Michigan in updated college football rankings: Wolverines No. 10 after surviving Minnesota

Posted by author September 29, 2024 Football

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Michigan football bounced around like a pinball machine the past four weeks in the college football rankings.

The Wolverines (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) on Saturday did enough to impress at times and show reasons for concern in others in their 27-24 victory over Minnesota (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten), and moved up two spots to No. 10 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll released Sunday afternoon.

The top of the standings changed after Alabama edged Georgia 41-34 in its first game as a home underdog since 2007. Texas, the only team the Wolverines have lost to in the regular season since 2021, sits at No. 1 after a 35-13 win over Mississippi State. Alabama moves up two slots to No. 2 and Ohio State remains No. 3. Tennessee and Georgia round out the top five.

Big Ten foes Oregon (No. 6) and Penn State (No. 7) are also ahead of the Wolverines.

TIME TO FINISH: If Michigan football continues to play with fire, only matter of time before it’s burned

As for U-M, it was a shockingly similar game to the week prior against USC, only this time a bad taste was left.

Saturday, in the battle for the Little Brown Jug, Kalel Mullings once again was the star as he ran 22 times for 107 yards and the game’s opening two touchdowns. It looked like it would be a run-away victory after a blocked punt set up an 11-yard touchdown pass from Alex Orji to Tyler Morris.

Instead, The Gophers came storming back late which included three fourth-quarter touchdowns, two from former Walled Lake Western star running back Darius Taylor, to make it 24-17.

Mullings converted a pair of third-down rushes, Michigan chewed 6:32 off the clock and banged home a 35-yard field goal after a 14-play, 58-yard drive. However once more, without All-American cornerback Will Johnson and reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Josaiah Stewart available, the defense couldn’t make a stop.

Minnesota put together a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive and got within a field goal after Max Brosmer found Daniel Jackson on a one-handed 12-yard strike, even with Zeke Berry being flagged for pass interference.

The game seemed to reach critical mass when Minnesota recovered the ensuing onside kick, but a Gophers special teamer was flagged for offsides on a questionable call. Mullings recovered the second kick to help seal the game.

MICHIGAN GRADES VS. MINNESOTA: Wolverines go from rout to near disaster

“Yeah, you know, we practice that,” Mullings said of the play. “After the first one, I knew he was probably going to do the same thing so I was a little more aggressive with it, got it before it even got to 10 (yards) and just called it a day.”

After five consecutive home games to start the season, Michigan (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) hits the road to take on Washington (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten), the team it last saw when it played a game outside of Michigan Stadium; a 34-13 victory in Houston to win the 2023 national championship.

Below is the full coaches poll top 25.