College football expert Phil Steele placed the Michigan Wolverines No. 14 in the nation in his 2026 preseason power poll (his rankings of the best teams) and No. 15 in his preseason rankings, which take into account all circumstances a team will face, including its schedule.
The Wolverines will be on the outside looking in at the 12-team College Football Playoff for the third-straight season, Steele believes. But a No. 15 placement shows that he thinks Michigan will be in the race from start to finish.
“[Head] Coach Kyle Whittingham was the perfect hire as he believes in being strong at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and having a top-notch D, and that is the Michigan Way,” Steele wrote. [Sophomore] QB Bryce Underwood is very talented and has a great supporting cast.”
The challenging schedule is likely what keeps Michigan out of the playoff.
“The Wolverines do have a tough schedule, facing the top three of the Big Ten and Oklahoma, but are playoff-caliber,” Steele wrote.
Steele’s predicted order of finish ahead of Michigan is as follows: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Miami (Florida), No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 10 BYU, No. 11 USC, No. 12 SMU, No. 13 Oklahoma and No. 14 Ole Miss.
Michigan plays No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Oregon and No. 13 Oklahoma. Assuming Steele is predicting losses to at least three of those, that would keep the Maize and Blue out of the playoff.
Other Big Ten teams in Steele’s top 40 are No. 19 Penn State (on Michigan’s schedule), No. 25 Washington and No. 26 Iowa (on Michigan’s schedule).
Steele forecasted that Michigan will finish No. 5 in the Big Ten, behind Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon and USC.
“[Michigan] made a great hire in Kyle Whittingham, whose Utah teams were built on the same principles that Michigan was,” Steele said. “He brought some key transfers from the Utes to add to an already talented lineup. This time, they face Oregon and Ohio State on the road and host Indiana, but could find themselves back in the playoffs.”
Michigan has eight home games this season, beginning Sept. 5 against WMU. The Wolverines have only one road game before Halloween, an Oct. 3 clash at Minnesota. The schedule gets much tougher in November, featuring home games against Michigan State and UCLA but more notably away contests at Oregon and Ohio State.
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