Bob Asmussen of the Champaign News-Gazette had the audacity to rank the Michigan Wolverines as #1 in the AP Poll. The gall of that individual! How dare he not think exactly like everyone else? Michigan is ranked 8th by the collective wisdom of the AP voters, so they clearly have no chance. Everyone knows that it’s USC vs. the winner of Alabama and LSU.

By the way, the average preseason rank of the eventual national champion in the BCS championship era is 7.4. Five national champions since 1998 were ranked lower than Michigan this year: Tennessee in 1998 (10th), Oklahoma in 2000 (19th), Ohio State in 2002 (13th), LSU in 2003 (14th), and Auburn in 2010 (22nd). Florida in 2006 was ranked one spot higher than Michigan this year.

In fact, as many teams ranked 7th or lower have won national championships as those who were ranked in the top three. Yet, only two of the sixty voters put a team that did not finish in the top three in cumulative voting in their #1 spot. A team that was in the national championship game two years ago and won the Pac-12 last year did not get any first place votes – 25 fewer than another team from their conference. I’m going on record as picking Oregon to win the Pac-12.

Back to Michigan. Maybe Asmussen is completely off his rocker. Maybe the team he ranked number one won’t win the title. Based on recent history, though, there’s a good chance every voter is wrong. We don’t know nearly as much as we think we do. So kudos to you, Bob.

Previously: Bob Asmussen of Champaign News-Gazette Voted Michigan No. 1 in AP Poll

[photo via US Presswire]