Michigan Basketball Ranked #18 In Preseason Poll

In the first poll released for the coming college basketball season, the USA Today Coaches' Poll has placed Michigan at #18. This is quite an improvement from last season (Michigan was not ranked in both the AP poll and Coaches poll).

This ranking does warrant some excitement, even though fans should remember the 2009 basketball season when Michigan was ranked #15 in the preseason, but ended up missing the postseason.

However, I think this coming season will be a little different than 2009. Michigan's 2009 team should have been better than it finished, but it had a lot more flaws than the 2011 Michigan team. For instance, much of the '09 team focused on 2 players, while this year's team seems to be much more of a combined and focused team effort. As we all know, the ability to rotate players and involve others, the more likely the team is to be successful.

With the return of 4 starters, and essentially every backup player from Michigan's 2010 team, I find it quite unlikely to endure the same collapse fans experienced in 2009. For instance, only 2 other Big Ten teams are ranked (Ohio State - #3, Wisconsin - #14) and only 2 other Big Ten teams are receiving votes (Michigan State - #28, Purdue - #35). This clearly doesn't mean Michigan will beat all the other Big Ten teams, or even those receiving votes, but it does bode well for the coming season.

So before you start thinking back to 2009 remember that this is a different team with experience, depth, and teamwork that should propel the team to a great season.

Is MSU For Real?

Over the past several weeks I have been bombarded with comments from Michigan State students, alumni, and fans telling me about the strength of their team and their ability to crush Michigan again this year.

However, after watching the first 6 weeks of the season, I have been far less confident in Michigan State's ability to finish at the top of the Big Ten again this year. So, is Michigan State for real or are they closer to what Michigan was last season? Hot early, but likely to end the season as an average or above-average Big Ten team.

Here's What We Know About Michigan State:

• Finished 11-2 Last Season (Lost @ Iowa and to Alabama in a bowl)
  
• 13 Returning Starters From 2010 (8th in the Big Ten)
• 4-1 in 2011 (Loss @ Notre Dame)
• Ranked #23 in the AP Poll and #19 in the Coaches Poll
• Ranked #1 in Total Defense (173.4 yds/g)
• Ranked #3 in Rush Defense (64 yds/g)
• Ranked #64 in Total Offense (398 yds/g)
• Ranked #95 in 3rd down conversions (35.21%)

Well, from that limited info, one might believe this should be one of the best teams in the league. They only lost 1 game, had more than half their starters return from an 11 win team, and have one of the best defenses in the nation.

However, this assumption would not be completely accurate. Undoubtedly, Michigan State's defense is solid, a team isn't placed into the top 5 without at least a decent defense, but you can't help but notice the weakness of some of the teams they've faced. For instance, here are the offensive stats for Michigan State's opponents:

Total Offense Stats:

Youngstown State - FCS (hard to compare stats, but had 254 yds against MSU)
Florida Atlantic - 119th (230 yds/g)
Notre Dame - 20th (467.5yds/g)
Central Michigan - 88th (350.5 yds/g)
Ohio State - 105th (315.3 yds/g)

So, what does this tell us? Excluding Youngstown State, which can't really be compared seeing as they are an FCS team, MSU has faced one top 50 offense this year. Michigan has already faced two at this point (Western Michigan and Notre Dame) and another two in the top 70 (San Diego State and Northwestern).

Since it is unlikely many people have found Michigan's schedule brutal this year, you cannot help but question those defensive stats. There is no doubt Michigan State's defense is solid, but I would be hesitant to put it in the elite stats. They do typically hold their opponents to much fewer yards than they average, which is the typical sign of a good defense, but when 60% of your opponents are MAC level or below, a Big Ten team should be able to hold the defense to below its average yards per game.

Although the defensive stats may be skewed for Michigan State, the offensive stats illustrate some of the early season troubles. Michigan State has essentially been unable to run the ball behind its young line, Kirk Cousins has made many mistakes, and they have frankly struggled moving the ball. Here's a comparison

MSU Offensive Stats - 2011 - 2010:

Total Offense +9.5 yds/g
Passing Offense +32.8 yds/g
Rushing Offense -23.7 yds/g
Scoring Offense -1.5 pts/g

So, what can we see from this? Michigan State is actually moving the ball more than last year, but only by 9.5 yds/g. Along with this, they are being forced to pass the ball more (likely due to their weak offensive line) and are scoring less even though they are moving the ball further. At first glance, this doesn't seem significant. The difference of gaining 9.5 yds/g more and scoring 1.5 pts/g fewer isn't all that important.

