The Associated Press released its annual preseason poll today, and the Michigan Wolverines' football program checked in at No. 16 nationally ... despite the fact the Big Ten won't be hosting a season this fall.
In fact, five other Big Ten squads — No. 2 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 19 Minnesota and No. 24 Iowa — were all ranked as well, even though none of them will be playing football.
The same can be said for the three Pac-12 teams who were included (No. 9 Oregon, No. 17 USC and No. 22 Utah), with the league also having canceled its fall campaign. While the Big Ten, Pac-12, MAC and Mountain West have all pulled the plug on their 2020 seasons, the rest of the FBS conferences plan on forging ahead.
The rest of the AP Poll's top-five, meanwhile, is filled up with familiar faces, with Clemson checking in at No. 1, the aforementioned OSU at No. 2, Alabama at No. 3, Georgia at No. 4 and Oklahoma at No. 5.
U-M slotting in at No. 16 today isn't surprising, when considering the Wolverines checked in one spot higher at No. 15 in the Amway Coaches Poll that came out on Aug. 5.
One of the national knocks of the Michigan program in recent years has been its tendency to underperform in regards to its preseason ranking. The Maize and Blue have concluded the year rated higher than they were coming in just twice over the last decade — in 2011 and 2015.
Michigan's Preseason and Postseason Ranks in the AP Poll Over the Last 10 Years
2010
• Preseason: Unranked
• Finished: Unranked (7-6)
2011
• Preseason: Unranked
• Finished: No. 12 (11-2)
2012
• Preseason: No. 8
• Finished: No. 24 (8-5)
2013
• Preseason: No. 17
• Finished: Unranked (7-6)
2014
• Preseason: Unranked
• Finished: Unranked (5-7)
2015
• Preseason: Unranked
• Finished: No. 12 (10-3)
2016
• Preseason: No. 7
• Finished: No. 10 (10-3)
2017
• Preseason: No. 11
• Finished: Unranked (8-5)
2018
• Preseason: No. 14
• Finished: No. 14 (10-3)
2019
• Preseason: No. 7
• Finished: No. 18 (9-4)
The 2020 Preseason AP Poll
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
