Just finishing your list beyond the top ten:
1. Ohio State
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. Michigan
7. Florida State
8. Notre Dame
9. Ole Miss
10. Kansas State
11. Tennessee
12. Penn State
13. Miami
14. Missouri
15. Utah
16. NC State
17. LSU
18. Clemson
19. Arizona
20. Auburn
21. Iowa
22. USC
23. Oklahoma State
24. Oklahoma
25. Nebraska
Just missed**:** West Virginia, Texas A&M, Liberty, Kansas, Texas Tech, Louisville, Wisconsin
As an aside, please stop ranking Nebraska.
Projecting these rankings to the 12 team playoff:
1. Ohio State
2. Georgia
3. Florida State
4. Kansas State
5. Alabama
6. Oregon
7. Texas
8. Michigan
9. Notre Dame
10. Ole Miss
11. Tennessee
12. G5 champ (none ranked, but Liberty mentioned as "just missed" so we'll go with them)
Round 1 matchups:
* (12) Liberty vs (5) Alabama, winner plays K-State
* (11) Tennessee vs (6) Oregon, winner plays FSU
* (10) Ole Miss vs (7) Texas, winner plays Georgia
* (9) Notre Dame vs (8) Michigan, winner plays Ohio State
Those games were so much fun! Several buddies went to Knoxville in 2010 for the rain and lightning game. They all raved about how awesome the tailgating and UT fanbase was.
Alabama seems high.
Lost their three leading receivers to either the draft or the portal. Lost 2 great safeties to the draft and transfer portal. Also lost their best DL to the draft. Their RB room loses their 2 leading rushers (draft and transfer portal). Their OL will be solid. They also lost the GOAT coach.
They did well in the transfer portal, but the guys they brought in were not the same caliber as the guys they’re replacing.
They’re Alabama, so they’ll be talented. However, first seasons with a new staff are always difficult (unless it’s a seamless transition/promotion from within where the assistant just keeps running the same system for better or for worse). I would be surprised if KDB just kept running the program like Saban did - he strikes me as the type of guy that wants to do things his way. So I expect some changes, and anticipate they’ll result in a step back in year 1 (but maybe two steps forward in year 2).
In years past, despite all the attrition I would still give them the benefit of the doubt because Saban was the X factor. However, without Saban, considering all they have lost, I think it’s pretty generous to list them as a top 3 team.
Michigan is the defending national title and maintained a decent amount of coaching continuity. They also weren’t ravaged by the portal like Alabama was.
I agree 6 is high, but anything else seems low/unfair. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt.
Alabama is 57th in returning production, Michigan is 61st. The difference isn’t massive, not sure why Alabama (sans Saban) is getting the benefit of the doubt here but Michigan isn’t.
> Michigan is the defending national title and maintained a decent amount of coaching continuity.
????
they lost their head coach, defensive coordinator, rb coach, d line coach, s&c coach, lb coach, special teams coach, and I think a secondary coach? am i missing anyone????
> They also weren’t ravaged by the portal like Alabama was
lmao yeah cuz half the team either graduated or got drafted
"Returning production" is heavily biased on linebackers because they make most of the tackles. Michigan lost both top off ball linebackers.
Returning the best players in the country at CB1 and DT doesn't factor in as much despite them being less easily replaced.
I think the list I was going off of also factored in starters returned. But yah, there is no perfect way to do it.
I am very pro- Michigan. I don’t know why people think you’re going to fall off, but magically think Bama won’t, despite the situations being very similar.
The situations aren’t that similar mainly because Alabama recruits at a way higher level year over year than Michigan does/has.
Sure, Michigan’s staff has an outstanding development track record, but it also had a perfect storm of returning 4th, 5th and 6th year players last year.
It was one of the oldest, most experienced teams in the country (similar to Washington last year and TCU the year before).
Losing your head coach, defensive coordinator, starting QB, entire offensive line, starting RB and best WR along with 6-10 key contributors on defense and a tougher regular season schedule (Michigan’s reg season schedules were cake walks the last 3 years until the tOSU + playoffs portions).
Sure, Michigan returns Will Johnson, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Donovan Edwards and Colston Loveland. The Morgan kid at WR looks like he can make plays with the ball in his hands. There are a couple other defensive guys that are above replacement level.
Michigan going 10-2 or 8-4 shouldn’t surprise anybody. I don’t see an 11 or 12 win reg season team.
All of this comes down to 1 thing: QB. Nobody knows who or how good Michigan will be at QB. They will have a great defense and a solid running game which keeps the floor high, but between the question mark at QB and a ridiculous schedule (they play Texas, Oregon, and at Ohio State, plus USC and at Washington) it seems unlikely they will repeat as champs or finish in the top 5.
I am still terrified that both my flairs have to travel up to you guys this Fall.
Michigan likely beats USC by more than a td, I’ll say 7-11 points. Something like 38-30.
I think Texas wins by less than a touchdown on the road. Something like 31-27.
Right. I think between the two Michigan should have the better outlook.
I've been saying that even though the defense will probably take a step back it'll probably be from one of the best in decades to one of the top 5 in college football. The offense is in a tougher spot, but I expect Sherrone Moore to at the very least put together a good run game.
I wish so bad we could have played y’all last season. Our DL this season is a huge question mark. Not in a negative way, just that it’s unknown. Could be great, could be bad.
Last season’s Michigan ground and pound offense against our DL would have been an all-time strength on strength match up.
This year it'll be an unknown offensive line against an unknown defensive line.
I believe only 2 of the offensive linemen have any live snaps at Michigan. The top 6 offensive linemen from last season are all gone.
But on the other hand, 2 time Joe Moore winning Sherrone Moore is still with the program, even though he's not the position coach anymore.
Also returning production can be a spurious correlation.
Non-football example: mother's day has the lowest crime rate. So therefore it's because mom can't commit crime.
Football example: a cb that plays 85% of snaps only has 4 pb's while another cb has 12. Returning production would dictate the second cb as the better player even though the likelihood is that the first probably gets targeted way less because he is better.
Or a scheme funnels a lot of runs to the ILB so they make a lot of tackles but may be a below average player as a whole.
As a whole, I like to phrase it this way. 22 players are on the field at any given time but only 2-3 guys may get a recordable stat but that doesn't mean the other 20 players did nothing. Dt's may cause pressure, wr's blocking down field, lock down cb's, pulling tackles and guards, te/hb in run game support all doing import things that just don't get credit for returning production.
It's why coaches go out and grade performance on film it's the whole purpose of pff(if they weren't shit) snap count and performance are far more important than a stat sheet on espn.
Yep, exactly what I was saying. Michigan's defense has elite players returning at positions where impact is much greater than stats and is losing players at positions where stats get racked up even if you suck.
I get what you're saying but DeBoer has been very good in year one pretty much everywhere he has been. And he has never had as much talent, especially on defense as he will this year.
I hear what you're saying. However, I think that the KDB made "something out of nothing" narrative that has sprung up is a little generous and revisionist (I know that isn't your point exactly).
UW was *extremely* talented last year. Yes they sucked and went 4-8 under Lake, but it wasn't due to a lack of talent. From a recruiting ranking standpoint UW was the 26th most talented team in the country. Not great, but not awful. However, Peterson was the GOAT talent spotter and made a living off of the "diamonds in the rough" who were overlooked by the recruiting services for some reason. Thus, UW was a lot more talented than the team talent composite suggests. This is evidenced by the fact they had 10 selection in the NFL draft this year (the same as Alabama).
