U-M out of USA Today top 25 poll
September 4, 2007
By MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State continues to resonate.
The first in-season college football poll was released today and the Wolverines took a major fall.
Michigan fell out of the USA Today top 25 coaches poll, released just after 2 p.m. today, after holding the preseason No. 5 position. The Wolverines received 132 points and sit in the No. 27 spot.
The Associated Press poll had not been released.
According to USA Today, 22 of the 60 head coaches kept Michigan on their ballot, including one who kept them 10th.
The coaches rankings are significant because their poll influences the BCS rankings and, potentially, a spot in the national championship game.
“Every week, there’s some type of issue regarding the outside, regardless of whether you’ve won or lost,” Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said Tuesday. “It’s just a lot more fun dealing with those issues coming off a win. I don’t think there’s any question that you have to face the reality of your performance and the things you need to do to get better and the things that you need to do to better.”
Michigan has made the most appearances in the AP poll (741 times since 1936), and has appeared in the top 25 in all but seven of coach Lloyd Carr’s 150 career games (four games in 1998 and three in 2005.)
The 1998 season may be the best reference point for the Wolverines’ situation. Michigan opened that season ranked No. 5, coming off the 1997 national championship, but lost the first two games to Notre Dame and Syracuse.
Losing in South Bend dropped them to No. 13 in the AP poll and the loss to Syracuse in Ann Arbor dropped them out of the poll and into the “others receiving votes” category, where they sat 32nd overall.
Michigan’s last time out of the polls came after losing the 2005 Alamo Bowl to Nebraska, knocking them from the final poll.
Earlier in the 2005 season, the Wolverines suffered a major tumble, as well, when they fell to 2-2 and out of the Sept. 26 poll, ending a streak of 114 consecutive ranked weeks.
Michigan’s longest consecutive streak lasted 160 weeks from Oct. 14, 1968, to Sept. 22, 1980.
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