Michigan Getting Love In Sporting News Preseason Top 25
Michigan's preseason rankings have been pretty consistent after a 2021 campaign that saw the Maize and Blue win 12 games, beat Ohio State soundly, demolish Iowa in the Big Ten title game and at least make an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Most outlets see the Wolverines somewhere in the top ten with a few even slotting U-M in the top five.
College football writer Bill Bender explains what he sees in Michigan that has them at No. 6 in his most recent rankings.
What changed? Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis left for Miami, and defensive coordinator Michael Macdonald returned to the Baltimore Ravens. Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss are the new co-offensive coordinators, and Jesse Minter takes over the defense. Jim Harbaugh interviewed for the Vikings job, but opted to return to Ann Arbor. Virginia center Olusegun Oluwatimi was a good pickup in the transfer portal.
Lowdown: Michigan needs to build on its first College Football Playoff appearance. The quarterback battle between Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy will heat up in fall camp, but another timeshare is likely. Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum form a strong backfield, and Ronnie Bell returns after missing last year with a torn ACL. The defense has big holes to fill, but a soft schedule early in the season helps.
Bender has only Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson and Texas A&M ahead of the Wolverines, with Notre Dame, Utah, Oregon and Baylor behind U-M to round out the top ten. Obviously seeing Ohio State at No. 2 and Georgia at No. 3 is interesting given how Michigan fared against them both last year, but both squads are extremely loaded. Every team ahead of Michigan usually is, and has recruited better than the Wolverines recently.
Michigan starts its 2022 campaign with four home games in a row against Colorado State, Hawaii, UConn and Maryland. That should give the Wolverines a chance to start 4-0 while ironing out some wrinkles on defense, settling in on a quarterback and finding its identity on offense under Moore and Weiss before traveling to Iowa City on October 1.
Starting out at No. 6 would ensure that U-M is in the playoff discussion throughout the majority of the season as they'll likely be favored in just about every game until that big one at the end of November.