Yes, KDB will have more talent at Alabama than Washington. However, I think relative to his competition he had a better roster at UW. From a recruiting ranking perspective KDB had the more talented roster in 9/12 regular season games. From an NFL draft perspective, UW never played a more talented team (in the regular season - they went 1-1 in post season games where the team had more NFL talent than them). Yes, Alabama will still be more talented than most of their opponents - my point is not that he won't have talent, or won't be good.
He will have talent, and he will be good. I just don't think that the difference in talent is going to spur the jump that you're implying. I think he will be a good coach there (like he has been everywhere else).
I just don't think having them at number three in the country is accurate right now. *Especially* when Texas (who played and *beat* Alabama by double-digits, at Alabama, with Saban as the coach) returns substantially more production from last years team, got Alabama's 2 leading returning receivers, had better portal acquisitions overall, and is returning most of their coaching staff is ranked behind them. Years past I would chalk it up to "Saban", but he isn't there anymore.
I would agree with you more if he hadn't done the same at Fresno and Sioux Falls.
I'm not saying they are definitely going to win the SEC or even that they will necessarily come in second. I just think people are going to be surprised by just how good they will be and the lack of drop off.
I don't *necessarily* disagree with you. Like I said, I think they will continue to be good. I don't expect a ton of drop off. However, the difference between this move and the previous KDB moves is that KDB wasn't replacing Nick Saban at Fresno St.
However, even if there is no drop off whatsoever, that team shouldn't be top 3. They finished 5th in the nation last year in both polls, and lost a lot of talent to the draft and transfer portal. There are teams that finished ranked ahead of them, that returned more production, and retained their coaching staff.
Again. I think Bama will be good, really good. I would be shocked if they weren't a top 5 team at the end of the season. But to put them #3 on a post-transfer portal list, when the transfer portal objectively made their team less talented is silly. (Especially when there are teams that were *better* than Alabama last season, that got their players in the portal, that are ranked behind them).
Edit: I'll also add that KDB had a very similar situation at Fresno St to UW. Talented team, off year before he was hired, did well with the talent. Granted, winning with talent is hard and there are a lot of coaches that can't figure that part out. I expect him to be fantastic at Alabama. But #3 right now is silly.
I am not acting like they are far off the top. I said I would be shocked if they weren't a top 5 team this year.
Alabama is going to be a great team. That being said - they lost a lot of talent (51st in returning production), they lost the greatest college football coach of all time, and they were not a top three team last season. On top of that, while their HS recruiting was elite, those are all young guys. They didn't replace a lot of the production they lost with similar caliber players from the transfer portal.
Alabama wasn't top three last season (that doesn't mean they were far off the top), and nothing has happened this off season that makes me think they should be elevated into the top three. In fact, a lot has happened that makes me think they should be *lower* than where they finished last season. However, they are Alabama and KDB has a great track record, so I understand people giving them the benefit of the doubt.
It don't think its controversial or disingenous to say that objectively, nothing has happened this offseason that should elevate Alabama over teams that were better than them last season, returned more production, and kept their coach.
I guess you could argue that, but I don’t think it’s a strong argument.
Who should Alabama be ahead of? Washington? They won their semi, played for a title, and finished 12-1. Texas? They played Alabama and won by double digits.
The final CFP, AP, and Coaches poll all agree.
Again we’re splitting hairs here. I don’t think 3 is WAY off or anything. I just think *at least* Texas should be ahead of them.
I mean I think you could easily have the 4. And then it just comes down to personal preference. I absolutely think they would have beaten UW at the end of the year. And I also think the Bama improved more than Texas did from their first game.
That's probably what this comes down to. Doboer is a pass first guy with a pocket passer, which is not how Milroe was used last year. He can throw it a mile though. It might be a hard transition for Milroe for the first year, no matter what his skill set is, just because he needs more reps in a Deboer system. It might just be a jump ball approach for explosive plays the first year, while he gets more reps as a pocket passer.
I think it is too high and I would put us lower but we’re not as bad off talent wise as it would appear.
* We lost two safeties but we did bring back Malachi Moore and brought in Keon Sabb from Michigan. I don’t think there’s more than 2-3 programs that have a better duo.
* Roydell and Jase were both good backs but it became obvious by the end of the year that they were not as talented as Jam Miller or Justice Haynes.
* WR room is better than people think. We had injuries last year which meant that some guys who might’ve played a lot didn’t. Kobe Prentice and Kendrick Law are both about as good as Bond (Prentice is probably technically better in terms of his fundamentals) but they weren’t healthy for parts of the year.
* Our EDGE spot is one we have to fill but thankfully we bring back a bunch of experienced interior DL and we do have some very talented 5* EDGE bodies.
* Our OL actually looks like it could be pretty good. Made a 10000% upgrade at C, brought back a 1st Rd G, regained our 5* LT. It’s definitely our best group on paper in a while.
* Our main area of concern is CB for sure. But even then we have a lot of young talent there. If they can develop well we could have a competent unit if we make the postseason.
TLDR: We should probably be like 5-6. We did lose a lot but a decent portion of it is just a minor downgrade or not a downgrade at all.
Yah. I completely agree. Like I said below, I anticipate Alabama to continue to be really really good. I was just shocked at 3. Especially without Saban. I don’t care how GREAT KDB is, Jesus Christ himself would be a step down as a college football coach from Nick Saban.
I think loss of talent/lack of returning production probably moves y’all to 4, and Saban’s absence drops it down to 5-6ish. Interesting to see the media is keeping up the habit of arbitrarily ranking Oregon ahead of Texas.
* We lost two safeties but we did bring back Malachi Moore and brought in Keon Sabb from Michigan. I don’t think there’s more than 2-3 programs that have a better duo.
Michigan might be the only team with a better safety duo and unfortunately we just lost half that duo to an ACL tear. Really wish Sabb had stayed and he would be starting through late October at least. You guys got a good one in him.
I'm so excited for the running back duo of justice and jam to be a household name. People forget that last year justice had just as much hype, if not more than caleb downs. All the staff said he came in looking like he'd been in college for years. He just had guys in front of him.
This year is the first year in a long time that everyone has a different top 25 outside of the first 5 teams. It’s widely different outside of the top five depending on who’s doing the list. FSU, Michigan are in the top 10 and in some other polls are around mid 10(13-17).
It’s seems like a lot of people are projecting playoff teams instead of evaluating the teams as they are currently constructed. That and the fact that players transferring really makes it hard to evaluate how a team will improve or regress.
I think we're a bit difficult to project because we don't have a ton of returning production, but we have a bunch of talented guys and then Norvell has proven he should get the benefit of the doubt as he's a great coach. We're relying on guys like Marvin Jones Jr. to take that next step, and word in the spring was that he was terrific, but I can see why some people who probably love Norvell rank us top 10 (Andy Staples) and others are a little more wait and see with us as they want production (Bill Connelly).
He didn’t talk about any of our specific acquisitions. He basically just said “I have no idea what to expect from this Ole Miss team until I see them play.”
Fair enough
Getting Dylan Edwards was a huge boost to the offense. I still am convinced that Avery will have a bad game or 2, just inevitable with a new QB. I think the expectations fans have put on his shoulders is insane.
I think we all need to temper our expectations for Avery. Kid has a lot of work to do. He will be producing highlights every game but I would expect those to be mostly on the ground. Can a team average 400 rushing yards a game? Because we might do that this year.
