Michigan goes from preseason unranked to top five in final AP poll for second time ever
Michigan football came into the 2021 season with its lowest expectations in recent memory, exceeded them by a mile and laughed in the faces of its doubters.
The Wolverines were unranked in the preseason, before rattling off a 12-2 record, winning their first Big Ten title since 2004 and becoming the first team to begin the campaign unranked and earn a berth into the College Football Playoff.
Georgia beat Alabama in the national championship game and is atop the Associated Press’ final ranking of the season, while Michigan checks in at No. 3 behind the two title game participants and ahead of No. 4 Cincinnati. Three other Big Ten teams joined Michigan in the final rankings — Ohio State (No. 5), Michigan State (No. 9) and Iowa (No. 23).
The finish marks Michigan’s first top-five mark to end a season since 1999, when it wound up slotting No. 5, and best since winning the national title in 1997 (with a No. 1 ranking).
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Since the AP poll moved from a top 10 to a top 20 list in 1968, the Wolverines have entered a campaign unranked 10 times but have now finished the season ranked on six occasions. As a whole, Michigan has concluded top three in eight seasons (2021, 1997, 1985, 1976, 1974, 1947, 1943 and 1940).
This season was the second-most impressive jump, behind only the 1985 team — quarterbacked by now-head coach Jim Harbaugh — that surged from unranked to No. 2 in the final poll after posting a 10-1-1 record fueled by a triumph over Ohio State and Fiesta Bowl win over Nebraska.
In fact, Harbaugh has now either been the quarterback or head coach for three Michigan teams that began the season unranked but wound up in the final poll, with 2015 being the third. In his first year at the helm, Harbaugh led a resurgence in Ann Arbor, taking the five-win team he inherited and winning 10 games, including a blowout victory over Florida in the Citrus Bowl.
Perhaps the most famous and still talked about season in program history in which the team didn’t win the national championship is 1969, legendary coach Bo Schembechler’s first on the job. The Wolverines finished with an 8-3 mark and No. 9 ranking (the only other top-10 finish after being unranked in the preseason, joining 1985 and 2021), but made the Rose Bowl after mounting a huge upset win over top-ranked Ohio State, which hadn’t lost a contest in nearly two full seasons.
Seasons Michigan Began Unranked Since 1968
| Season | Final AP Ranking | Record |
| 1985 | 2nd | 10-1-1 |
| 2021 | 3rd | 12-2 |
| 1969 | 9th | 8-3 |
| 2015 | 12th | 10-3 |
| 2011 | 12th | 11-2 |
| 1968 | 12th | 8-2 |
| 2014 | Unranked | 5-7 |
| 2010 | Unranked | 7-5 |
| 2009 | Unranked | 5-7 |
| 2008 | Unranked | 3-9 |
Final College Football AP Poll
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Michigan
- Cincinnati
- Baylor
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma State
- Notre Dame
- Michigan State
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Utah
- Pittsburgh
- Clemson
- Wake Forest
- Louisiana
- Houston
- Kentucky
- BYU
- NC State
- Arkansas
- Oregon
- Iowa
- Utah State
- San Diego State
