Michigan Checks In At No. 15 In The Preseason Amway Coaches Poll
The Amway Coaches Poll released its preseason top-25 today, and placed the Michigan Wolverines' football program at No. 15 overall nationally. The Maize and Blue were one of six Big Ten teams to be ranked, along with No. 2 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 18 Minnesota and No. 23 Iowa.
The rest of the outlet's top-five looked all-too-familiar, with Clemson taking over the top spot, Alabama sliding in at No. 3, Georgia at No. 4 and the reigning national champion LSU Tigers at No. 5.
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The Big Ten's six ranked squads are tied with the SEC for the most of any conference. It's worth noting, however, that no other Big Ten members are particularly close to being ranked, with Nebraska checking in as the next-closest, though it only received three votes.
U-M entered last year's Amway Coaches Poll at No. 7 in the preseason, but wound up finishing No. 19 after a disappointing 9-4 campaign. The Associated Press top-25 is often viewed as a more reliable metric to judge teams, and that outlet's preseason rankings list will be released later this month.
Michigan is slated to face four of the other five top-25 Big Ten squads in the Coaches Poll in 2020 (No. 2 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 18 Minnesota), with Iowa being the lone exception.
Non-conference play has been eliminated this fall, and all Big Ten members will instead play a 10-game league slate. The opponents on U-M's revised 2020 schedule remained primarily the same, with a trip to Northwestern on Nov. 21 being the only addition.
The games will kick off on the regularly-scheduled Sept. 5 weekend, with two bye weeks slated to occur throughout the campaign (Oct. 10 and Nov. 14 for Michigan). It's also worth noting that action will end a week earlier than usual, with Nov. 21 being the final weekend of the regular-season this year.
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