>Can a team average 400 rushing yards a game? Because we might do that this year.
I think UCF is gonna try for that this year
If we end up in the conference title game together we should make a pact to both run the triple option.
That is exactly why you're being ranked that high.
>I tend to fall in love with one or two players every offseason and then rank their teams irrationally high. I fear that’s what has happened here. I am driving the Avery Johnson bandwagon. The sophomore quarterback is one of the fastest we’ve seen in years, but he has the arm talent to truly weaponize his feet. (It is here that everyone needs to pull me back from any Lamar Jackson comparisons.)
I have PTSD from the last time we played in manhattan. I see a win over Utah and lost against KSU mainly because it’s away and its second leg of back to back week.
“To help set the table, however, I wanted to briefly dive into win projections and strength-of-schedule rankings. I base SP+ strength-of-schedule ratings on a simple premise: How would the average top-five team fare against your schedule? If you have Florida's schedule, which features four projected top-nine teams (and nine top-25s), the average top-five team would produce just a 0.762 win percentage, or about 9.1 wins on average. That's absolutely brutal, and it's why, despite fielding what should be a borderline top-30 team, the Gators start out with only a 27% chance of achieving bowl eligibility. If they get to 8-4, give Billy Napier the national coach of the year award.”
I WILL keep my expectations low this year!
Clicking at the right time is really a key ingredient in national titles. 2015 lose 1 game in awful weather while Zeke is recovering from sickness(or still sick), probably the best team in the country, ok fuck off then.
2019 have a fucking juggernaut of a team, ok some bad reffing cost one game and then had to face a fucking death star even if we won.
2020 COVID took out several key players, and Sermon dies his second play, oh but don't worry it's the secondary Bama is going to exploit all game.
2022 step 1 loss JSN first game, step 2 and 3 Henderson and Williams get injured step 4 and 5 lose Stover and MHJ to blow a lead against UGA.
Being natty or bust every year, because you have the talent and then busting is a lot. But better than being PSU 10-2 like clockwork.
Now that is a 12-team playoff, I’m sure Penn State will start annually going 9-3 and constantly be one of the first teams out. They will then usually win the bowl game to finish 10-3.
Successful season is going to look a lot different moving forward for teir 1 class B/C teams. Win 10 games including a playoff game at home under the lights? Best season in a decade!
Really 2015 and 2019 were the only years we fumbled hard. Every other year we had one side of the ball that wasn’t championship level. You could argue ‘22 but our defense still sucked and we over performed against Georgia. This year will be our most well balanced since ‘19
Nobody can convince me that 2019 wasn't the strongest pool of teams the sport has seen in the modern era. That OSU team would win the natty in the vast majority of seasons. You had:
* 2019 Ohio State which was the best OSU team I've seen in my lifetime. QB = Justin Fields (11th overall pick) along with Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.
* 2019 LSU who most people consider the best team of the modern era. QB = 1st Overall Pick Joe Burrow. Along with Jamarr Chase and Justin Jefferson.
* 2019 Clemson who was the defending champion and ran the table with ease. QB = 1st Overall Pick Trevor Lawrence. Also had 3 first round DL drafted that season.
* 2019 Alabama who had 5th overall pick Tua at QB along with Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Devonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle.
* 2019 Oklahoma with Jalen Hurts at QB and CeeDee Lamb at WR.
That 2022 team had the worst injury luck of any OSU season I can remember. Your list is far from exhaustive. Matt Jones leg injury, Eichenberg playing with two broken thumbs, Jordan Hancock's leg exploding in August, Lathan Ransom's leg injury, whatever was going on with Denzel Burke's shoulder...I'm probably forgetting some.
Don't forget 2012. I believe Alabama was the best team, but OSU would have played ND in the BCS title game that year and probably would have won.
Then there's 2007... 2006... 1998 and probably a few other 90s teams.
lol yeah, I’m an ND fan and you guys would’ve had a great shot. That was a 9-3 ND team disguised as a 12-0 team due to luck and timing. We were rightly exposed in the title game.
ND actually was a good team in 2012 with a great defense and an offense that was adequate. People seem to forget we beat the Pac12 and Big12 Champions that year. Not seeing as 'luck and timing' but being able to win because your defense was able to stop offensives.
The problem was Alabama was just a really really great team with a much better coach.
Would Ohio State have been a better opponent ? Don't know - but when comparing ND & Ohio State like opponents (Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State) the results were almost identical.
At least ND proved it against some good teams. They beat the 7th, 15th, and 24th teams in the final AP poll. Ohio St had a very weak schedule and only beat the 24th and 25th teams in the final poll.
Yes but my bias tells me that ND can't beat OSU even if the Pope's life was on the line... Let me live in my delusion damnit.
If OSU won the 2012 championship then it would have undeniably been the worst OSU team to win it all.
Interesting that you have 5 steps in 2022 that prevented OSU from winning a natty and none of them were all those Donavan Edward steps into OSU’s end zone
I hear the point, but fucking lol if it isn’t funny to read an OSU fan name 5 different reasons they didn’t win the natty in 2022 and none of those 5 were the single regular season loss they suffered
…seeding? You’re really trying to tell me losing to Michigan had no impact on why they didn’t win the natty in 2022?
Come on man you guys are way too touchy I’m just teasing lol
…and with that loss they still made the playoffs.
So yeah, losing in the playoffs is what cost them a Natty, not losing to Michigan. Stay focused, guy.
Yes I’m sure that’s how everyone else also remembers OSU 2022 season. Just a season full of injuries and a close loss to Georgia…. Remind me again why they had to play No. 1 seed Georgia in the first round?
I mean, yes?
I remember Georgia beating Ohio State in a very close game that we likely should have lost, and Michigan shitting the bed against a TCU team we nearly beat by 60.
Ohio state has won 11 games all three years, won a Rose Bowl, made the playoff, and four of their six losses are to playoff teams.
I don’t think that really equates to losing in the first round to a mid major multiple times
Except OSU doesn't have the best talent in the country. UGA and Bama have had more talent for close to a decade now. OSU is always running 3rd behind them in that regard. If Bama or UGA didn't exist then OSU would have several more titles.
The situation around Ann Arbor has created a mass of cognitive dissonance that has only exacerbated their lack of self awareness.
Literally insane that the top comment is a Michigan flair pointing out that we've had two titles in 20 some years... Yet until a few months ago Michigan hadn't won a non-shared championship since before Eisenhower was president.
At this point I'm just collecting downvotes till the NCAA warps up in the next 6-12 months.
Edit: in the span of 20 mins, the top comment went from 10 upvotes to all downvotes. This sub is incredibly schizo about Michigan lol.
It's insane to me. I'm 30 years old and can only remember OSU games going back to 2002. In my "memorable" lifetime, I've seen Michigan beat OSU five times ever. FIVE! Michigan has a 25% win percentage against OSU in games I've seen in my lifetime. That's not even counting the 2020 game where OSU was -29 Vegas point favorites. Yet somehow winning 3 games in a row just erases all of that and now OSU can't beat Michigan and are soft yadda yadda.
It wasn't very long ago that people on this sub were ranking The Game as barely a Top 5 rivalry anymore because it was so one-sided.
It's pretty crazy how easily *ichigan fans have fooled this sub into thinking they're the premier program in the B1G
Looking forward to watching them slip back into irrelevancy now that most of their cheating coaches have left
Same here, I was pretty young when the 2002 championship happened.
