Michigan Ranked No. 16 in First Coaches Poll

The first real numbers of the 2026 season are in, and Michigan sits at No. 16 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. 

That’s a fair place for the Wolverines to start. It’s also, once you look at the schedule, one of the most difficult seasons in Michigan history.

Where Michigan Sits

Ohio State opens at No. 1 with 38 first-place votes. Oregon is second, Georgia third, Texas fourth, Notre Dame fifth, and defending national champion Indiana sixth.

Michigan lands 16th, one spot ahead of Penn State at 17 and two behind USC at 14.

The Big Ten placed eight teams in the top 25 — Ohio State (1), Oregon (2), Indiana (6), USC (14), Michigan (16), Penn State (17), Washington (19) and Iowa (22). Illinois and Nebraska also received votes.

Michigan is the fifth-highest ranked Big Ten team. For a program installing a new head coach, a new staff and a young roster, being voted the fifth-best team in the deepest conference in the sport is something to be happy about.

The Schedule Is the Story

Here's the part that should get your attention. Michigan plays six ranked opponents in the regular season:

Date Opponent Rank

Sept. 12 Oklahoma No. 9

Sept. 26 Iowa No. 22

Oct. 17 Penn State No. 17

Oct. 24 Indiana No. 6

Nov. 14 at Oregon No. 2

Nov. 28 at Ohio State No. 1

Four of those are top 10 teams. Two are the top two teams in the country, with Michigan playing both on the road within a span of three weeks.

Western Michigan, the Wolverines opener for the 2026 season, also received votes.

The one “break” on the schedule is that the first four games of the season are all in Ann Arbor. We say “break” in quotations because Michigan also has to take on #9 Oklahoma during that stretch. After that, it’s Penn State and Indiana back-to-back. It seems as if the Whittingham era will get around a month before it’s baptized by fire.

Things Worth Noticing

Indiana is the most polarizing team in the country. The Hoosiers received 14 first-place votes, the second-most of any team, behind only Ohio State's 38, and still finished sixth. That gap only happens when voters wildly disagree. Some coaches think the defending champions are the best team in the sport while others have them well outside the top five.

Utah at No. 21 is a subplot nobody is talking about. Whittingham’s former team, the one he spent a total of 32 years coaching at, is ranked just 5 spots behind the Wolverines. Fans in Ann Arbor and Salt Lake City will both be watching to see if their new or former coach made the right choice going across the country. Fortunately for Michigan fans, if the season did go south, most people from that part of the country are nicer than most.

What a Preseason Poll Actually Means

Not much, no matter how much the media and rival fans will push it. 

Let’s go back to 2021, the year that changed everything for Michigan football with its first Big Ten Championship in a generation. Do you remember where the Wolverines started that season? It wasn't in the Top 10 or even the Top 15. It wasn’t even in the Top 20. Michigan started the 2021 season unranked with not a single soul outside of the state expecting the season to amount to anything.

This just goes to show that preseason rankings are absolutely meaningless except to motivate fans and players and to be a reference for the media.

The Honest Read

With it being the off-season, a brand new coaching staff, and a roster that has talent but hasn’t proved itself, this ranking feels right. There could be an argument for the Maize and Blue to be closer to 10th or a counter argument for them to move further back a few spots.

It’s hard to be patient but the reality is that the schedule will play itself out. If the Wolverines want to prove the country wrong and move up the board, all they have to do is win football games. Beat Oklahoma, beat Oregon, and beat Ohio State and not a single person will question the legitimacy of this team. Can Michigan do that?  I think they can.

But everything for this season, like most, will not come down to talent or a lack thereof; this season will come down to Michigan staying out of their own heads and playing their version of football.