BTF

Maybe IMG was inspired by the Jaylon Smith led 7 on 7 team from Fort Wayne that traveled down to Florida and won the whole tournament. How many starters return? They were just a few plays away from an undefeated regular season last year.

No valid source for my claim, but there was some chatter that Ben Davis had reached out to Concordia when the SAC was looking for Week 1 & 2 opponents. To their defense, Snider, Carroll, Homestead, and Dwenger had agreements already in place when that rumor was circulating. Maybe the Giants just needed someone to fill their schedule. Again, take this with a grain of salt, no inside information on this claim.

They went from pursuing Concordia to landing IMG?

I believe teams are ranked on overall strength regardless of class.

Who were you thinking should be higher? If you go back to the 90's, Penn would elevate over Snider. Not sure anyone else can make a case.

"There's a fine line between tough and crazy, and you're flirting with it." Coach Yoast He went beyond flirting with it. He was past crazy.

Surprises me a little bit coming out of the bible belt. I have mixed feelings here. On one hand, that kind of language can make a guy look more ignorant that what he is. On the other, he seems to know how to get football players in the right mindset to knock their opponent on their ass. Unfortunately, that type of speech trumps 'love of teammates' speech when it comes to the sport of football.

It's just hard to ignore what happened in the playoffs. Michgan's body of work over the course of the season ranks second only to Georgia. But damn, Ohio State looked impressive in the playoff.

No, not in terms of fairness when it comes to polls. If I was part of the poll committee. I'd have to go Georgia, TCU, Michigan, then Ohio State based on head to head matchups. I'm a pretty fair guy. But if someone asked me off the record who I thought were the best four teams at the very end of the season, I'd have to go with Georgia/Ohio State as 1a/b. Michigan at #3. In my opinion, #4 is an absolute crapshoot. What is hard about a poll like this is the fact that some teams just match up better with others. Michigan being a better matchup for TCU than Georgia. Just because TCU got embarrassed by the Bulldogs, doesn't mean Michigan would have. Michigan handily beat Ohio State, then Ohio State almost (should have) beat Georgia. LSU beat Bama, does that mean LSU is deserving of a higher ranking? Of course not. Polls are a bitch. I commend you for the effort you put into the weekly high school poll.

Ohio State and Michigan squandered their 50/50 shot at winning the national championship.

Agree. I have Michigan at #3, but you're not going to like who I have at #2: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State (They had Georgia beat) 3. Michigan After that, it's a crapshoot. There are ten teams that could tickle that #4 spot. TCU beat Michigan......bla bla bla. The better team doesn't always win. See the Ohio State Georgia game. . No, Ohio State proved that.

How does the saying go? You can wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which happens first? Again, sports can be cruel. I wanted an all Big Ten final as much as anyone. Why does being close for three quarters matter? It means that two equal caliber teams were engaged in a competitive battle. Michigan has a couple of big plays early in the fourth and you get a snowball affect. Michigan beats TCU nine times out of ten. Ohio State plays Michigan within a touchdown nine times out of ten.

I think the real debate here is what qualifies a team as a Tier 1 program. I always go back 5 years, which puts Notre Dame and Michigan in the same boat. If we're going by present year only, then Michigan gets Tier 1 status. It would have been interesting to see how Michigan would have matched up against Georgia. Sports can be cruel.

If Michigan and Notre Dame are playing their absolute best on a neutral field............well, I'd probably take Michigan by 7. I wouldn't personally spend too much time debating you on the 14. I could see it happening. No one ever said ND is better than Michigan this year. We're just stating that the body of work by both programs over the last five years put them both in the same Tier 2. Michigan "dog walked" Ohio State? Wasn't that game close for three quarters? Again, Michigan earned their ranking this year and should have been playing the Buckeyes in a rematch. The best teams don't always play in the championship. It happens at the high school level too.

Just stop? Why? It's my opinion. I wouldn't exactly say I'm off base or anything. And again, I said it depends on which ND team shows up. The team that lost to Stanford and Marshal would lose to Michigan by 28. The other team will give the Wolverines a run for their money. Michigan earned their ranking this year, no doubt. They also should have been playing Ohio State for the national championship. Georgia never should have never had the opportunity to beat TCU by 58. But they did, and that is what will be remembered. Notre Dames chances of going undefeated next year are better than them losing three games. Take it to the bank. Copy and paste this please. The QB transfer is the difference between going to the playoffs and losing the three games you speak of. And stating that ND made it's own bed by playing the schedule they did when they went to the playoffs is unfair. They were the most deserving team each of those years to take the 3 or 4 spot. Again, over the past decade, the difference between the top two teams and the rest of the field has been pretty large. ND doesn't schedule a weak schedule on purpose. It's not their fault USC and Stanford fell apart. Adding Ohio State, Texas A&M, Florida State (they'll be back), Wisconsin, Alabama, and Michigan to the already scheduled Clemson and USC tells me that the Irish have a "come one, come all" approach.