Michigan drops in polls despite win; LSU surges in Week 2 college football rankings

Each September, the college football polls become a mirror held up to expectation and reality — and Week 1 of the 2026 season proved no different. Michigan, entering the year with championship ambitions, won its opener against Western Michigan but did so unconvincingly enough that voters in both major polls responded with doubt, sending the Wolverines tumbling — and out of the AP Top 25 entirely. Meanwhile, LSU's strong debut lifted the Tigers up the ballot, reminding us that early-season rankings are less a verdict than a conversation, always subject to revision as the long road of the regula