Back to results >>

2026 Preseason Michigan Wolverines Rankings

Main Poll Voters

User Rank Rationale
bannista7 8
PeteyNice 8
owlalwaysloveyew 9
bakonydraco 10
dubscurry30 10
PlactusTX 10
smartkeg 10
tdoger 10
A_Rolling_Baneling 11
COLU_BUS 11
Corporal_Hicks 11
cyberchaox 11
Doogitywoogity 11 They need to break free of the Harbaugh and Moore eras, this season is their chance to do that. Certainly not the easiest schedule, but it’s Michigan they should have a challenging schedule. Oklahoma set the tone last year and it’s going to be a major bell weather again early on. Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State additionally make this quite challenging. They could have a good squad and finish 6-6.
EpicSchwinn 11 Maybe high, but I think Whittingham is the best hire of the cycle. They’re gonna smack dudes. And the DC hire was an extraordinary coup. Love this staff and see a lot of good things on the horizon.
HelioOne 11
JustAManAndHisLaptop 11
ToeInDigDeep 11
galacticdude7 12
HideNZeke 12
TolkienFan71 12
brucewaynewins 13
ch1l1_ch33s3 13
Corgi_Koala 13
daredassdude 13
deadtofall12 13
halldaylong 13
IceColdDrPepper_Here 13
jjjoebox 13
laprasrules 13
Lex_Ludorum 13
Muffinnnnnnn 13
NyquillusDillwad20 13
Our-Gardian-Angel 13
Red261 13
redwave2505 13
retnuh101 13
SCsprinter13 13
SpadeRyker 13
TaylorLeprechaun 13
True_Ad5324 13
twitter_paulbd 13
_fastball 14
Acm0028 14
BosskOnASegway 14 1666.3 [-42.9] (#20 -> #14) ↑
Ch-i-ef 14
diehardcubforever 14
dschinghiskhan 14
fredmerc111 14
Jakesnake42 14
jrich960608 14
Laschoni 14
lowes18 14 With a dynamic 1-2 punch at RB, and a good offensive line, Michigan should have at the very least a solid and efficient offense. However both the QB position and D-lines are significant wild cards, if both hit Michigan has the chance to be a real national title contender, if not this team will likely be around 8-4 and far outclassed by some of the teams on their schedule. Given that this team went 9-3 last year with a disaster of a coaching staff and Underwood taking his freshman lumps, I lean slightly towards Michigan being better in 2026.
malowry0124 14
MemeofMemeJTG999999 14 End of Last Season: #24 (9-4) |
Next Week: vs Western Michigan |
Projected Bowl: ReliaQuest Bowl vs Tennessee
Pure_Protein_Machine 14
seaotter2 14
Staind075 14
SufferingfOrLife 14 Reasons I like them: #20 in returning production, running game, strong lines on both sides, secondary is good

Reasons I dislike them: Can Bryce Underwood take the next step? Pass-catching depth.
titansfan174 14
VerySeriousBanana 14
WarEagle9 14
Buckeyes2010 15
budget_um 15
Charlemagne42 15 Can't quite seem to build momentum, understandably, against the hardest schedule in CFB. Still finishes with two ranked wins.
chillmagic420 15
Chipsahoy523 15
CptCheese 15
eclectic_tastes 15
ewolfy13 15
grtgbln 15
JeromesNiece 15
jonstark19 15
jthomas694 15
kflinderman 15
Klaassy23 15
mthompson2320 15
penisthightrap_ 15
PSUMediaPA 15
Rakarei 15
roguebandit1 15
UNC_Samurai 15
Zef_Apollo 15
12panther 16
ALStark69 16 +7
BallSoHerd 16
Blooblod 16
CambodianDrywall 16
Cars-and-Coffee 16
ChaseTheFalcon 16
colton_97 16
Drexlore 16
elnino550 16
Helifino 16
Jerrywelfare 16
joebob431 16
jrluhn 16
Luigiatl 16
MahjongDaily 16
MainPeanut25 16 Too nice. Too soft. Buckeyes by 80
ManiacalBlazer 16
noahthearc 16
OldCoaly 16
one98d 16
PalmettoFace 16
Roscoe_Filburn 16
SlaminSammons 16
texas2089 16
bretticus733 17
cvsprinter1 17
grey_pilgrim_ 17
Justanother_0 17 I am interested in seeing what Whittingham does with Michigan's resources in his time with the Wolverines. Could he win a national title? probably not in the first year. I expect this team to threaten making the playoff field, depending on whether Bryce Underwood develops into the talent that he can be.
JustinMSU21 17
Lefunnymaymays4lief 17 Whitt is such a great hire on paper, and they totally lucked into him. He takes with him experienced edge John Henry Daley and OC Jason Beck, and sniped Jay Hill from BYU too. But all eyes are on Bryce Underwood to take the next leap after a mediocre at best debut last year
placid_salad 17
plannedsickdays 17
Pyromania1983 17
redrumsoxLoL 17 Michigan is extremely well balanced. They are sporting a strong offense and defense, but I don't believe either will be in the elite conversation that will allow them to take down the true contenders consistently.
SteemieRayVaughn 17
SwissArmyScythe 17
T-Thugs 17
the_neverdoctor 17
TimeBroken 17
Zloggt 17 After quite the offseason (and a bit of the previous season)...maybe things will mellow out a bit in Ann Arbor? It's a rather big ask, truth be told...but hey, gotta start somewhere, right?
Blazeth 18
DarkLegend64 18
JBonkies 18
mcdsmaster8824 18
Player_1_has_Joined 18
RiffRamBahZoo 18
sgtshenanigans 18
shifty1032231 18
tdeff19 18
thescottula 18
udderlymoovelous 18
AJ_CC 19
Bereft13 19 Power: 19, SoR: 18; LW:
BlueSCar 19
CRedds19 19
djowen68 19
Jay_Dubbbs 19
Longvols 19
monkeymatt1836 19
outthawazoo 19
Sometimeswelose 19
ThaCarter 19
BananaBouquet 20
BendrickLamar19 20
douchebagjack 20
GeauxTri 20
PattyKane16 20
skuhlke 20 (8-4)
Tornadohunter24 20
xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx 20 I thought it was odd that Whittingham would go to another team rather than just retire. They should get a good 3-5 years out of him at least. Good hire.
AllHawkeyesGoToHell 21
CommodoreN7 21
Conn3er 21
jalexjsmithj 21
NotSoSuperNerd 21 62.94
Shion314 21
spmartin1993 21
Versigot 21 I really think Whittingham is going to struggle here. Entire program needs the type of coach who can hit the reset button on the culture but he is not that guy.
Xy13 21 Toughest Games - vs OU, vs Penn state, vs Indi, @ ORE, @ OSU. Avoid - USC
---
I wasn't entirely sure why Michigan wasn't targetting Kyle Whittingham from the beginning of their coaching search. He was a menace with the ~#44 recruiting class. He already played their kind of football too. Let's see what he can do with the ~#14 class. This 1st year schedule is tough, but I could see him picking up a ring at this blue blood.
BUSean 22
bwburke94 22 +10.06604747
CFBHurts 22
Darth_Ra 22
manbeardawg 22
KansasEF5Tornado 23 elo: 1851

