THE WINGED HELMET

ESPN Is Buying Michigan Football In Preseason SP+ Rankings

Advanced analytics are favoring the Wolverines.

Trent Knoop
1–2 minutes
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Michigan football will be a new-look team when it takes the field against Frenso State on August 31. The Wolverines will be led by first-year head coach Sherrone Moore, a fresh coaching staff, and a new quarterback.

But the Wolverines are the defending national champions and do return plenty of star power. Michigan is set to bring back Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant — arguably the best interior line duo in the country. The Wolverines will have to find replacements for Mike Sainristil and Josh Wallace, but return stars Will Johnson, Rod Moore, and Makari Paige. Offensively, Michigan will have Donovan Edwards, Colston Loveland, and Semaj Morgan, among other young playmakers. It’s safe to say the cupboard isn’t bare in Ann Arbor for Moore and his staff.

ESPN analytics are currently favoring the Wolverines come 2024. On Wedneday, Bill Connelly published his first preseason SP+ rankings. He uses advanced anaytics by factoring in returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history on the field. Michigan slots in at No. 5 in the country.

Here’s what the top 10 looks like.

ESPN SP+ Feb. 14
ESPN SP+

Connelly talked about six teams he would buy at the moment and Michigan was one of them. The Wolverines are No. 13 in ESPN’s preseason top 25 and Connelly believes the Wolverines could be much higher when it’s all said and done.

No. 5 Michigan Wolverines (13th in the Way-Too-Early Top 25). Be on the lookout for this scrappy, overlooked underdog! Kidding. The defending national champs are going to look awfully new in 2024 – new head coach (Sherrone Moore), new quarterback, new offensive line, new linebacking corps – and that could indeed cause a decent amount of slippage. But the recent history component of SP+ obviously smiles on the Wolverines, and recruiting numbers are solid too. Their ceiling is still going to be pretty high.

Obviously, none of the preseason talk matters at the moment, but it’s interesting to see what the talking heads think of the Wolverines. Especailly when you look closely at the advanced analytics which favored Michigan for most of last season.

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