A Moot Point Can Still Be A Sore Point

As we await the start of what could be the 2020 college football season, or rather, what's left of it, there is plenty of time to fill. To that end, the Associated Press named their pre-season All-America Teams this week. Included on those teams were players from the Big Ten and PAC-12, schools that will not actually be playing in 2020 due to the cancellation of their conference seasons. Therefore, "not playing" would not excuse the fact that not a single player from Michigan made the lists.

I've been down this road before with Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines. He seems to recruit good talent, but that talent doesn't equate with winning. In fact, if one compares the strength of Michigan's recruiting classes with the lack of representation on All-America teams, it does make you wonder what happens once those prize recruits arrive in Ann Arbor.

Atop the list of All-Americans are few surprises: the SEC leads all conferences with 12 representatives, 8 first-team selections and 4 second-team. The Big Ten also landed 12 players on the list, though only 6 were first-teamers. As for the most-lauded schools, the Crimson Tide of Alabama scored 6 players combined on the first- and second-teams. Both Oregon and Ohio State had 3 representatives each.

Losing out to Alabama and Ohio State is nothing new. (Michigan already does plenty of that on the field.) But as you dive further into the lists and notice the schools represented, it does make you wonder where the Wolverines stand in the college football world.

The Big Ten was represented by 8 different schools, including perennial powers OSU, Penn State and Wisconsin. But players from mid-tier schools like Purdue, Iowa, and Minnesota were also on the list, along with one rep each for Northwestern and Rutgers. No, one All-American does not a team make, and no one would confuse the Michigan program with Rutgers. But it's not a great look, even if Rutgers' best player is their punter. (He does get a helluva workout.)

Even though we won't be able to bash Harbaugh and the Wolverines this fall, it seems like there are still ample opportunities to complain about the state of the program. Bring on 2021!