Michigan football and the AP Poll: Top five gets a shakeup
The Michigan Wolverines moved to 2-0 on the season with a 35-7 win over UNLV on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor. Coming into the season, the AP Poll voters ranked U-M as the No. 2 team in the country, a designation it still holds after the latest poll update.
The Maize and Blue have ranked top five in the national polls 18 straight weeks and top 10 for 30 straight rankings, including all three this fall, all 16 in 2022 and the final 11 of 2021.
The top five saw a shakeup for the second week in a row with Texas taking down Alabama, resulting in the Longhorns moving up to No. 4. No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Florida State and No. 5 USC, which leaped Ohio State with a win over Nevada, now make up the top five.
There are four Big Ten teams in the top-25 this week with Michigan (No. 2), OSU (6), Penn State (7) and Iowa (25). The Wolverines will take on the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor to conclude the regular season Nov. 25 and Penn State in State College two weeks prior.
Here is the full AP Poll released on Sunday afternoon after the second week of the 2023 season.
Week 2 AP Poll
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Florida State
- Texas
- USC
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Washington
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Oregon
- LSU
- Kansas State
- Oregon State
- Ole Miss
- Colorado
- Oklahoma
- North Carolina
- Duke
- Miami (Fla.)
- Washington State
- UCLA
- Iowa
Michigan coaches weigh in on victory
The Wolverines were led by a pair of interim coaches on Saturday in safeties coach Jay Harbaugh and running backs coach Mike Hart. The two weighed in on what it meant after the game.
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“It was an honor,” Harbaugh said. “Love being part of a team and it’s an honor to be given that privilege and that responsibility. We have the kind of team and coaches and culture that makes that kind of thing pretty easy for us to be able to step in. It’s a well-oiled machine, it’s running really well. Players make things easy when they play great football like they did today.
Hart responded: “Just to add on to what Jay said, I think it was awesome. It was awesome having an opportunity, we miss Coach Harbaugh without a doubt, he’s the one that runs the show. The culture he’s placed with the coaches, how we operate on game day, doesn’t really switch much. Obviously, having Coach Moore back was huge. Him being able to call the offense, his energy, how smart of a coach he is. I would say that, too, having Coach Moore back made it a lot easier.”
It will be one more week of interim head coaching for Michigan with offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore helming the team in the non-conference finale against Bowling Green. The game kicks off next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET from Ann Arbor and will be broadcast via Big Ten Network.
