3 quick facts about Michigan football preseason ranking

Yesterday, the first AP Poll of the 2023 college football season was released. This year’s Michigan football preseason ranking, in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, has the Wolverines pinned as the 2nd best team in America. For the Maize and Blue, this ranking holds a great deal of significance for a few reasons, which I am about to delve into.

Michigan football preseason ranking is the highest since the early 1990s

The last time Michigan football was ranked this high in the year’s preseason AP Poll was in 1991. Since then, the Wolverines have seen four new head coaches, a national title, a Heisman Trophy winner, and much more. When all was said and done in 1991, Michigan went 10-2 overall with a 10-1 regular season record and a Big Ten title, yet fell short in the Rose Bowl and finished as the No. 6 team in the country. On top of that, wide receiver Desmond Howard won the Heisman Trophy, becoming the first wideout to ever win the award — he was the sole WR to earn a Heisman until 2020.

The Wolverines are ranked ahead of Ohio State for the third time in 20 seasons

Over the past 20 seasons, Ohio State has been ranked ahead of Michigan football in nearly every preseason poll. That said, despite entering the year unranked in 2021 and lower than the Buckeyes in 2022, the Wolverines are undefeated against Ohio State this decade and are looking to make it three straight this November. This year, with Michigan at No. 2 and Ohio State at No. 3, the 2023 Wolverines join the 2007 team and the 2012 team as the only Maize and Blue squads to enter a season ranked above the Buckeyes since 2003. Both of those teams narrowly lost in ‘The Game.’

Other Michigan football teams that started No. 2 since 1950

Finding old college football data can be a daunting task, so let’s just go back to 1950 for this one. Since 1950, only four times has Michigan football been ranked No. 2 nationally heading into a season; in all four cases, the Wolverines finished below where they started all said and done. In 1976, 1977, 1986, and 1991, the Wolverines began at No. 2 in the AP Poll, yet in all four cases, Michigan finished below where it began.

Throughout these four seasons, the Maize and Blue finished No. 3, No. 9, No. 8, and No. 6, respectively. Michigan football finished with two losses in each case, a trend that this year’s Wolverines will be looking to break in pursuit of a national title for the fist time since 1997.

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