Michigan ranked No. 8 in preseason AP Top 25, picks up 1 first-place vote

By Kyle Meinke Michigan Football Reporter for MLive.com

Posted on Sat, Aug 18, 2012 : 10:40 a.m.

Michigan is the best college football team in the country.

At least, that's according to one AP pollster.

The Wolverines were slotted No. 8 in the AP's preseason Top 25 poll, which was released Saturday morning. They also were No. 8 in the coaches poll, so the ranking is unsurprising.

What was surprising: Michigan picked up one first-place vote from the Champaign News-Gazette's Bob Asmussen, who covers Illinois.

The only other teams to pick up first-place votes were No. 1 USC (25), No. 2 Alabama (17), No. 3 LSU (16) and No. 4 Oklahoma (1).

Oregon rounded out the top five.

Michigan is the highest-rated Big Ten team in the initial poll, followed by No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 17 Nebraska and No. 18 Ohio State.

The Wolverines were not ranked in last year's preseason poll, but finished the season at No. 12.

The full preseason AP Top 25
1. USC (25) 1,445 points
2. Alabama (17) 1,411 points
3. LSU (16) 1,402 points
4. Oklahoma (1) 1,286 points
5. Oregon 1,274 points
6. Georgia 1,107 points
7. Florida State 1,093 points
8. Michigan (1) 1,000 points
9. South Carolina 994 points
10. Arkansas 963 points
11. West Virginia 856 points
12. Wisconsin 838 points
13. Michigan State 742 points
14. Clemson 615 points
15. Texas 569 points
16. Virginia Tech 548 points
17. Nebraska 485 poitns
18. Ohio State 474 points
19. Oklahoma STate 430 points
20. TCU 397 points
21. Stanford 383 points
22. Kansas State 300 points
23. Florida 214 points
24. Boise State 212 points
25. Louisville 105 points

Tags: Wolverines

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Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.