BCS Rankings: Michigan Wolverines Will Be Underrated by Computers

The Michigan Wolverines are officially underrated in both the Big Ten and the national college football scene in 2011.

I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong about Brady Hoke and the Wolverines.

Coming into their matchup with the Michigan State Spartans earlier this year I openly heralded the Wolverines as frauds.

Yes, they were undefeated, but taking one look at their schedule really revealed the truth about their early-season success.

You'd be hard-pressed to find many people who would be satisfied and/or impressed by wins over Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, San Diego State, Minnesota and Northwestern, but that was exactly what the Wolverines were boasting.

The only win that the Wolverines had that meant anything was the last-second come from behind win against Notre Dame, and even that wasn't anything to write home about.

Overall, I felt that the Wolverines were frauds, but they've come out in the second half of the season and have proved myself and many of their critics wrong.

The biggest gripe I had with the team was their hot start over subpar opponents, and that was mainly because we've seen it before under Rich Rodriguez.

The majority thought was that the Wolverines would look great in the non-conference, but once it got to the Big Ten schedule they would be exposed as the weak one-dimensional team they really were.

It looked like that was the case as they lost 28-14 to in-state rival Michigan State and 24-16 at Iowa, but other than that, the Wolverines have been quite a surprise.

Going on the road to beat Illinois 31-14 was impressive, but it was the 45-17 smack down of No. 16 Nebraska that will be the marquee win of the Wolverines season.

Nebraska was a program that many felt would trounce their new conference, but Michigan invited them into the Big House and threw down 418 total yards, including 238 on the ground.

Overall, this isn't the same Michigan team, and it's becoming rather evident.

Offensively Hoke is making a slow but steady transition into more of a pro-style look.

That can be disputed at times, but look no further than running back Fitzgerald Toussaint and his bruising 811 yards and seven touchdowns on the season for proof of that statement.

They've even made huge strides defensively under new coordinator Greg Mattison, ranked sixth in the national and only giving up 15.6 points per game.

All-in-all, they aren't the best team in the Big Ten just yet, but there is no doubting anymore that the Wolverines are back on track.

Pay no attention to their BCS rankings from here on out, because they will undoubtedly be underrated.

Their 9-2 record speaks for itself.