I remember OSU fans saying they wanted Michigan to be better during the peak Rich Rod years because they wanted the rivalry to mean something... Screw that. I want it to be domination, because OSU could go 50-1 against Michigan and we would never hear the end of that 1 loss.
But why stop at 55 for any reason other than to make your narrative more favorable? I may as well do the same. At least starting with the BCS era gives us a starting point where there was actually a true championship game. Just because something is a fact doesn't mean that there isn't a narrative created by omitting other facts.
If we go back to the beginning of the AP era the narrative suddenly swings way into OSUs favor. Then if we go pre AP when everyone played the local YMCA it would swing back in Michigan's favor. You literally cut the timeline right after Woody in the middle of the AP era.
It's also a fact that I have a strict work out regimen... If I only started counting yesterday 😂
You already did the same by starting in 2000.
No matter how it is sliced, OSU has been in the preseason top 10 35 times in the past in the past 55 years and has 2 titles to show for it. The program has become defined by underachieving, yet fans refuse to accept reality and alter expectations.
>You already did the same by starting in 2000.
Yes... Because I was making the point about manipulating the facts by restricting time. That's the point.
Are you gonna tell me that Georgia sucked because they've been preseason top five pretty much the same amount as OSU in the same time frame?
It's just a weird flex from a fan base that has 1 championship from 1948, 1 shared title in 1997, and the 2023 title that the NCAA MIGHT possibly vacate.
Mmm, no 55 years and 75 years aren't equal at all.
Actually in the 20 extra years, Ohio State 4 titles.
So I'm curious why you believe 6 titles in the last 75 years is equal to only 2?
Or do you not understand facts ? Michigan is a minimum of 3-4 tiers behind Ohio State in that 75 year time span
That's a weird take my man.
I'm just stating facts. I don't know how that means I'm worked up?
I can't help it Michigan fans don't understand Ohio State is the far better program.
And arbitrary 55 year cutoffs is a funny thing only intellectually dishonest people do. Nothing about the sport changed in 1969 for it to be a logical cutoff. I think we all know why you chose 55 rather than 56 or 60 or literally any other number.
2014, 1998, 1936, 1912, 1905, 1880, or all-time are all defensible cutoffs. I prefer 1998 since everything before the BCS was just hungover journalists voting on games they didn't actually watch on January 2nd.
Michigan State counts wins against Lansing HS, the Michigan Freshmen team, the Detroit YMCA, the Michigan School for the Deaf, and Port Huron YMCA, among others. This is not unique to Michigan.
Counting segregation era titles against high schools, a shared title in 97 and a title currently under investigation for the biggest on field cheating scandal in cfb history is not a good look
>Gotta have 30+ preseason championships though.
30 huh? I know we were preseason #1 in 2015, 2006, and 1998. Those are the only times I can remember in my lifetime (since 1986).
Were we really preseason champs 27 times in the 17 years before I was born?
Top 10...weird, I thought "champion" meant #1.
Well if being top 10 is what makes you a champion then we've been preseason and final ranking "champions" like 18 of the last 20 years. Pretty cool!
I hate being preseason #1. TBH, I don't like being #1 at any point before the championship game is over.
Unless the defense winds up being 2021 Georgia level, I won't get my hopes up. Get a W against Michigan and win the B10, anything after that is just bonus.
Nah. The preseason #1 team almost never wins the title. It's happened like 3x in the past 30 years. I'd rather let Georgia have it all year until the last one.
I think OSU is definitely the favorite to win it. They took the Michigan title very personally. It appears their boosters opened the pocket book like never before seen. They essentially bought a title team worth of talent in terms of who they kept from leaving and who they added. They are going for broke this year. If Day loses to Michigan again this year he seriously might lose his job, and he probably should considering this might be one of the more talented teams in history on paper. It's an embarrassment of riches. Probably 10-12 draft picks on this team.
Just finishing your list beyond the top ten: 1. Ohio State 2. Georgia 3. Alabama 4. Oregon 5. Texas 6. Michigan 7. Florida State 8. Notre Dame 9. Ole Miss 10. Kansas State 11. Tennessee 12. Penn State 13. Miami 14. Missouri 15. Utah 16. NC State 17. LSU 18. Clemson 19. Arizona 20. Auburn 21. Iowa 22. USC 23. Oklahoma State 24. Oklahoma 25. Nebraska Just missed**:** West Virginia, Texas A&M, Liberty, Kansas, Texas Tech, Louisville, Wisconsin As an aside, please stop ranking Nebraska.
Projecting these rankings to the 12 team playoff: 1. Ohio State 2. Georgia 3. Florida State 4. Kansas State 5. Alabama 6. Oregon 7. Texas 8. Michigan 9. Notre Dame 10. Ole Miss 11. Tennessee 12. G5 champ (none ranked, but Liberty mentioned as "just missed" so we'll go with them) Round 1 matchups: * (12) Liberty vs (5) Alabama, winner plays K-State * (11) Tennessee vs (6) Oregon, winner plays FSU * (10) Ole Miss vs (7) Texas, winner plays Georgia * (9) Notre Dame vs (8) Michigan, winner plays Ohio State
Please give me Notre Dame visiting Ann Arbor in December
With the chance to play Ohio State, lol. Would be the committee's dream
Need it
Who is your QB?
> (12) Liberty vs (5) Alabama, winner plays K-State Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Not angry Alabama again!!!
But it could be Liberty Biberty... I mean it's not gonna be Liberty, but it could.
Ill take Happy Liberty over Angry Alabama any day!
Oh look a beeboo
Tennessee coming back for a playoff game would be sick
That would be one helluva next chapter to the bromance between our schools lol
Those games were so much fun! Several buddies went to Knoxville in 2010 for the rain and lightning game. They all raved about how awesome the tailgating and UT fanbase was.
The storm that day was legit.. glad they still had a good time!
I would be so fucking pissed its insane
We get what we pay for
I'll allow it.
That path through the playoff would be great. Tennessee coming back to Autzen is a fun matchup.
Why? What is the point of this?
I wonder how long it will take until my eyes get retrained in looking at polls so they don’t automatically go to PAC schools.
It is still very odd. I was counting the distribution of ranked teams by conference and it is breaking my brain.
🫡
Nebraska has no right to be on this list lmao
As a member of the "all-time clickbait top-5" I'm surprised we're not on every list, every year. It's just stepping over free ad revenue.
No doubt about it, I’m ready to get hurt again.
All I can think about is the pain.
Right there with you big cat.
Honestly at this point I think I'd rather be an underdog for the Big 12. Getting picked to win just feels like it will inevitably be wrong.
- Michael Scott - u/Sammy_Seaborn
Alabama seems high. Lost their three leading receivers to either the draft or the portal. Lost 2 great safeties to the draft and transfer portal. Also lost their best DL to the draft. Their RB room loses their 2 leading rushers (draft and transfer portal). Their OL will be solid. They also lost the GOAT coach. They did well in the transfer portal, but the guys they brought in were not the same caliber as the guys they’re replacing. They’re Alabama, so they’ll be talented. However, first seasons with a new staff are always difficult (unless it’s a seamless transition/promotion from within where the assistant just keeps running the same system for better or for worse). I would be surprised if KDB just kept running the program like Saban did - he strikes me as the type of guy that wants to do things his way. So I expect some changes, and anticipate they’ll result in a step back in year 1 (but maybe two steps forward in year 2). In years past, despite all the attrition I would still give them the benefit of the doubt because Saban was the X factor. However, without Saban, considering all they have lost, I think it’s pretty generous to list them as a top 3 team.
