in Bowl season, 5 in the Top 12 isn't that absurd a prediction.
It's a ranking done before the season. I don't give a shit if it's where they think the teams will finish in 2029, it's still a pre-season poll.
still lame and (imho) overly optimistic in this case - perhaps to get all of our many brethren to go buy the magazine because WE'RE GONNA FINISH #5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Preseason rankings are just conversation starters; sort of the clickbait of rankings. And they are about as accurate as Bagdad Bob.
With Michigan at # 5, it's essentially is saying that Michigan will go 10-2 in the regular season with loses to Ohio State and one other "at large" team......and then win their bowl game.
.......or Michigan will go 11-1 in the regular season, including a win over OSU (!)......but then lose their bowl game.
Either way, Athlon is probably looking at an 11-2 finish with the showdown in Columbus having a big impact on the season. That's good to see.....especially in late May.
A prediction of where the teams will finish at the end of the season, taking their schedule into consideration? Otherwise are "actual pre-season" polls based purely on who has the most talented players coming back, and ranks them accordingly, regardless of schedule? Then as the season progresses the same poll realizes "oh, crap, they had to play THESE guys?!? If I only would have known that..."
But, ATHLON's pre-season poll actually games out all the games, predicts wins and losses through the entire season, and predicts where all the chips fall. If ALL pre-season polls don't do that, then that's dumb but raises an interesting question. If Michigan's #12 preseason ranking bakes in that they'll lose to Notre Dame in the season opener, shouldn't they just keep their ranking if that was expected? And they are also expected to beat Penn State and MSU on their way to losing to Wisconsin and Penn State ... If all that happens do they just sit there at 12? Only if they lose to, say, MSU do they drop?
It's kind of like if the #1 and #2 preseason teams meet in a kick-off classic, shouldn't the loser remain at 2? I mean, everyone knew they were playing each other and must have figured that game would be their only possible loss. Which makes me think maybe pre-season polls are truly just based on talent amassed on each team, and then once the season starts and games are won and lost, things get shaken up.
But if Athlon truly gamed out the season, they're predicting an awfully big Mexican standoff between OSU, PSU, MSU and UM.
Aren't all preseason rankings projections of where the voters think teams will end up at the end of the season?
WTF??? What other kind of poll or ranking is there?
Hi, here's my top 25 to start the season, and now without having seen a single game played, here is how I think those teams will finish the season.
Michigan is going to wreak havoc on the college football world next year. Coach Welch's Grape Juice is going stay permanently purple after September 1st. Sparty is going to be embarrassed in prime time on national television in their trash-ridden prison yard, having to go up against Shea Patterson in good weather. Penn State is going to feel the pain of a concentrated Michigan team out for revenge after a bye week. James Franklin will remind the world that he's James Franklin, not having Moorhead to lean on. They're going to be undefeated going into the Scarlet Hellhole and will take out 17 years of frustration on Urban's crew. Wisconsin will consider whether they actually want a Michigan rematch in the Big Ten Championship. The College Football Playoff won't know what hit them when the Michigan Men hit the field. First Big Ten Championship since 2004, first National Championship since 1997.
Sorry, my neighbors had a seance the other day and summoned Bob Ufer's ghost. He made his way over once he saw the Michigan stuff in the yard. He hasn't left me alone since. I've been spending too much time with him lately, I think.
Why I read your post in his voice. Oh they came to bury Michigan....
The only thing that I'm high on is Bob Ufer.
By that, I of course mean that I snorted his ashes.
90% of this thread is bashing this ranking as ridiculously optimistic, Spart. I know it's upsetting, but no one here or at Schembechler Hall can really control what some click-desperate publication says.
Let me see if I've got this right: I'm automatically a Michigan State fan because I don't jump on the self-hating "WOE IS ME~" bandwagon and posted an exaggeratedly optimistic post that was clearly done with a humorous slant?
k, just checking
Feel free to check my post history if you want to see if I'm actually a State fan. Granted, the fact that I was caved (quite unfairly in my view, considering it was on a post that was +12/-0 and Brutus was apparently uncaved) probably doesn't help the optics. At the same time, though, I think that you're being needlessly defensive, paranoid, and unreasonable.
For what it's worth, I'm going to state this as plainly as I can. I DO think that Michigan is going to win the Big Ten this year. I don't care what the kneejerk chickenshit segments of the fanbase think about that, either. The fact that the fanbase starts having piss run down their collective pantlegs when they're ranked fifth is quite the indictment, I would say. Grow a damn backbone and support the kids. Even if it ends up being overly-optimistic, is it so bad if Joe Buckeye or Sparty Mike say something mean about it to you?
TL;DR, I'm always suspicious of anyone who joins within days of a Michigan-MSU game, has negative points, and whose posts fit the cherished EL stereotype of over-the-top, bombastic Michigan fans like a glove.
Three paragraphs is too long for you to read, yet you're accusing other people of being Sparties?
.......can't be one of us!
Everybody, quick, grab a torch and burn!
Can't let one sprout of hope grow or the fanbase may actually be cheering the team on come fall!
It could also mean Michigan goes to Ohio St 9-2 and Ohio St 11-0, and Michigan wins.
They've got OSU at 4 so I don't think it does entail that unfortunately. Though it does seem like they're indicating OSU being our ONLY loss with this ranking...
You would, honestly, pass on a 12-1 season where our only loss is to a playoff bound, undefeated OSU team? Really?
Personally, I'd prefer the playoff and/or a B1G title, but I'd take 12 wins any day but I get where you're coming from.
I disagree however about your thoughts about OSU backup QB's. Hasn't worked out so well for us lately.
If we were to beat OSU AT Columbus, and they somehow loses their way into the playoff instead of us, considering in that scenario we're probably going to the B1G Championship game, THEN I'd be livid.
I still can't believe that Jim McElwain is on this coaching staff. Seems like the exact opposite kind of guy Harbaugh would hire. A goofy, lying, mediocre head coach he's hoping will transition back to a lesser role. I just don't know man. Also sharks...
From reading various mesage board things it sounds like a GA was the main coach for WRs but in our Amazon football series a scene very clearly showed "WR coach" on the door frame to Pep Hamilton's office. It is quite odd to me a football coach would be given a coaching title to a position he doesn't plan to coach at all.
I too am ok with Jim M being our WR coach...but nothing more than that. He is a one year rental coach anyway.
This schedule.
We're #5! We're #5! We're #5!
just doesn't have the same ring to it.
One thing is for sure - we are going to be really good. Now we just need some decent OT and QB play to be extremely good.
If you don't know if you have a decent OT or QB then it's far from a sure thing that you'll be really good.
Seems low.
Would much rather be underrated. This is kinda nuts.
On this blog pessimism springs eternal.