One week. That’s all it took for college football’s preseason expectations to get absolutely torched. Nobody exemplifies that more than Michigan, who went from being set for a big improvement to falling clean out of the top 30 in the CBS Sports 138 rankings, all after a nail-biting 13-12 win against Western Michigan. Yeah, you read that right. A *win* sent them packing.
Michigan’s Preseason Hype Explodes in Week 1
Remember all that talk? The Wolverines were supposed to make a huge leap forward with Kyle Whittingham’s arrival. Experts across the board, after an entire summer of research and reporting, media days tidbits, and fall camp observations, had them positioned for something special. Then the actual football happened, and all those carefully crafted preseason predictions just blew up. Michigan didn’t just slide a little, they fell completely out of the top 20, and then even out of the top 30 in the comprehensive CBS Sports 138 rankings. A 13-12 victory should inspire confidence, not send a program spiraling down the polls. What does that even tell you about their form if a single-point win against Western Michigan sends them into freefall? This is early September, and the season’s already looking wildly different than anyone imagined.
LSU Soars While Oregon Takes a Hit
But it wasn’t all bad news and plummeting hopes across the board. While some teams stumbled, others absolutely launched themselves up the rankings. LSU, for instance, has just soared into the top 10. They jumped from No. 10 all the way to No. 6, carrying an average ballot rating of 5.2. That’s a massive move, putting them closer to No. 5 Notre Dame than No. 7 Indiana. They were supposed to take a couple of weeks to find their footing under Lane Kiffin, but they’re already looking like a force.
Meanwhile, another team expected to be a national championship contender, Oregon, took a hit, falling from No. 2 down to No. 8. They’re still lumped into a “defined top tier of eight teams” by the voters, but that’s a pretty steep drop for a squad with such high hopes. Preseason rankings, which were released back on August 12, are looking like ancient history already. The experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports are clearly not messing around when it comes to updating their ballots after seeing real football.
The college football landscape is already wild, and we’re only one week in. Will Michigan be able to show better form in the weeks ahead, or is this early season stumble a sign of things to come? Will LSU continue its meteoric rise? This season just got a whole lot more interesting.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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