Michigan moves up in final AP Poll before season opener

The Michigan Wolverines will be a top-20 team heading into the 2020 football season. The latest AP Poll came out on Sunday and the maize and blue moved up one spot from No. 19 to No. 18 before opening up their season.

Their Week 1 matchup will be a Top-25 battle as they head to Minneapolis (along with College Gameday) to face the No. 21 Minnesota Golden Gophers in a primetime matchup at the kickoff of the Big Ten season.

After a Top-5 loss from North Carolina at the hands of Florida State, nearly every Big Ten team saw a small bump in the polls. The Gophers moved up three spots from No. 24 to No. 21. Wisconsin jumped two spots to No. 14. Penn State climbed from No. 9 to No. 8. The Buckeyes are the top team in the Big Ten at No. 5 moving up from their No. 6 rank a week ago.

The Top-4 teams in the country according to the AP are Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame, and Georgia. Bama beat Georgia to maintain their No. 2 ranking and Georgia fell only one spot from No. 3 to No. 4 with the loss.

Three new teams entered the rankings this week: the undefeated Marshall Thundering Herd at No. 22, the No. 24 team is North Carolina State following a 4-1 start and a win over Duke, and Coastal Carolina at No. 25 after a win against the No. 21 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns capping a 4-0 start.

Tennessee, Louisiana, and Auburn all fell out of the rankings after losing to unranked opponents this week.

The Big Ten will surely rock the rankings over the next few weeks as they return to action starting Friday as No. 14 Wisconsin and Illinois kickoff at 7 PM at Camp Randall.