Provisional Poll Voters

User Rank Rationale
GenuineBoss 8
Protoco2 8
journey1986 9
DarthGlazer 10
ianmcmoney 10
Kirkwood641 10
samtaylor92 10
jtchr33 11 Another team I don't really know what to do with besides say 'tier 2 of the B1G'
saquad69 11
Yechibaby09 11
538allspelledout 12
alttabbins 12
Ethanol-Muffins 12 Whittingham is a proven coach and Michigan enables him to get the talent he needs to go all out
Front-Broccoli5957 12
KansasChaser2021 12
ndbfsu22 12
Rishik01 12
ceris13 13 Whittingham has long been one of my favorite coaches. Offseason drama aside, he steps into a program where he has vastly more resources and can't possibly ruffle more feathers than the last guy. Can Underwood improve?
civfan5843 13
d1sportsball 13 Whitt will fix a lot of the problems and culture after bringing in Utah guys
geordieColt88 13
JJones927 13
myworld3 13
National-Sundae9427 13
SomerandomIDFBfan 13
throwaway_6786 13
DesignerClub1887 14
FrontRunner51 14
Hetoxy 14
jtsmd2 14
kevinsdomain 14
Klightgrove 14
MisguidedPassion 14
msonar623 14
noah_divine 14 all comes down to how good Bryce Underwood is. i still really hate you all though (and i do think Tommy Carr will be starting by the time they play OSU)
NoOutdoorSoup 14
PsychologicalFox8660 14
AllEliteSchmuck 15
CALL_ME_ISHMAEBY 15 0.790
dee3Poh 15
DownshiftGD 15
ElyxUW 15
epyoch 15
fm22fnam 15
JackWK_Gaming 15
logace444444444 15
loneSTAR_06 15
manbeqrpig 15
Midnight-Mustang 15
mr_longfellow_deeds 15
NebraskaPlainsman 15
Nervous_Metal_9445 15
PrideSax711 15
Pure-Shirt-5831 15
Repulsive_Rub6443 15
Salmon-Dude 15
SignificanceFirm2398 15
TheBeekman8 15
thehornedlamb 15
Yamiosum 15
666haha 16
70277027 16
AoA_nB1 16 Kyle Whittingham is an upgrade from Sherrone, but the Wolverines need to see more out of their highly HS ranked qb Bryce Underwood.
bruhstevenson 16
Elegant_Tiger6870 16
hiiightide 16
Impossible-Still-349 16
LightningDusty 16
Living_Human 16 19.05
Real-Plant-5722 16
Sflabuckeye13 16
TyRoland06 16
WBLwiffleball 16
bigred91224 17
Billiam501 17
Different-Salary2899 17
Esb5415 17
MWiatrak2077 17
OG_Felwinter 17
RJTrey 17
ArlyntheAwesome 18
BoilerUp28 18
Crelc3 18
dannykandy 18
Flaky_Bit6733 18
Kareem89086 18
SaguaroCactus19 18
LegionMammal978 19 [T1.] Group Score .500, Team Score 0.
NA_Faker 19
Ok_Significance_3803 19
PM_ME_YOUROUY_EM_MP 19
quantum_jedi 19
baileyx96 20
meristematic 20
Resolve-Opening 20
ted1995 20
ValarMorghulis_17 20
Yelich04 20
Dan20698 21
gonshpreds1 21
MajikSix 21
Perryapsis 21
Rare_Bit5844 21
beckett929 22
bigheadsoftbody 22
josh55134 22
SportsCat4 22
Star_Wars_Sith 22
bolts_win_again 23
rt13wx 24
Blue = Human
Red = Computer
Green = Hybrid

Bold = before the AP poll was published
Normal = after the AP poll was published

Back to results >>