Rivals.com: Michigan football at No. 37 on preseason rankings, one spot above San Diego State

Posted on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 : 2:33 p.m.

When Brady Hoke was hired as the new Michigan football coach, he famously said he would have walked to Ann Arbor from San Diego for the job.

"Getting over the Rockies would have been a little tough, but we would have figured that out," he said.

According to the Rivals.com preseason rankings, that mountain range is the most significant elevation between Michigan and Hoke's former squad at San Diego State. For this season, anyway.

Rivals, which is revealing its preseason 120 countdown one team per day, unveiled Michigan at No. 36 today. Wednesday's team, at No. 37, was San Diego State.

The Rivals season preview includes best-case and worst-case scenarios for Michigan.

BEST-CASE: Denard Robinson again is a Heisman front-runner who gets help carrying the load, while the defense goes from awful to decent and the special teams aren't an embarrassment. The result: Michigan is a dark horse in the Legends Division.

WORST-CASE: Robinson gets hurt, the defense continues to reek and the kicking game remains an abomination, pushing Michigan to the postseason sideline for the third time in four seasons.

Four teams on Michigan's 2012 schedule has yet to be ranked on the Rivals preseason 120: Notre Dame, Michigan State, Nebraska and Ohio State.

That means eight Michigan opponents are ranked lower than the Wolverines: San Diego State (No. 37), Iowa (No. 38), Northwestern (No. 48), Illinois (No. 56), Purdue (No. 74), Western Michigan (No. 85), Minnesota (No. 102) and Eastern Michigan (No. 115).