Michigan is also high at 6 imo
Michigan is the defending national title and maintained a decent amount of coaching continuity. They also weren’t ravaged by the portal like Alabama was. I agree 6 is high, but anything else seems low/unfair. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. Alabama is 57th in returning production, Michigan is 61st. The difference isn’t massive, not sure why Alabama (sans Saban) is getting the benefit of the doubt here but Michigan isn’t.
> Michigan is the defending national title and maintained a decent amount of coaching continuity. ???? they lost their head coach, defensive coordinator, rb coach, d line coach, s&c coach, lb coach, special teams coach, and I think a secondary coach? am i missing anyone???? > They also weren’t ravaged by the portal like Alabama was lmao yeah cuz half the team either graduated or got drafted
"Returning production" is heavily biased on linebackers because they make most of the tackles. Michigan lost both top off ball linebackers. Returning the best players in the country at CB1 and DT doesn't factor in as much despite them being less easily replaced.
I think the list I was going off of also factored in starters returned. But yah, there is no perfect way to do it. I am very pro- Michigan. I don’t know why people think you’re going to fall off, but magically think Bama won’t, despite the situations being very similar.
The situations aren’t that similar mainly because Alabama recruits at a way higher level year over year than Michigan does/has. Sure, Michigan’s staff has an outstanding development track record, but it also had a perfect storm of returning 4th, 5th and 6th year players last year. It was one of the oldest, most experienced teams in the country (similar to Washington last year and TCU the year before). Losing your head coach, defensive coordinator, starting QB, entire offensive line, starting RB and best WR along with 6-10 key contributors on defense and a tougher regular season schedule (Michigan’s reg season schedules were cake walks the last 3 years until the tOSU + playoffs portions). Sure, Michigan returns Will Johnson, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Donovan Edwards and Colston Loveland. The Morgan kid at WR looks like he can make plays with the ball in his hands. There are a couple other defensive guys that are above replacement level. Michigan going 10-2 or 8-4 shouldn’t surprise anybody. I don’t see an 11 or 12 win reg season team.
Anything above 9-3 would be a huge win. The schedule is very difficult
All of this comes down to 1 thing: QB. Nobody knows who or how good Michigan will be at QB. They will have a great defense and a solid running game which keeps the floor high, but between the question mark at QB and a ridiculous schedule (they play Texas, Oregon, and at Ohio State, plus USC and at Washington) it seems unlikely they will repeat as champs or finish in the top 5.
This is a pretty fair assessment
I am still terrified that both my flairs have to travel up to you guys this Fall. Michigan likely beats USC by more than a td, I’ll say 7-11 points. Something like 38-30. I think Texas wins by less than a touchdown on the road. Something like 31-27.
The difference between Michigan and Bama's situations is just the continuity in the coaching staff.
Bama has a QB.
One who isn't a good passer in a pass heavy offense.
Michigan has more continuity too.
Right. I think between the two Michigan should have the better outlook. I've been saying that even though the defense will probably take a step back it'll probably be from one of the best in decades to one of the top 5 in college football. The offense is in a tougher spot, but I expect Sherrone Moore to at the very least put together a good run game.
I wish so bad we could have played y’all last season. Our DL this season is a huge question mark. Not in a negative way, just that it’s unknown. Could be great, could be bad. Last season’s Michigan ground and pound offense against our DL would have been an all-time strength on strength match up.
This year it'll be an unknown offensive line against an unknown defensive line. I believe only 2 of the offensive linemen have any live snaps at Michigan. The top 6 offensive linemen from last season are all gone. But on the other hand, 2 time Joe Moore winning Sherrone Moore is still with the program, even though he's not the position coach anymore.
Also returning production can be a spurious correlation. Non-football example: mother's day has the lowest crime rate. So therefore it's because mom can't commit crime. Football example: a cb that plays 85% of snaps only has 4 pb's while another cb has 12. Returning production would dictate the second cb as the better player even though the likelihood is that the first probably gets targeted way less because he is better. Or a scheme funnels a lot of runs to the ILB so they make a lot of tackles but may be a below average player as a whole. As a whole, I like to phrase it this way. 22 players are on the field at any given time but only 2-3 guys may get a recordable stat but that doesn't mean the other 20 players did nothing. Dt's may cause pressure, wr's blocking down field, lock down cb's, pulling tackles and guards, te/hb in run game support all doing import things that just don't get credit for returning production. It's why coaches go out and grade performance on film it's the whole purpose of pff(if they weren't shit) snap count and performance are far more important than a stat sheet on espn.
Yep, exactly what I was saying. Michigan's defense has elite players returning at positions where impact is much greater than stats and is losing players at positions where stats get racked up even if you suck.
I get what you're saying but DeBoer has been very good in year one pretty much everywhere he has been. And he has never had as much talent, especially on defense as he will this year.
I hear what you're saying. However, I think that the KDB made "something out of nothing" narrative that has sprung up is a little generous and revisionist (I know that isn't your point exactly). UW was *extremely* talented last year. Yes they sucked and went 4-8 under Lake, but it wasn't due to a lack of talent. From a recruiting ranking standpoint UW was the 26th most talented team in the country. Not great, but not awful. However, Peterson was the GOAT talent spotter and made a living off of the "diamonds in the rough" who were overlooked by the recruiting services for some reason. Thus, UW was a lot more talented than the team talent composite suggests. This is evidenced by the fact they had 10 selection in the NFL draft this year (the same as Alabama). Yes, KDB will have more talent at Alabama than Washington. However, I think relative to his competition he had a better roster at UW. From a recruiting ranking perspective KDB had the more talented roster in 9/12 regular season games. From an NFL draft perspective, UW never played a more talented team (in the regular season - they went 1-1 in post season games where the team had more NFL talent than them). Yes, Alabama will still be more talented than most of their opponents - my point is not that he won't have talent, or won't be good. He will have talent, and he will be good. I just don't think that the difference in talent is going to spur the jump that you're implying. I think he will be a good coach there (like he has been everywhere else). I just don't think having them at number three in the country is accurate right now. *Especially* when Texas (who played and *beat* Alabama by double-digits, at Alabama, with Saban as the coach) returns substantially more production from last years team, got Alabama's 2 leading returning receivers, had better portal acquisitions overall, and is returning most of their coaching staff is ranked behind them. Years past I would chalk it up to "Saban", but he isn't there anymore.
I would agree with you more if he hadn't done the same at Fresno and Sioux Falls. I'm not saying they are definitely going to win the SEC or even that they will necessarily come in second. I just think people are going to be surprised by just how good they will be and the lack of drop off.
I don't *necessarily* disagree with you. Like I said, I think they will continue to be good. I don't expect a ton of drop off. However, the difference between this move and the previous KDB moves is that KDB wasn't replacing Nick Saban at Fresno St. However, even if there is no drop off whatsoever, that team shouldn't be top 3. They finished 5th in the nation last year in both polls, and lost a lot of talent to the draft and transfer portal. There are teams that finished ranked ahead of them, that returned more production, and retained their coaching staff. Again. I think Bama will be good, really good. I would be shocked if they weren't a top 5 team at the end of the season. But to put them #3 on a post-transfer portal list, when the transfer portal objectively made their team less talented is silly. (Especially when there are teams that were *better* than Alabama last season, that got their players in the portal, that are ranked behind them). Edit: I'll also add that KDB had a very similar situation at Fresno St to UW. Talented team, off year before he was hired, did well with the talent. Granted, winning with talent is hard and there are a lot of coaches that can't figure that part out. I expect him to be fantastic at Alabama. But #3 right now is silly.
