Michigan football is coming off one of its best seasons in program history, having gone 12-2, having beaten Ohio State for the first time since 2011, winning the Big Ten for the first time since 2004, and advancing to the program’s first College Football Playoff since it was born in 2014. So naturally, the advanced metrics expect the Wolverines to build upon that success, right?
Unfortunately, no.
Though the maize and blue are trending in the right direction, for whatever reason, Jim Harbaugh’s squad isn’t getting the same benefit of the doubt that teams like Ohio State (the perceived favorite), Wisconsin, and Penn State often do — with the latter two tending to have plaudits going into every season. ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) was updated for the 2022 season, and while the Wolverines are a top 10 team in the yes of the worldwide leader, they’re still on the outside looking in.
Let’s dig deeper into each statistic to decipher what it means.
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