All Things SkunkBear

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

Checks notes on Michigan recruiting rankings and rereads Canon posts...

Recruiting rankings are a means to an end, not the end itself. Surely Philo 101 taught you how to untangle those. I would trade a #1 recruiting ranking for a CFP berth (not even a championship!) in a heartbeat.

Absolutely! Michigan's "top ten" opponents won all their games in a trash big 10. They haven't played anyone either. ND played generational teams. ND played those teams way tougher than the eventual runner up did. Those Alabama and Clemson teams were some of the best ever assembled. Those teams would absolutely DESTROY this version of UM. UM is not good. Ohio is not good. ND was brutal up front when they played them and still almost beat them. Penn St is not good. The big ten is horrible. An average varsity team better look good playing against a junior high team. Of course Michigan will look good playing against bad teams. If they beat Georgia, I will admit they are good (although Georgia isn't as good this year).

Guys I'm sorry but this is pure copium. Sure, Michigan might be ducking titans like Marshall, Stanford, and Navy, but they have to play Ohio State every single year. Winning the Big Ten as a prerequisite to making the playoffs is so much harder than running the table on our schedule, at least when USC is down. Quite simply we don't have to go through Alabama or OSU every year to make the playoffs, which is a challenge that the Irish as currently constituted I don't think they can handle. Hopefully we're headed for a decade of big season finale games with an ascendant USC where we manage to go at least .500

 

[IrishLion]

Recruiting rankings are a means to an end, not the end itself. Surely Philo 101 taught you how to untangle those. I would trade a #1 recruiting ranking for a CFP berth (not even a championship!) in a heartbeat.



Guys I'm sorry but this is pure copium. Sure, Michigan might be ducking titans like Marshall, Stanford, and Navy, but they have to play Ohio State every single year. Winning the Big Ten as a prerequisite to making the playoffs is so much harder than running the table on our schedule, at least when USC is down. Quite simply we don't have to go through Alabama or OSU every year to make the playoffs, which is a challenge that the Irish as currently constituted I don't think they can handle. Hopefully we're headed for a decade of big season finale games with an ascendant USC where we manage to go at least .500

All due respect:

Shut the fuck up.

ND doesn't have to go through OSU or Bama... but they have to be perfect otherwise.

I know you're just being "realistic," but I don't give a fuck. Schilling for scUM and their schedule and "resume" on this website is a disgusting, horrible affront to the good posters that built this place.

Respectfully stop, or leave.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Recruiting rankings are a means to an end, not the end itself. Surely Philo 101 taught you how to untangle those. I would trade a #1 recruiting ranking for a CFP berth (not even a championship!) in a heartbeat.



Guys I'm sorry but this is pure copium. Sure, Michigan might be ducking titans like Marshall, Stanford, and Navy, but they have to play Ohio State every single year. Winning the Big Ten as a prerequisite to making the playoffs is so much harder than running the table on our schedule, at least when USC is down. Quite simply we don't have to go through Alabama or OSU every year to make the playoffs, which is a challenge that the Irish as currently constituted I don't think they can handle. Hopefully we're headed for a decade of big season finale games with an ascendant USC where we manage to go at least .500

1. There is a direct correlation between blue chip recruits and championships.

2. I know they duck teams like Marshall, Stanford, and Navy. They'd rather play those tougher teams like Colorado State, Hawaii, and UConn.

In all honesty. They played two ranked teams all year. PSU (10 at the time) and OSU (2 at the time). They won both, something we couldn't do against OSU. ND played five ranked teams this year: OSU (2), BYU (16), Syracuse (16), Clemson (4), and USC (6). Please tell me who had the harder schedule between the two.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

I would just like to say, if anyone else has something positive to say about Michigan....now's the time:

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

The thing that kills me about his posts is that he acts like scUM had a tough schedule.

They went undefeated in a weak-ass B1G after playing 3 of the biggest cupcakes I've ever seen a P5 team play non conference, and that's saying something.

PSU being in the top 10 is an utter joke, and MSU is way down this year. They're fortunate they beat pOSU because there's no way they were getting in at 11-1 with that SOS.

Anyone who posts any sort of envy towards scUM is a nothing short of a troll.

 

[GowerND11]

Illinois should have beat Michigan...

Maryland should have beat Michigan...

They are good, but they aren't generational.

 

[EvilleIrish]

You guys won't like to hear it but most of the power raters (Vegas) have them very close to being the best team in America. Projected spread against Georgia is only 4.5

 

[CoachB]

Always look good when you play terrible teams.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Always look good when you play terrible teams.

Bingo

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

You guys won't like to hear it but most of the power raters (Vegas) have them very close to being the best team in America. Projected spread against Georgia is only 4.5

That sounds like free money if/when they play UGA...

 

[IHateMarkMay]

And look worse when UGA stomps them by 28.

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'll say this, of the four teams projected to get in, I think they have the best chance of competing with GA. I hate them as much as anyone, but physically they match up better with anyone up front. Difference may be the speed, but I think them and GA would be a better game than last year and possibly the most competitive game in the CFP.

 

[fightingirish26]

Bingo

18/20 ND struggled with some softies

 

[rtrn2glory]

Also, this is where I say that BK fucked us. We are currently in the middle of our "window" to be competitive at the national level. Not recruiting elite enough at QB, skill positions, and LB to match us up front on OL/DL is leaving us playing catch up when we should be competitive right now. I'll never forgive him for that. We should be right in the middle of the playoff race right now and feeling that we are good enough to win it.

 

[Dale]

You guys won't like to hear it but most of the power raters (Vegas) have them very close to being the best team in America. Projected spread against Georgia is only 4.5

Says more about Georgia than Michigan, they have Georgia only a 10 pt favorite vs TCU. 2022 Georgia is rated lower than 2021 Georgia.

