Michigan Football: Offense Among The Best As Wolverines Climb Back Into Polls

About those polls...

An interesting phenomena with the polls is when a team wins, but moves down a spot or two in the polls.  For example, after beating Notre Dame 28-24 earlier in the season, Michigan was ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll.  After a close 42-37 win over UMass, Michigan slid down a spot to No. 21.

An equally, if not more fascinating, phenomena is when teams don't play but move up in the rankings.  Michigan dropped from the rankings following a 38-28 loss to Iowa, but Michigan has moved up to No. 25 in the Coaches Poll this week despite not having an opponent this past Saturday.  Michigan is ranked No. 28 in the AP Poll.

This was helped in large part by Texas' shocking loss to Iowa State and West Virginia's underwhelming performance against Syracuse.

Now how about that offense...

Michigan's offense is good enough to cover for defensive and special teams errors, that's no secret.  If the offense had executed perfectly the past two games (limiting the penalties, not turning the ball over) the headlines might have been reading differently in the Wolverine state and throughout college football nation.

But alas, Michigan always loses the "what if" game.

Despite the dismal defense and horrendous special teams, Michigan's offense is dangerous enough to keep them in any game.  Even being down by three scores in the fourth quarter against Iowa wasn't too much for the Wolverines, as Tate Forcier engineered three straight scoring drives.  In the end, Iowa proved a bit too much for Michigan, but racking up 522 yards against the nations now-13th ranked overall defense (was No. 4 against Michigan) is impressive.

All of this offensive production comes with a true sophomore QB, a distinct lack of threat at running back (though Toussaint, Shaw, Smith and Hopkins show flashes of brilliance) and no senior receivers.

Impressive doesn't even begin to describe what's happening in Ann Arbor.

Category (Offensive)	Per Game	National Ranking
Passing Yards	250.43	39th
Rushing Yards	281.57	7th
Points For	36	17th
Total Offense	532	2nd
Pass Efficiency	159.83	14th

For comparison, No. 1 Oregon ranks 31st, 3rd, 1st, 1st and 16th in the categories, respectively.  Previously No. 1 Oklahoma ranks 12th, 65th, 24th, 18th and 33rd in each of the categories, respectively.

So let's review: Behind a true sophomore QB, virtually no RB threat (yet), and no senior wide receivers (yet), Michigan is a top-10, if not top-five, offensive team.  For those detractors who say progress is not seen, think again.  To anyone who wants to can Rich Rod, think again.

In fact, most schools that run the spread offense have talked with Rodriguez.  Oregon and Oklahoma were not chosen by accident—both schools rely heavily on their offense, and both schools are enjoying considerable success, both schools run the spread, and Oklahoma and Oregon got their ideas from Rodriguez.

"There's a few staffs, the coaching staff has been close to, typical spread teams. Oklahoma has been one that they visited us, we visited them, the folks at Oregon, and quite a few other spread teams," Rodriguez said last week to the Detroit Free Press.

Michigan's offensive weapons should be enough to have them favored in the next three games, but there are no "gimmies" in CFB (one needs to look no further than Michigan vs. Appalachian State or James Madison vs. Virginia Tech), or the fact that the No. 1 team has fallen each of the previous three weeks.

Any amount of statistics showing definitive improvement could be thrown at any sane fan, but what it ultimately comes down to is wins—the next three weeks may make or break Rodriguez's era at Michigan, and if there really is any such thing as a "must win" game, Michigan gets three in a row.