However, let's take a look back at the schedule. The stats from 2010 cover the ENTIRE season. This means they include Michigan State's games against 6 teams in the Top 51 defenses of 2010 (Alabama, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Illinois, and Notre Dame). As of now, Michigan State has faced 2 defenses in the Top 51 (Ohio State #22 and Notre Dame #51).

Obviously, if a team faces tougher defenses, their stats are going to go down. Along with this, even the 2 defenses they have faced this season are in the middle or rear of the top 51 (Alabama, Wisconsin, and Iowa were all in the top 25 in 2010). Essentially, what this means is that not only are Michigan State's defensive stats boosted, their offensive stats (roughly equivalent to last season) are boosted as well.

Now, I don't expect Michigan State to lose the remainder of its games and miss a bowl, but I do not expect them to even come close to 11-2 or winning the Big Ten. They may be able to sneak past Michigan and Nebraska for the Legends Division, but I don't see them having any chance against Wisconsin (assuming they win the Leaders).

So, is Michigan State For Real?

I say not quite. They are an above average Big Ten team, but not championship or BCS-caliber.

Also, an MSU joke:

Did you hear they're going to start calling Spartan Stadium, "The Shed"?
Yeah, because every Big House has a shed behind it...

Michigan Moves Up To #11 In AP Poll

With today's announcement of the new rankings, Michigan has risen up to #11 in the AP Poll and #10 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll after its defeat of Northwestern 42-24.

Michigan has not been this high since pre-season 2007 and has steadily advanced in the rankings since Week 1. Although some of this has been due to some questionable opponents (Minnesota and Eastern Michigan) and losses from ranked teams (Texas, Florida State), this is still a significant event for the Michigan team to be ranked this high.

Michigan State (Michigan's next opponent) moved back into the rankings coming in at #23 in the AP Poll and #19 in the Coaches' Poll. Though MSU had a bye week last week, they still appear to be at least a rank-able team and should be a tough match-up for Michigan next week in East Lansing. Odds for the game have not yet been released, but it is sure to be a tight spread with both teams ranked and MSU playing at home.

Other notes from the poll:

This is the first time no Florida school has appeared in the rankings since 1982.

Ohio State still remains un ranked and received 0 votes this week

Notre Dame has not returned to the rankings, but has been increasing its vote totals (#28 in AP)

Michigan Adds UMass To Its 2012 Football Schedule

After waiting a significant amount of time to solidify its 2012 schedule, Michigan has announced that it officially added UMass as the final game of the season (September 15, 2012).

Though this is probably not an exciting game for most fans, it completes what could be the most difficult schedule for Michigan in recent memory. Here's a glimpse at the 2012 schedule:

Sept 1 - Alabama (Dallas, TX)

Sept 8 - Air Force

Sept 15 - UMass

Sept 22 - @ Notre Dame

Oct 6 - @ Purdue

Oct 13 - Illinois

Oct 20 - Michigan State

Oct 27 - @ Nebraska

Nov 3 - @ Minnesota

Nov 10 - Northwestern

Nov 17 - Iowa

Nov 24 - @ Ohio State

Frankly, with away trips to Norte Dame, Nebraska, and Ohio State accompanied by a neutral site game against Alabama, one can't help but thinking that 2012 will be an uphill battle. Along with this, the home schedule presents challenges of its own. Air Force has risen to prominence and has been ranked for significant stretches over the last several years, UMass nearly beat Michigan in 2010 and has moved into the MAC, and teams like Michigan State, Illinois, and Iowa can always be challenging.

Although scheduling tough non-conference opponents in 2012 may not have been the best idea with Michigan's road schedule, most speculate it was simply a move to spur ticket sales. Before Air Force and UMass were added to the schedule (assuming 2 random MAC or FCS teams would have filled their slots), Michigan probably only had 1 truly exciting game on the home schedule (Michigan State) and 3 relatively interesting games depending on the circumstances (Iowa, Illinois, and Northwestern).

The move may have been revenue-based, but Michigan should be able to 'avenge' its near loss in 2012 to UMass and give fans the chance to enjoy one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation in 2012.

Michigan Ranked #19 In AP Poll, But Could Move Up

Several sites including the Detroit Free Press and ESPN have now released the new NCAA Week 5 rankings and have placed Michigan at #19. This is an improvement from last week's #23 ranking. Although some of Michigan's improvement in the rankings is due to other team's failure (West Virginia and Florida State's losses moved them behind Michigan), it is still nice to see Michigan inside the top 20.

Last season, Michigan made it up to #18 before falling to the eventual Big Ten Co-Champion Michigan State team. It is very likely that Michigan will fall at some point, but after being ranked for two consecutive weeks, the analysis of rankings is bound to start.

