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Podcast: Way-too-early rankings, betting odds and previewing Michigan basketball vs. Purdue

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•about 10 hours•

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Tre Donaldson, Sherrone Moore, Derrick Moore
Michigan Wolverines basketball guard Tre Donaldson, football head coach Sherrone Moore and EDGE Derrick Moore. (Photos by USA TODAY Sports Images)

On this episode of The Wolverine Podcast, Clayton Sayfie and Anthony Broome discuss where Michigan Wolverines football stands in different publications’ way-too-early rankings and early betting odds (national championship, regular season win total, Heisman Trophy, etc.), before previewing Michigan basketball’s game at Purdue Friday night.

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Michigan was listed in the “way-too-early” top 25 rankings released by nine of 10 outlets that we examined. The Wolverines were as high as No. 12 and as low as No. 25.

“You’re seeing a lot of love right now for Ohio State coming off of a national championship,” Sayfie said. “A lot of love for Texas, Penn State, Oregon, Notre Dame. I feel like we do sometimes fall in the trap of, OK, team made the national championship game or whatever, they’re not going anywhere, they’re gonna be here to stay — and they probably will be. Again, it’s way too early to do this, probably need some more time to see what these rosters are going to look like, separate some of the emotion from the end of the college football season, but it’s fun nonetheless. A lot of people expect Michigan to take a step forward this season and maybe not be in the College Football Playoff — again, things change — but at least compete to be there.”

“They should compete to be there,” Broome said of Michigan. “You look at this schedule next year, and it is a lot more forgiving than this year’s schedule was. Now again, you still got your fair share of questions — how much better is the offensive line going to be? How do you rebound from your best player on offense and arguably your best three players on defense heading to the NFL?

“To me, I think that the Michigan team that we watched this year, finished this season as — I forget what the AP poll said, maybe they were in the ‘receiving votes category’ — but when you look at the wins they had to end the year, I think you can make the case that they were one of the best 25 teams in the country by the end of this season.

“So to build off of that, especially we kinda got a sneak peak at what life after Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Will Johnson all of that was going to look like in that bowl game. You completely revamp the offense, you completely revamp your quarterback room, you make a big NIL investment in a guy like Justice Haynes to round out your running back rotation. I could see a path to Michigan being obviously in the top 25, certainly pushing for a spot in that 12-team playoff next year. Right now, to me, that’s the expectation.”

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