Why is the media so down on Michigan football compared to others?

Apparently, Michigan football didn’t slay Ohio State, beat Iowa, and make the college football playoff last year.

Apparently, last year was a one-off or fluke of a season where various impossible extenuating circumstances led to Michigan’s “blip-on-the-radar” of a playoff appearance.

Honestly, I’m sure you’ve grown tired of seeing it and reading about it online, and I’ve grown tired of hearing about it, reading about it, and seeing the talk about it too.

Yes, Michigan football needs to prove that last year wasn’t just a one-off “fluke” season, but at the same time, the programs that are getting hyped this year haven’t done anything remotely close to what Michigan did last year is really sickening.

Teams like USC, Texas, Miami, Texas A&M, Oregon, etc. all of the teams have two things in common: a huge booster following that pays their recruits any and everything they want, and lastly, all of these programs are just talk and no show.

If we take out Oregon, none of the above programs mentioned have ever made a playoff appearance.

What always happens with them every year though? They get hyped up, for no reason other than just because of their past.

I don’t think Michigan has ever been as hyped up preseason as these teams ever have been.

Maybe in Jim Harbaugh’s first or second year, but even then, the hype really started to build mid season when Michigan was on their long winning streak. There wasn’t as much hype prior to the season, but for some reason, Michigan is immune to it.

I can’t explain why. Even teams like Penn State have garnered a ton of hype. Why? They had so many opportunities to push through and qualify for the playoffs by now, but have failed every time.

But that hasn’t stopped Penn State from apparently being more qualified to beat college football playoff teams than Michigan (and Sparty).

This article from the Athletic right here makes no sense.

"Yes, the Big Ten is the second-best conference. But when you look at it closely, Ohio State is the only program that is truly equipped to win a national championship. Yes, Michigan State and Michigan have both advanced to the Playoff, but neither was built to beat Alabama or an Alabama-like team two games in a row in the postseason. There is a huge gap between making the Playoff and winning it all.If we aren’t considering USC or UCLA yet, the pick has to be Penn State. Love him or hate him, James Franklin just signed a 10-year deal and he had a program in 2021 that ranked No. 16 in the 247Sports Talent Composite. Penn State is probably 10 spots outside of the range it needs to be to compete for a national title, but you have to consider that spot takes into account Penn State’s 2021 recruiting class, which was the worst effort of the Franklin era. Penn State fans are hoping that was a COVID-19-related fluke, and that seems to be the case when considering how the Nittany Lions have been recruiting the last two cycles."

The hype given to other programs doesn’t make sense

I am admittedly a little pessimistic or at the very least, cautiously optimistic about Michigan’s chances this season to repeat, but at the same time, I would still give Michigan the benefit of the doubt, because they’ve given me evidence to support buying their stock.

I believe this is a reason why Michigan football was only ranked #8 in the poll, which I’ve already gone on record and said is slightly too low.

Michigan has been to the playoff. Penn State hasn’t. Neither have Texas A&M, Texas, USC, and Miami. Say what you want about Michigan, but they’ve gotten a taste.

With a less talented roster in a more rugged conference than the Big-12 and PAC-12 I might add.

To be honest, I think people underrate Michigan football annually mainly because of Jim Harbaugh. I think a lot of people don’t like Harbaugh’s tactics and coaching, think it’s not effective enough, and therefore think Michigan will continuously underachieve because of it.

Well, last year should’ve proven that Michigan can win with Harbaugh’s coaching. I guess national analysts just believe what they want to believe.

Michigan fans, what do you all think of this chronic nonchalant attitude towards Michigan? Sound off in the comments below!