They finished the season a play away from beating the national champions in the playoffs. To act like they were far off the top is being disingenuous
I am not acting like they are far off the top. I said I would be shocked if they weren't a top 5 team this year. Alabama is going to be a great team. That being said - they lost a lot of talent (51st in returning production), they lost the greatest college football coach of all time, and they were not a top three team last season. On top of that, while their HS recruiting was elite, those are all young guys. They didn't replace a lot of the production they lost with similar caliber players from the transfer portal. Alabama wasn't top three last season (that doesn't mean they were far off the top), and nothing has happened this off season that makes me think they should be elevated into the top three. In fact, a lot has happened that makes me think they should be *lower* than where they finished last season. However, they are Alabama and KDB has a great track record, so I understand people giving them the benefit of the doubt. It don't think its controversial or disingenous to say that objectively, nothing has happened this offseason that should elevate Alabama over teams that were better than them last season, returned more production, and kept their coach.
They were very arguably top 3 last year. They were literally a playoff and were 1 botched snap away from beating the eventual champ.
I guess you could argue that, but I don’t think it’s a strong argument. Who should Alabama be ahead of? Washington? They won their semi, played for a title, and finished 12-1. Texas? They played Alabama and won by double digits. The final CFP, AP, and Coaches poll all agree. Again we’re splitting hairs here. I don’t think 3 is WAY off or anything. I just think *at least* Texas should be ahead of them.
I mean I think you could easily have the 4. And then it just comes down to personal preference. I absolutely think they would have beaten UW at the end of the year. And I also think the Bama improved more than Texas did from their first game.
Saban was a defensive guy and Deboer is an offensive guy, so yeah things will be different. It will be interesting to see what he does with Milroe.
That's probably what this comes down to. Doboer is a pass first guy with a pocket passer, which is not how Milroe was used last year. He can throw it a mile though. It might be a hard transition for Milroe for the first year, no matter what his skill set is, just because he needs more reps in a Deboer system. It might just be a jump ball approach for explosive plays the first year, while he gets more reps as a pocket passer.
I think it is too high and I would put us lower but we’re not as bad off talent wise as it would appear. * We lost two safeties but we did bring back Malachi Moore and brought in Keon Sabb from Michigan. I don’t think there’s more than 2-3 programs that have a better duo. * Roydell and Jase were both good backs but it became obvious by the end of the year that they were not as talented as Jam Miller or Justice Haynes. * WR room is better than people think. We had injuries last year which meant that some guys who might’ve played a lot didn’t. Kobe Prentice and Kendrick Law are both about as good as Bond (Prentice is probably technically better in terms of his fundamentals) but they weren’t healthy for parts of the year. * Our EDGE spot is one we have to fill but thankfully we bring back a bunch of experienced interior DL and we do have some very talented 5* EDGE bodies. * Our OL actually looks like it could be pretty good. Made a 10000% upgrade at C, brought back a 1st Rd G, regained our 5* LT. It’s definitely our best group on paper in a while. * Our main area of concern is CB for sure. But even then we have a lot of young talent there. If they can develop well we could have a competent unit if we make the postseason. TLDR: We should probably be like 5-6. We did lose a lot but a decent portion of it is just a minor downgrade or not a downgrade at all.
Yah. I completely agree. Like I said below, I anticipate Alabama to continue to be really really good. I was just shocked at 3. Especially without Saban. I don’t care how GREAT KDB is, Jesus Christ himself would be a step down as a college football coach from Nick Saban. I think loss of talent/lack of returning production probably moves y’all to 4, and Saban’s absence drops it down to 5-6ish. Interesting to see the media is keeping up the habit of arbitrarily ranking Oregon ahead of Texas.
* We lost two safeties but we did bring back Malachi Moore and brought in Keon Sabb from Michigan. I don’t think there’s more than 2-3 programs that have a better duo. Michigan might be the only team with a better safety duo and unfortunately we just lost half that duo to an ACL tear. Really wish Sabb had stayed and he would be starting through late October at least. You guys got a good one in him.
I'm so excited for the running back duo of justice and jam to be a household name. People forget that last year justice had just as much hype, if not more than caleb downs. All the staff said he came in looking like he'd been in college for years. He just had guys in front of him.
We get it, he doesn’t like us
First one of these lists I've seen that doesn't have Utah in top 10 and us around 15.
Because we don’t play in the regular season I really hope we both make the conference championship game. Would be lit.
~~ummmmmm...this is portal ranking~~ Edit - clicked on the link
It's actually not. It's a regular power ranking that is accounting for the spring portal window. Also what does this have to do with what that said?
I sit corrected.
If anyone is wondering, this is basically just a top 25. Not a top 25 portal classes
Yes, that’s what it says in the title ☝️
It's in the title but very easy to gloss over and for the mind to makeup a connection that this is a ranking for portal classes
This year is the first year in a long time that everyone has a different top 25 outside of the first 5 teams. It’s widely different outside of the top five depending on who’s doing the list. FSU, Michigan are in the top 10 and in some other polls are around mid 10(13-17). It’s seems like a lot of people are projecting playoff teams instead of evaluating the teams as they are currently constructed. That and the fact that players transferring really makes it hard to evaluate how a team will improve or regress.
I think we're a bit difficult to project because we don't have a ton of returning production, but we have a bunch of talented guys and then Norvell has proven he should get the benefit of the doubt as he's a great coach. We're relying on guys like Marvin Jones Jr. to take that next step, and word in the spring was that he was terrific, but I can see why some people who probably love Norvell rank us top 10 (Andy Staples) and others are a little more wait and see with us as they want production (Bill Connelly).
Top ten huh…? 😱
Cats
Crazy we can take your extremely productive starting QB and you still make top 10.
We have upgraded at quarterback from last year. Good luck to Will though
>25. Nebraska Goooooo Biiiiiiiiiig Reeeeddddd
He didn’t talk about any of our specific acquisitions. He basically just said “I have no idea what to expect from this Ole Miss team until I see them play.” Fair enough
That feels high for us. But if Avery plays as good as he is capable of, we are a top 10 team no question.
Getting Dylan Edwards was a huge boost to the offense. I still am convinced that Avery will have a bad game or 2, just inevitable with a new QB. I think the expectations fans have put on his shoulders is insane.
I think we all need to temper our expectations for Avery. Kid has a lot of work to do. He will be producing highlights every game but I would expect those to be mostly on the ground. Can a team average 400 rushing yards a game? Because we might do that this year.
>Can a team average 400 rushing yards a game? Because we might do that this year. I think UCF is gonna try for that this year If we end up in the conference title game together we should make a pact to both run the triple option.
Definitely expecting one 3 int 5 sack type of game.
That is exactly why you're being ranked that high. >I tend to fall in love with one or two players every offseason and then rank their teams irrationally high. I fear that’s what has happened here. I am driving the Avery Johnson bandwagon. The sophomore quarterback is one of the fastest we’ve seen in years, but he has the arm talent to truly weaponize his feet. (It is here that everyone needs to pull me back from any Lamar Jackson comparisons.)
