With Week 1 of the college football season just a couple weeks away, several outlets have begun publishing their preseason rankings. While preseason polls in and of themselves are silly — as no snaps of football have been played on the field yet — they can be a good way to judge how the national media perceives your program.
With that in mind, we compiled a few of the notable polls and projections to paint a picture of how the media views Kyle Whittingham’s program heading into the 2026 season.
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AP Poll: No. 16
In the first AP Poll of the year, the Wolverines sit at No. 16 in the country.
Sadly, the AP has Ohio State at No. 1 and Oregon at No. 2. Other notable Big Ten teams to make the top-25 include No. 6 Indiana, No. 14 USC, No. 17 Washington, No. 18 Penn State and No. 22 Iowa. Illinois and Minnesota also received votes.
Coaches Poll: No. 16
The coaches agree with the media, as they also have the Wolverines at No. 16. The two sources are shockingly similar with just a handful of differences between the two in the top-16 teams. The coaches have Texas (4) ahead of Notre Dame (5) while the AP has them flipped. Similarly, the coaches have Oklahoma at No. 9 and Ole Miss at No. 10, while the AP has the inverse.
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As for Big Ten representation, all the same teams appear in each poll in roughly the same landing spot. Nebraska did receive some votes from the coaches.
CBS Sports: No. 15
CBS Sports has Michigan one spot higher than the AP and coaches polls, with BYU being the team the Wolverines jumped. Whittingham aught to love that. The rest of the rankings are nearly a mirror image to that of the two polls above.
CBS is also slightly down on the SEC. CBS has Georgia at No. 5, while the other polls primarily have them at No. 3. They also have Texas A&M down at No. 11 while the AP has it at No. 8.
Josh Pate’s JP Poll: No. 15
Love him or hate him, Josh Pate is an ascending voice in the college football media landscape. Pate’s preseason model has the Wolverines at 15th in the country. Notably, he has Georgia at No. 2, much higher than everyone else. He also has BYU down at No. 19, a bit lower than the other polls in this article.
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As for the rest of the Big Ten, Pate has Ohio State at 1, Oregon at 3, Indiana at 5, USC at 13, Penn State at 21, Illinois at 23 and Washington at 25.
If this roundup has taught you anything, it should be that preseason polls tend to mirror each other because we don’t really know what these teams will look like on the field yet. Expect rapid reshuffling once the season gets going.
