The 2022 college football season ended Monday night, as Georgia beat TCU, 65-7 to win a second straight national title. And even before the game started, much of the college football world turned its attention to the 2023 season, with their ever-popular top 25 rankings for the 2023 season.
And by the time Monday night became Tuesday morning on the East Coast, it became clear that, at least as far as the national media is concerned, no one expects Michigan to be gone anytime soon.
Looking at a slew of national media publication rankings below, and no national publication expects the Wolverines to compete and possibly earn a third straight berth in the College Football Playoffs next fall. Talking points include familiar discussions of the potential returns of JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards and Jim Harbaugh in the NFL — the only joint criticism of Michigan’s national title hoped for among publications.
Check out a full rundown of what the posts had to say below. Looking at what 247Sports, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Focus, Sporting News and others had to say, we break down who these publications had ahead of Michigan, how they see the Big Ten shaking and what they said to About Wolverines 2023.
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Ahead of Michigan: Georgia No. 1, Alabama No. 2
Big Ten teams ranked: 3rd Michigan, 4th Ohio State, 5th Penn State
What they said: One of us took the Wolverines to No. 1 given Michigan’s two depths, led by JJ McCarthy at quarterback and a host of talented running backs. As long as Jim Harbaugh is the Wolverines’ head coach at the start of the 2023 season, the Big Ten are expected to go through Ann Arbor again, as they have each of the past two seasons. For some reason, Michigan walked away from its bread and butter in the playoffs and, for the second year in a row, suffered a hard-to-digest loss. This team has loaded up portal players who will fill the gaps in the roster in a big way.
(This story continues below.)