Michigan football may not have won a national championship, but it can claim its best season since 1997.
And the rankings back that up.
The Wolverines finished No. 3 in the final AP Top 25 poll for the 2021 season and No. 3 in the USA Today Sports/AFCA coaches poll, both unveiled Tuesday.
It’s the program’s highest postseason ranking since 1997, when Michigan finished No. 1 in the AP poll and shared the national championship with Nebraska.
Georgia beat Alabama, 33-18, Monday night to win the College Football Playoff national championship game in Indianapolis. The Bulldogs finished No. 1 and the Crimson Tide No. 2 in both polls.
Final rankings: AP Top 25 | Coaches’ poll
Jim Harbaugh’s team went 12-2 in 2021, captured a Big Ten championship and earned a CFP berth for the first time in school history. It was Michigan’s first 12-win season since ‘97, when the Wolverines went 12-0 and beat Washington State in the Rose Bowl, and first top-10 AP ranking since 2006.
Making the climb more extraordinary was the backdrop by which Harbaugh’s club did it. Michigan was unranked to start the season, projected by most to win either 7 or 8 games and welcomed in a first-year defensive coordinator in Mike Macdonald. The team found its identity early on offensively, an unashamed, bruising rushing attack, and molded a top-10 scoring defense.
A loss to Michigan State on Oct. 30 disrupted a 7-0 start, but Michigan rebounded nicely with four straight wins — highlighted by a euphoric victory over arch-rival Ohio State — to clinch the Big Ten’s East Division.
The Wolverines’ highest ranking of the season came after the win over the Buckeyes, No. 2, a spot they maintained after beating Iowa to win their first Big Ten championship since 2006 (and first in the title game era).
A 34-11 loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl, a CFP semifinal game, knocked Michigan out of national championship contention this year. But a loss to the Bulldogs didn’t hurt their stock much in the eyes of poll voters, who moved the Wolverines down just one spot.
