Greg McElroy cautions fans to judge Georgia, Michigan schedules based on rankings

The top two teams in the nation have had a quiet start to the year if for no other reason than they haven’t played any games of substance yet. Still, at this point, Greg McElroy is warning anyone about questioning Georgia or Michigan yet.

McElroy spoke about the early schedules for the Bulldogs and Wolverines during an episode of ‘Always College Football’ this week. He wants everyone to avoid getting too wrapped up in the lack of ranked opponents on both of their slates. For him, the Top-25 is too fluid from week to week to worry about either team just yet.

“I caution everybody to draw conclusions based on where teams are ranked,” said McElroy. “There have been so many examples of teams that are ranked high right now, lose two in a row, and, next thing you know, they free fall and plummet out of the Top-25. Then, conversely, there are plenty of teams that come out of the gates really poorly. Now they’re getting hot and you play them at the end of November. Next thing you know, that team is ranked in the Top-18. But, actually, they’re playing more like a team that’s in the top seven or eight.

“Just be careful with the rankings, kind of look at the whole body of work,” McElroy added.

For McElroy, the appropriate way to judge the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the land right now is the eye test. Since the competition isn’t even close to their levels yet, he just wants to see if they’re repeatedly checking the boxes that we’ve seen them both check over the past two years.

“With Georgia and Michigan? It’s really not so much about the competition. Those two teams, right now, are the best in college football. I think based on commodities, based on quality of play, based on talent level? Those two teams are kind of at the top,” said McElroy. “I’m going to be watching not based on how they play against their competition but how they play to the standard that I now expect from them.”

People can only knock Georgia and Michigan so much for neither currently meeting a ranked opponent until November. That’s why, for McElroy, he’s going to take it game by game with these two programs. That’ll be his approach until there’s something that’s actually worth reacting to from either of their schedules.

“We’ll assess, we’ll evaluate,” said McElroy. “We’re going to try not to draw crazy conclusions based on the amount of ranked teams you beat but more based on how you played against teams, that aren’t ranked or ranked, depending on exactly how difficult your schedule is.”