NEW YORK -- Thud!
The final fallout from a disastrous opening weekend for Michigan
came Tuesday, when the Wolverines dropped all the way out of The
Associated Press Top 25, an unprecedented fall from No. 5 to
unranked.
Since the AP poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989, no team has
taken a bigger tumble in one week.
After an opening college football weekend filled with blowouts
and highlighted by Appalachian State's stunning 34-32 upset of
Michigan at the Big House, there was little notable movement in the
Top 25 other than the Wolverines.
Southern California was voted No. 1 by the media panel, but the
Trojans lost some support. USC received 62 first-place votes in the
preseason poll. A lackluster 38-10 victory over Idaho led to the
Trojans dropping to 59 first-place votes.
No. 2 LSU picked up those first-place votes, receiving five. No.
3 West Virginia received one first-place vote, the same as it did
in the preseason.
No. 4 Florida and No. 5 Wisconsin moved up two spots. Oklahoma,
tied for fifth, moved up three spots. No. 7 Texas fell three spots
after slogging through a 21-13 home victory over Arkansas State.
No. 9 Virginia Tech held its place and plays at LSU on Saturday.
No. 10 California moved up two spots after a 45-31 victory over
Tennessee. The Volunteers dropped eight spots to No. 23.
Florida State also fell out of the rankings. The Seminoles were
19th heading into their season opener at Clemson and lost 24-18 in
the Bowden Bowl.
Clemson moved into the rankings at No. 25 and Georgia Tech also
moved into the Top 25. The Yellow Jackets were 21st after winning
at Notre Dame 33-3.
As for Michigan, the Wolverines became the first ranked team
from Division I-A, now known as the Bowl Subdivision, to lose to a
team from I-AA, now known as the Championship Subdivision.
"It hurts because you don't like losing," Michigan linebacker
Chris Graham said Monday. "But how far can you hold your head
down? I'm not holding my head down at all. You've got to move on
forward."
Michigan received 39 points from the media voters in the Top 25,
including a 16th-place vote by Wayne Phillips from The Greeneville
(Tenn.) Sun.
"I still think Michigan has a good football team," he said.
"I think they're worthy of being ranked. They may prove me
wrong."
Phillips said he gave Michigan some leeway because he's very
familiar with Appalachian State, the two-time defending I-AA
champions.
"They're a pretty darn good football team," he said. "If
Michigan had lost to some of the other patsies some of the big
teams played, I could see dropping them out."
Appalachian State is not eligible for the AP Top 25, which only
ranks Bowl Subdivision teams. The Wolverines host Oregon on
Saturday.
Before Michigan's fall, Notre Dame held the ignominious record
for largest drop in the rankings in the Top 25-era. The Fighting
Irish dropped 16 spots -- from No. 9 to No. 25 -- after losing to
Northwestern 17-15 on Sept. 3, 1995.
Texas dropped 15 spots in 1997, going from ninth to 24th after a
66-3 loss to UCLA in September 1997. Louisville also fell 15 spots
-- 11th to unranked -- in September 2005 after losing to South Florida.
The highest ranked team to fall from the poll after one loss was
No. 2 Oklahoma in 1959, when the AP was ranking the top 20 teams.
Later that season Army went from No. 4 to unranked.
In 1950, Tennessee went from No. 4 to unranked in October and in
1960 Illinois fall out of the ranking from No. 4.
In the latest poll, No. 11 Georgia moved up two spots and was
followed by Ohio State, UCLA, Penn State and Rutgers.
No. 16 Nebraska jumped four places. Auburn is 17th and Arkansas,
TCU and Hawaii round out the first 20.
The final five are Georgia Tech, Boise State, Texas A&M,
Tennessee and Clemson.