Michigan has a pretty winnable game this Saturday (Minnesota, 1-3), but many teams above or slightly below Michigan have a tougher task on Saturday. Here are the ranked teams above Michigan with "tough" games on Saturday:

#16 South Florida @ Pitt

#14 Texas A & M @ #18 Arkansas

Northwestern @ #24 Illinois

#15 Baylor @ Kansas State

#13 Clemson @ #11 Virginia Tech

#17 Texas @ Iowa State

Obviously, two of the six games featured two ranked teams, so at least one has to fall, but of the ranked v. non-ranked match-ups listed, 3 of the 4 teams are in the receiving votes categories:

Northwestern - #34 in coach's poll

Kansas State - #31 in AP poll and coach's poll

Iowa State - #29 in AP Poll and #30 in coach's poll

The fact that these teams received votes in the polls does not mean they are going to win any of the above games, but it does seem very likely that at least 1 or 2 of the non-ranked teams in the above match-ups can pull off the upset.

Essentially, for Michigan fans, this could be a VERY good week in the rankings. If Michigan wins, which is very likely, but we don't want to jinx anything, it is quite probable that both teams above or below Michigan will fall. Even if all the ranked teams win in the above match-ups (excluding the 2 games where ranked teams have to lose), Michigan's votes should go up as the quality of non-ranked bids go down.

Obviously rankings are hard to predict, but this could be the week that sets up the season nicely for Michigan. I don't want to speculate too much or get ahead of myself, but we could see a Michigan team that could lose a game in the coming weeks and stay ranked, which is exciting. Plus we know Michigan State or Ohio State has to lose this weekend, so it can't be too bad, right? Haha Go Blue!

Michigan Outranks Ohio State For First Time In Over 4 Years

Reports of the new college football rankings are surfacing and according to reports from the Detroit Free Press, the new AP pool has placed Michigan at #22 in the nation. Michigan State and Ohio State will be unranked.

This is an incredible development because Michigan has not been ranked higher than Ohio State since the pre-season poll from 2007. Along with this, Ohio State has at least by ranked since November 2004. This means that for over 6 full seasons the Buckeyes have at least been considered in the top 25 teams in the nation.

Though Michigan may be a tad overrated, fans can't help but get excited over this breaking news. I think it's very likely that Michigan State will reappear in the rankings, especially if they are able to beat Ohio State in Columbus, but as of now, Michigan is the highest ranked of the 3 schools at #22.

Along with this, the Coach's poll has Michigan at #21, but still leaves Ohio State unranked. With the Buckeye's horrible performance against Miami (Fl) last night, it's no surprise they dropped, but Michigan's massive upsurge was surprising.

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.

Also for great Michigan gameday updates, follow this Twitter:

@EverythingMich

Michigan State Releases Nike Pro Combat Jerseys For Michigan Game

Well, many of us thought there was a strong, negative reaction to Michigan's throwback jerseys for the Under the Lights game against Notre Dame, but the reaction to Michigan State's jerseys for the October 15th game against Michigan seems to have topped it.

The design is supposed to combine bronze in order to represent the Spartans from Ancient Greece. Though this certainly is a unique idea, these types of concepts do not always transition

well into a game jersey. For instance, at the beginning of the season, Maryland attempted to create a jersey that took elements of its state flag, but received much criticism for the "poor" design.

ESPN's Big Ten blog has even responded, stating that the new jerseys "get too far away from the traditional Michigan State look." Certainly this is true as one of Michigan State's primary school colors, white, is almost completely omitted from the uniform and replaced with bronze.

These jerseys will likely do nothing to change the elements of the Michigan v. MSU

game, but Michigan fans can certianly be thankful for the throwback jerseys in the Notre Dame game. Many fans criticized the design and wished to remain with the traditional jerseys, but Michigan State's jerseys completely abandon the school's traditional look and replace it with elements largely reminiscent of Oregon's jersey, except without the good aspects...

Michigan prospect Se'von Pittman commits to Michigan State

Se'von Pittman is a 6-5, 235-pound Weak-Side Defensive End from Canton (Ohio) McKinley. He is ranked No. 196 in the country by 247Sports. Pittman is the No. 10 recruit in Ohio and is the No. 16 Weak-Side Defensive End in the nation. Pittman has a 247Sports rating of 93, making him a 4-star prospect. Information from Bill Greene's Twitter

BillBankGreene Bill Greene

Se'Von Pittman to Michigan State. Big get for Dantonio.

 

A couple weeks ago It was rumored that Pittman tried to commit to the maize and blue but grades seemed to be an issue. Well today Se'von Pittman committed to Michigan State. Pittman would have been a great pick up for us but I think the Michigan staff is more likely to wait on Chris Wormley or Washington. Good Luck to Se'von I know you will be a great fit for that team.