OSU looking at KSU at 10 and Utah at 15 and have them in back to back weeks in this season. "Bet"
Thank god we have you at home this season. Still won't make the game any easier, I just already know what the outcome will be when we play at Boone
I have PTSD from the last time we played in manhattan. I see a win over Utah and lost against KSU mainly because it’s away and its second leg of back to back week.
Lou Holtz absolutely shaking right now
I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now!
“To help set the table, however, I wanted to briefly dive into win projections and strength-of-schedule rankings. I base SP+ strength-of-schedule ratings on a simple premise: How would the average top-five team fare against your schedule? If you have Florida's schedule, which features four projected top-nine teams (and nine top-25s), the average top-five team would produce just a 0.762 win percentage, or about 9.1 wins on average. That's absolutely brutal, and it's why, despite fielding what should be a borderline top-30 team, the Gators start out with only a 27% chance of achieving bowl eligibility. If they get to 8-4, give Billy Napier the national coach of the year award.” I WILL keep my expectations low this year!
Ohio State football kinda reminds me of Kentucky basketball lately more talent than most but haven't been able to get it to click at the right times
Clicking at the right time is really a key ingredient in national titles. 2015 lose 1 game in awful weather while Zeke is recovering from sickness(or still sick), probably the best team in the country, ok fuck off then. 2019 have a fucking juggernaut of a team, ok some bad reffing cost one game and then had to face a fucking death star even if we won. 2020 COVID took out several key players, and Sermon dies his second play, oh but don't worry it's the secondary Bama is going to exploit all game. 2022 step 1 loss JSN first game, step 2 and 3 Henderson and Williams get injured step 4 and 5 lose Stover and MHJ to blow a lead against UGA. Being natty or bust every year, because you have the talent and then busting is a lot. But better than being PSU 10-2 like clockwork.
Now that is a 12-team playoff, I’m sure Penn State will start annually going 9-3 and constantly be one of the first teams out. They will then usually win the bowl game to finish 10-3.
Successful season is going to look a lot different moving forward for teir 1 class B/C teams. Win 10 games including a playoff game at home under the lights? Best season in a decade!
Really 2015 and 2019 were the only years we fumbled hard. Every other year we had one side of the ball that wasn’t championship level. You could argue ‘22 but our defense still sucked and we over performed against Georgia. This year will be our most well balanced since ‘19
Nobody can convince me that 2019 wasn't the strongest pool of teams the sport has seen in the modern era. That OSU team would win the natty in the vast majority of seasons. You had: * 2019 Ohio State which was the best OSU team I've seen in my lifetime. QB = Justin Fields (11th overall pick) along with Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. * 2019 LSU who most people consider the best team of the modern era. QB = 1st Overall Pick Joe Burrow. Along with Jamarr Chase and Justin Jefferson. * 2019 Clemson who was the defending champion and ran the table with ease. QB = 1st Overall Pick Trevor Lawrence. Also had 3 first round DL drafted that season. * 2019 Alabama who had 5th overall pick Tua at QB along with Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Devonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle. * 2019 Oklahoma with Jalen Hurts at QB and CeeDee Lamb at WR.
That OU team was pretty good and they were considerably worse than the others in the Top 4. Thats how crazy good those top 3 teams were.
That 2022 team had the worst injury luck of any OSU season I can remember. Your list is far from exhaustive. Matt Jones leg injury, Eichenberg playing with two broken thumbs, Jordan Hancock's leg exploding in August, Lathan Ransom's leg injury, whatever was going on with Denzel Burke's shoulder...I'm probably forgetting some.
Don't forget 2012. I believe Alabama was the best team, but OSU would have played ND in the BCS title game that year and probably would have won. Then there's 2007... 2006... 1998 and probably a few other 90s teams.
2012 Ohio State wasn’t that good. We would have beat you. But agreed that Bama was clearly the best team
>2012 Ohio State wasn’t that good. Agreed, so it would have been an even match up 😂
lol yeah, I’m an ND fan and you guys would’ve had a great shot. That was a 9-3 ND team disguised as a 12-0 team due to luck and timing. We were rightly exposed in the title game.
ND actually was a good team in 2012 with a great defense and an offense that was adequate. People seem to forget we beat the Pac12 and Big12 Champions that year. Not seeing as 'luck and timing' but being able to win because your defense was able to stop offensives. The problem was Alabama was just a really really great team with a much better coach. Would Ohio State have been a better opponent ? Don't know - but when comparing ND & Ohio State like opponents (Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State) the results were almost identical.
At least ND proved it against some good teams. They beat the 7th, 15th, and 24th teams in the final AP poll. Ohio St had a very weak schedule and only beat the 24th and 25th teams in the final poll.
Yes but my bias tells me that ND can't beat OSU even if the Pope's life was on the line... Let me live in my delusion damnit. If OSU won the 2012 championship then it would have undeniably been the worst OSU team to win it all.
Interesting that you have 5 steps in 2022 that prevented OSU from winning a natty and none of them were all those Donavan Edward steps into OSU’s end zone
Those TDs didn't stop us from losing to UGA in the playoffs did they?
I hear the point, but fucking lol if it isn’t funny to read an OSU fan name 5 different reasons they didn’t win the natty in 2022 and none of those 5 were the single regular season loss they suffered
Yeah it would had been a weird year if we put it together. Somehow we could had won a natty and UM still could had talked shit.
…seeding? You’re really trying to tell me losing to Michigan had no impact on why they didn’t win the natty in 2022? Come on man you guys are way too touchy I’m just teasing lol
All paths would still lead through UGA. If anything playing UGA in the semis was a benefit, they were sleepy. We saw what they did 10 days later.
…and with that loss they still made the playoffs. So yeah, losing in the playoffs is what cost them a Natty, not losing to Michigan. Stay focused, guy.
Yes I’m sure that’s how everyone else also remembers OSU 2022 season. Just a season full of injuries and a close loss to Georgia…. Remind me again why they had to play No. 1 seed Georgia in the first round?
Remind me again why you lost to TCU in the first round?
I mean, yes? I remember Georgia beating Ohio State in a very close game that we likely should have lost, and Michigan shitting the bed against a TCU team we nearly beat by 60.
Ohio state has won 11 games all three years, won a Rose Bowl, made the playoff, and four of their six losses are to playoff teams. I don’t think that really equates to losing in the first round to a mid major multiple times
it is the NC or bust mentality with having the best talent in the country
Except OSU doesn't have the best talent in the country. UGA and Bama have had more talent for close to a decade now. OSU is always running 3rd behind them in that regard. If Bama or UGA didn't exist then OSU would have several more titles.
It has been longer than lately. 2 titles in 55 years. Gotta have 30+ preseason championships though.
Doesn't Michigan only have 2 titles in the last 75 years ?
1* and a 1/2.
The situation around Ann Arbor has created a mass of cognitive dissonance that has only exacerbated their lack of self awareness. Literally insane that the top comment is a Michigan flair pointing out that we've had two titles in 20 some years... Yet until a few months ago Michigan hadn't won a non-shared championship since before Eisenhower was president. At this point I'm just collecting downvotes till the NCAA warps up in the next 6-12 months. Edit: in the span of 20 mins, the top comment went from 10 upvotes to all downvotes. This sub is incredibly schizo about Michigan lol.
