Week 9 BCS/AP/Big Ten Rankings

Horrid. Just plain horrid. During the course of the Michigan-Nebraska game, Denard Robinson got hurt yet again. It was said he injured the nerve in his throwing elbow, thereby not allowing him to grip the football. Russell Bellomy came in as the backup, and the offense was doomed from there. What did we learn about Michigan's offense on Saturday? Without Robinson, it's largely ineffective.

A second straight game and no sign of Thomas Rawls. Another anemic rushing performance by Toussaint, which begs the question: what is Al Borges doing? You can't use the argument that he doesn't have his players on the team yet...to me that's a cop out excuse that I heard constantly during the RichRod era. Anyway, as usual Ohio State is undefeated yet again and with three games to go, including Michigan, they could still be come time for "The Game." Wisconsin was surprisingly bad offensively against Michigan State but it didn't help that Joel Stave got hurt. Minnesota won their first Big Ten game against Purdue in dominating fashion. I could go on...but that'd seem redundant at times, so here's the poll. The BCS poll:

Week 7 Big Ten/AP/BCS Rankings

There will always be things about college football I'll never understand. Last week Indiana pushed Michigan State to the brink and lost, and yesterday they did the same thing to Ohio State. The ghost of Knute Rockne must be in full force after yesterday's last second win in overtime against Stanford, and how that wasn't a touchdown by Taylor at the goal line I'll never agree with. Geno Smith's Heisman candidacy took a massive hit after losing to Texas 49-14. Michigan State losing to Iowa was a shocker to some, but not to others. The Spartan offense has been bad lately, and Andrew Maxwell is looking shakier every week. I do trust in the theory of quality wins vs quality losses, but when MSU loses to Iowa, who were previously beaten by CMU earlier in the season...well that just says they have a long way to go before becoming elite as many have tried to make them out to be. And I can't forget Michigan ...a team that dominated Illinois yesterday in every way possible. Illinois couldn't muster 150 yards of total offense, and were shut out by the resurgent Wolverines. The running game was effective and diverse, and there wasn't a single receiver who caught more than one pass. The balanced attack on offense and defense led to a great, resounding victory.

Michigan & Big Ten Rankings Review--Week 1

Week 1 of 2012 is in the books. There were highlights and lowlights from pretty much every single game. The first week always takes longer, since it was spread out over the course of 5 days until the NFL regular season arrives. South Carolina was there in the beginning, winning a close one over Vanderbilt, and we ended with Virginia Tech winning in overtime against Georgia Tech.  Whoever said the first week everyone played cupcake teams? Even Texas State beating Houston somehow received national attention. Dennis Franchione somehow got a No.16 vote from a voter for that win. The new rankings were released this afternoon (typically on Sunday evening any other week) and I'm giving my two cents worth...if that's cheap enough.

1. Alabama--It's no surprise the Tide were bumped up to the No.1 spot. They completely handled Michigan from start to finish to win 41-14. Rolling up over 400 yds of offense, particularly on the ground, while shutting down Michigan's offense earns them this spot.
2. USC--USC lost the No.1 spot mostly due to they played Hawaii, not Michigan. Barkley looked every bit of a Heisman candidate and Lee caught 10 balls for almost 200 yards. Dominant yes, but not Alabama
3. LSU
4. Oregon
5. Oklahoma--completely overrated in this spot. They did not look clean and smooth and make several mental errors. Missed field goals by UTEP make the score look further out of reach than it really was.

Preseason Rankings Breakdown For Michigan & The Big Ten

Every major media outlet this time of year has come out with their own preseason rankings, whether it's overall or conference standings. ESPN has their list, Sports Illustrated has their list. For the most part, it looks like some of them are looking over and cheating off their classmates since they look so similar. I'm going to examine the AP poll first, since that's the one primarily used by ESPN and fans nationwide.

Here you will find a link for ESPN Big Ten bloggers that have given their predictions for the season. I've already given mine a few months ago. Now, obviously, if you compare the two, I disagree with them both since I don't agree with Michigan State beating Wisconsin. I had predicted Michigan beating Wisconsin, and I stand by that. So the poll says Michigan is the top Big Ten team and I won't dissent to that. Wisconsin at 12 should be above West Virginia and Arkansas, but not South Carolina. Marcus Lattimore drives that team and should have a stellar season back from injury. I'm good with Michigan State right behind them. Nebraska at 17 and Ohio State at 18 make sense, yet USA Today doesn't even have the Buckeyes ranked. Postseason ineligible or not, they should be ranked above Auburn, Boise St, etc...