Wisconsin Football: 3 overreactions from win over Michigan in Week 4

2. Michigan is overrated

Once again, before you start screaming at the top of your lungs, Michigan isn’t overrated; this is who they are.

Follow me for a second. They were ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Top 25. We know two things about those polls: they don’t mean much and — save Alabama and Clemson — teams rarely end where they start in the rankings. Also, that ranking came with a huge asterisk. Michigan had some glaring concerns coming into this season that you saw in this game.

Michigan has lost defensive players like Maurice Hurst Jr., Taco Charlton, Devin Bush, Chris Wormley, Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary over the past three years. These aren’t just good players, these players are on NFL rosters. There aren’t many teams that can replace NFL talent. This game simply exposed the fact that Michigan still lacks talent depth along its front-seven.

Last season didn’t give us a good read on who or what Shea Patterson is. We know he was a five-star recruit that turned down the likes of Alabama and USC for Ole Miss. He was decent last season, and this was supposed to be the year. Think about something, however, this is his third offensive coaching change since he’s been in college, and I don’t know anyone not named Jalen Hurts who can endure that much change and still have success.

Speaking of that change, the biggest question was Josh Gattis. He’d never been a coordinator, and he’s trying to implement his system in a place that doesn’t have the caliber players that his former team, Alabama, has.

The Wolverines were only overrated by those who attempted to rate them. Pull back the layers, and this is about who they are.