Michigan falls in AP Top 25, Coaches Poll

The Michigan Wolverines (4-1) squeaked out a win over Northwestern on Saturday in the final minutes, but fell in the rankings despite the victory.

The Wolverines fall from No. 14 to No. 15 in the AP Top 25 Poll and went from No. 15 to No. 16 in the Amway Coaches Poll.

Poll Thoughts

• While it isn’t necessarily surprising Michigan dropped a spot, it’s interesting that Stanford is ranked ahead of them at No. 14 after getting absolutely clobbered by Notre Dame on Saturday.
• Penn State only dropped two spots, from No. 9 to No. 11 in the AP. While the Nittany Lions narrowly lost, I expected them to fall a couple more spots down the ladder. Either way, what a horrible call on 4th down to seal their fate against the Buckeyes. It was a run up the middle, in case you didn’t know.
• Ohio State flips spots with Clemson and moves up to No. 3. This makes sense and is completely justified as Clemson didn’t play well versus Syracuse and barely won a game everyone predicted them to win easily.
• Michigan ranks ahead of Wisconsin and Michigan State, who are No. 16 and No. 20 in the AP.
• If Michigan can rattle off wins the next couple weeks, they’ll likely be in the top ten heading into the showdown versus Michigan State in East Lansing.
• AP Poll voters weren’t impressed with Michigan’s comeback, they latched onto the slow start and the final score being so close. Northwestern losing to Akron the week prior also factored into their view when placing their vote for Michigan after Saturday’s game.
• These rankings don’t carry as much weight as they used to in this age of the College Football Playoff, but they still matter.