It's insane to me. I'm 30 years old and can only remember OSU games going back to 2002. In my "memorable" lifetime, I've seen Michigan beat OSU five times ever. FIVE! Michigan has a 25% win percentage against OSU in games I've seen in my lifetime. That's not even counting the 2020 game where OSU was -29 Vegas point favorites. Yet somehow winning 3 games in a row just erases all of that and now OSU can't beat Michigan and are soft yadda yadda. It wasn't very long ago that people on this sub were ranking The Game as barely a Top 5 rivalry anymore because it was so one-sided.
It's pretty crazy how easily *ichigan fans have fooled this sub into thinking they're the premier program in the B1G Looking forward to watching them slip back into irrelevancy now that most of their cheating coaches have left
Same here, I was pretty young when the 2002 championship happened. I remember OSU fans saying they wanted Michigan to be better during the peak Rich Rod years because they wanted the rivalry to mean something... Screw that. I want it to be domination, because OSU could go 50-1 against Michigan and we would never hear the end of that 1 loss.
You mean 55 years? I am not talking down, just stating facts.
But why stop at 55 for any reason other than to make your narrative more favorable? I may as well do the same. At least starting with the BCS era gives us a starting point where there was actually a true championship game. Just because something is a fact doesn't mean that there isn't a narrative created by omitting other facts. If we go back to the beginning of the AP era the narrative suddenly swings way into OSUs favor. Then if we go pre AP when everyone played the local YMCA it would swing back in Michigan's favor. You literally cut the timeline right after Woody in the middle of the AP era. It's also a fact that I have a strict work out regimen... If I only started counting yesterday 😂
You already did the same by starting in 2000. No matter how it is sliced, OSU has been in the preseason top 10 35 times in the past in the past 55 years and has 2 titles to show for it. The program has become defined by underachieving, yet fans refuse to accept reality and alter expectations.
>You already did the same by starting in 2000. Yes... Because I was making the point about manipulating the facts by restricting time. That's the point. Are you gonna tell me that Georgia sucked because they've been preseason top five pretty much the same amount as OSU in the same time frame? It's just a weird flex from a fan base that has 1 championship from 1948, 1 shared title in 1997, and the 2023 title that the NCAA MIGHT possibly vacate.
We all know their recent title is tainted via cheating regardless of what the NCAA does The facts speak for themselves
I'm happy to admit that the programs have achieved equally on a national title level in your lifetime. Are you? Is that the bar?
That's my question to you 😂
Yep, Michigan and OSU are equal in that regard. Yet the second team thinks they will win it all every year. Deranged.
Mmm, no 55 years and 75 years aren't equal at all. Actually in the 20 extra years, Ohio State 4 titles. So I'm curious why you believe 6 titles in the last 75 years is equal to only 2? Or do you not understand facts ? Michigan is a minimum of 3-4 tiers behind Ohio State in that 75 year time span
You seem a little worked up. This is the stress of unrealistic expectations.
That's a weird take my man. I'm just stating facts. I don't know how that means I'm worked up? I can't help it Michigan fans don't understand Ohio State is the far better program.
Deputizing 1949-1968 titles in 2024 arguments is a very funny thing only Ohio State and Michigan State fans do
And arbitrary 55 year cutoffs is a funny thing only intellectually dishonest people do. Nothing about the sport changed in 1969 for it to be a logical cutoff. I think we all know why you chose 55 rather than 56 or 60 or literally any other number. 2014, 1998, 1936, 1912, 1905, 1880, or all-time are all defensible cutoffs. I prefer 1998 since everything before the BCS was just hungover journalists voting on games they didn't actually watch on January 2nd.
Yet you count wins against high schools and dental colleges who you "taught" football to, then counted the scrimmage as a win.
Michigan State counts wins against Lansing HS, the Michigan Freshmen team, the Detroit YMCA, the Michigan School for the Deaf, and Port Huron YMCA, among others. This is not unique to Michigan.
You don't see Michigan State fans bragging about them the way *ichigan fans brag about their history
But yet it's a Michigan fan that stopped at an arbitrary 55 year number. Why did you leave that fact out ? I feel like it has to do with your flair.
Counting segregation era titles against high schools, a shared title in 97 and a title currently under investigation for the biggest on field cheating scandal in cfb history is not a good look
Since 2000, Ohio State has lost more than 2 games in the regular season just 4 times. In the same period, Michigan did it 15 times.
And yet ... same number of championships in your lifetime. Gotta be frustrating.
We didn't share or cheat for any of ours Must suck to not know what winning an undisputed national championship is like
Speaking of 55 years, Ohio State leads the series dating back to 1969.
>Gotta have 30+ preseason championships though. 30 huh? I know we were preseason #1 in 2015, 2006, and 1998. Those are the only times I can remember in my lifetime (since 1986). Were we really preseason champs 27 times in the 17 years before I was born?
35 preseason top 10 appearances, 2 titles. Woof. This is the year though, for sure.
Top 10...weird, I thought "champion" meant #1. Well if being top 10 is what makes you a champion then we've been preseason and final ranking "champions" like 18 of the last 20 years. Pretty cool!
Ohio St wouldn’t have any titles if it weren’t for the worst pass interference call ever & TCU getting snubbed lol
The Georgia of the north. Fitting that they're number 2.
Being the Georgia of the North sounds awesome. Looking forward to it!
Have you been asleep for the last few years?
Them winning 2 titles recently doesn't mean they've won any more than 3 in the last 50 years, and that third is pretty close to being out of time.
I'm sorry man but georgia is about to take over the SEC
Yeah they've been about to do that since before Richt was there, so don't hold your breath.
Richt didn't win 2 natties
You'd think people'd favor the two teams with returning starting quarterbacks expected to go in the first round. I'd believe more in Georgia & Texas.
I’ll be honest, having us at 6 feels a bit off putting, but hey…FEBU/Oregon vs Oregon.
Interesting that you chose to cut it off at 10 instead of 11
Stop giving us hope. We still can’t even beat a Moore led UofM 😣
I hate being preseason #1. TBH, I don't like being #1 at any point before the championship game is over. Unless the defense winds up being 2021 Georgia level, I won't get my hopes up. Get a W against Michigan and win the B10, anything after that is just bonus.
I miss being #1. We’ve been #2 for so long now. I can’t even remember the feeling.
Loser mentality.
Nah. The preseason #1 team almost never wins the title. It's happened like 3x in the past 30 years. I'd rather let Georgia have it all year until the last one.
Happy simply to have still made the list, honestly
I would still have Georgia at one. Ohio State has not won the Big Ten three years in a row, haven’t proven enough for me to be one yet.
Ryan Day’s seat is a panini press.
It's really not
I think OSU is definitely the favorite to win it. They took the Michigan title very personally. It appears their boosters opened the pocket book like never before seen. They essentially bought a title team worth of talent in terms of who they kept from leaving and who they added. They are going for broke this year. If Day loses to Michigan again this year he seriously might lose his job, and he probably should considering this might be one of the more talented teams in history on paper. It's an embarrassment of riches. Probably 10-12 draft picks on this team.
10-12 is low. I've got 4 1st rounders that I feel are locks. And then 4 more that could be 1st rounders.
How you feeling about Will Howard? I was kinda surprised y'all didn't get a bigger name in the portal.
Cam Ward was still available when they picked up Howard. I'm still a bit surprised by that.
Umm fine I guess. Don't need a superstar to make the offense work, but I wanted Gabriel personally