 

[tussin]

I actually do think Michigan can take down the entire thing this year. Their schedule is a joke but I think they will make the championship and then who knows what can happen.

While Harbaugh is definitely a good coach, the recruiting stuff is hilarious. Not sure if all their problems are admin related, but they would be legit dangerous long-term if they could find someone who actually had an interest in recruiting.

 

[MacIrish75]

Also, this is where I say that BK fucked us. We are currently in the middle of our "window" to be competitive at the national level. Not recruiting elite enough at QB, skill positions, and LB to match us up front on OL/DL is leaving us playing catch up when we should be competitive right now. I'll never forgive him for that. We should be right in the middle of the playoff race right now and feeling that we are good enough to win it.

Absolutely. What a shit time to not have at least an Ian Book level starter. This could have been the year, no hyperbole.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

18/20 ND struggled with some softies

I'm not sure the point you're trying to make? Even UGA struggled with softies this year: 26-22 over Mizzou, 39-22 over Kent State and 16-6 over Kentucky (not exactly a "Softie" but surely a team they could have romped).

Over the course of a 12 game slate, just about any team, even those absurd Bama and Clemson teams between 2016-2020, are going to have a tough game eventually.

How does that justify scUM scheduling Hawaii and CSU in their non-conference? Or how fortunate they were that the entire B1G was soft?

 

[IrishLion]

I just don't think Georgia would let them do that "deep throw against a single high safety" thing they did against OSU.

Even if Georgia played dangerously and left a single safety up top to stop scUM's run game, the likelihood that scUM hits FOUR game-changing deep throws in the same game has gotta be super low.

 

[fightingirish26]

I'm not sure the point you're trying to make? Even UGA struggled with softies this year: 26-22 over Mizzou, 39-22 over Kent State and 16-6 over Kentucky (not exactly a "Softie" but surely a team they could have romped).

Over the course of a 12 game slate, just about any team, even those absurd Bama and Clemson teams between 2016-2020, are going to have a tough game eventually.

How does that justify scUM scheduling Hawaii and CSU in their non-conference? Or how fortunate they were that the entire B1G was soft?

The schedule was awful no doubt but I think people are just trying to talk themselves into Michigan being worse than they are. As long as they avoid each other in the semis I'm expecting UGA/Mich title game

 

[CoachB]

The schedule was awful no doubt but I think people are just trying to talk themselves into Michigan being worse than they are. As long as they avoid each other in the semis I'm expecting UGA/Mich title game

Can you really say how good Michigan is? I see it all the time in high school ball. A team will roll a terrible conference and look amazing, and then they get beat by a 6-3 team from a good conference. Michigan has beaten NOBODY any good outside the big 10 and the big 10 is trash this year. Anyone that says they are good, you can't really know. That being said, nobody else is all that good this year either, with the possible exception of Georgia's defense.

 

[IrishLax]

The schedule was awful no doubt but I think people are just trying to talk themselves into Michigan being worse than they are. As long as they avoid each other in the semis I'm expecting UGA/Mich title game

Michigan will destroy TCU. Won't be close. They are so much more physical than TCU it's crazy... total mismatch.

With that being said, I think Michigan would've gone something like 10-2 or 9-3 in the SEC. I don't think they're appreciably better than, say, LSU. Their record is directly a product of playing only 1 team all year that was "great" and 1 team that was "good." Their team is set up well to consistently trounce "bad" teams which was pretty much their whole schedule.

 

[Plankton]

Can you really say how good Michigan is? I see it all the time in high school ball. A team will roll a terrible conference and look amazing, and then they get beat by a 6-3 team from a good conference. Michigan has beaten NOBODY any good outside the big 10 and the big 10 is trash this year. Anyone that says they are good, you can't really know. That being said, nobody else is all that good this year either, with the possible exception of Georgia's defense.

And this Georgia defense is a good cut below the crew from 2021. Would be hard to be even close to that unit with what they sent to the NFL. Plus, losing Nolan Smith for the season didn’t help either. The one obvious thing is that in this college season, there isn’t a real dominant team. Georgia is the closest, but they are not as good as what they were a year ago.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Michigan will destroy TCU. Won't be close. They are so much more physical than TCU it's crazy... total mismatch.

With that being said, I think Michigan would've gone something like 10-2 or 9-3 in the SEC. I don't think they're appreciably better than, say, LSU. Their record is directly a product of playing only 1 team all year that was "great" and 1 team that was "good." Their team is set up well to consistently trounce "bad" teams which was pretty much their whole schedule.

Take notes Jack!!

 

[MacIrish75]

ruh-roh

 

[Dale]

After OSU, can win Purdue game without him, hope there is an out by playoff time. Interesting….

 

[dublinirish]

Shady

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Shady

Oh it gets better!

 

[Old Man Mike]

UofM needs Smith to win. He's their WarDaddy in the middle.

As to playoffs, I don't care one twit about this pre-talk smoke.
All the conferences were insular in their scheduling as usual,
and, in my opinion, nobody looked great (I thought that Georgia
was going to, but now I think that this is the first year in a long
while with NO great team.) I will not be surprised to see LSU
give GA a hel!uva fight, for instance ... wouldn't even be surprised
if Purdue made the UofM game slightly interesting. And wouldn't
be at all surprised to see either TCU or USC lose their conferences.
Next to GA, the only really impressive things I've watched this
season are Michigan running offenses with Corum --- and he might
not even be useable.

Yeh, ND with a healthy Patterson for Fall practice and an Ian Book
at QB might have won everything this year. None of that happened,
so screw it and let's see who limps to a championship. It won't be
the first time (ex. the absurd BYU year.)

 

[ulukinatme]

Oh it gets better!

View attachment 3052094

Looks like scUM alright.