Michigan Vaults Up To #12 In The AP Poll

Earlier today, much to the shock of football fans, Michigan was reported to have jumped all the way to #11 in the coaches' poll and #12 in the AP poll. Michigan was ranked #19 last week in the USA Today poll, but after a huge 58-0 blowout victory in the Little Brown Jug game and losses by teams above Michigan in the rankings, they jumped 8 spots.

Last week I ran an article analyzing why Michigan was #19, but had a great shot to move up in the rankings (article: here). Obviously, this was proven correct when several teams sitting above Michigan in the polls including USF, Baylor, and Texas A & M lost.

Although I personally think Michigan is probably a bit overrated based on a schedule consisting of 2 MAC teams and Minnesota (1-4, 0-0), I see no reason to complain about the rankings love. For example, if Michigan were to theoretically lose 1 of the next 2 games, they would probably still remain in the rankings, which didn't happen last season when Michigan fell to Michigan State (Michigan did appear as #25 in the coaches poll, but this was after a bye week and only lasted 1 week).

Michigan has not been ranked this high in over 4 years since the season opener in 2007. Quite astonishing for Michigan's tradition, but also surprising considering the team's recent past (4-0 in 2009 and 5-0 in 2010) of late-season collapses. Regardless, it's a very exciting time to root for Michigan and Go Blue!

To Rest Or Not To Rest

With the recent announcements regarding injured players Fitz Toussaint, Troy Woolfolk, and Cam Gordon, I got to thinking about injuries in relation to game time played. All three of these players have encountered at least one injury (Troy Woolfolk has suffered 3 just this season, following his season ending injury from last year), but were recently reported to be fit to play this Saturday during Brady Hoke's press conference.

So the question becomes, if these players are "fit to play," should they still receive decent playing time in this weeks match-up with Eastern Michigan? Michigan was picked by Vegas as more than a 30 point favorite when it takes to the field on Saturday, but there seems to still be an incentive to place these recently injured players back into the line-up immediately.

Some point to momentum and consistently as the reason to throw these players straight back into the lineup. This is certainly a major issue for most teams. Does the coaching staff want to risk re-injuring, or injuring, a starter in a game against a mind-boggling underdog?

To me, I think Michigan needs to find a nice balance. Because of the team's schedule in the upcoming weeks (Eastern Michigan, San Diego State, Minnesota, and Northwestern), I think there is much less risk for trouble than typical of most teams. For instance, Michigan is a heavy favorite against Eastern Michigan, but the ratio is sure to decrease in the following weeks (although Michigan should still be a decent favorite over at least San Diego State and Minnesota).

With this in mind, Eastern Michigan is probably the only game where Michigan could probably sit a good portion of its starters for an extended period and still win by a decent margin. However, if any particular starter did happen to get injured against Eastern Michigan this Saturday, the loss would not be devestating because they would very likely return by the end of this four game stretch, or before the Michigan State match-up on October 15th.

So when the starters stay in for perhaps a big too long on Saturday, or Hoke rushes some of these recently injured players back into the lineup, don't stress out too much, the potential loss to the team is relatively low considering the schedule, since starters will probably have to play for extended periods during the following weeks, but the team still maintaining a great chance at victory.

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