Ranking Every Michigan Football Team From This Decade (2020-2025)

Six Seasons, One Dynasty-Defining Stretch

Few programs have experienced a decade quite like Michigan football. In the span of six seasons, the Wolverines have gone from a COVID-shattered afterthought to back-to-back Big Ten champions, to undisputed national champions, and then back through a coaching transition that’s still writing its next chapter. Along the way, Michigan has produced a national title, three College Football Playoff appearances, and no shortage of unforgettable moments in Ann Arbor.

With a new era now underway under Kyle Whittingham, there’s no better time to look back and rank every Michigan football team from this decade from the forgettable to the unforgettable. Here’s how every season from 2020 through 2025 stacks up.

6. The 2020 Michigan Football Team: A Season Nobody Wants to Remember

There’s no debate about the bottom of this list. The COVID-19 pandemic gutted college football’s 2020 season across the board, and Michigan was hit as hard as anyone, finishing just 2-4 in a shortened Big Ten-only schedule with no bowl game. It remains the low point of the decade for the program, a season defined more by the circumstances surrounding it than anything that happened on the field. Thankfully for Michigan fans, the very next season would look nothing like it.

5. The 2024 Michigan Football Team: A Rocky Start to a New Era

Sherrone Moore’s first season as head coach was, by most measures, a step backward on paper. Michigan finished just 8-5, cycling through three different starting quarterbacks in an offense that ranked among the worst passing attacks in the entire country. It was a jarring adjustment coming off a national championship the year before.

But the season wasn’t without real bright spots. Michigan closed the year by upsetting rival Ohio State and then knocking off Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl two results that gave Wolverines fans real reason for optimism heading into 2025, even in an otherwise difficult year of transition.

4. The 2025 Michigan Football Team: Progress, But Not Enough

With five-star freshman Bryce Underwood finally installed as the full-time starting quarterback, expectations rose considerably for 2025 — and in some ways, Michigan delivered, finishing 9-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play. But the season was also defined by turbulence off the field, including the in-season departure of Sherrone Moore amid controversy, which ultimately opened the door for Kyle Whittingham’s hiring.

On the field, Michigan reached the Big Ten Championship Game but came up just short in a tight loss, missing out on a return trip to the College Football Playoff. It was a season of real progress at the quarterback position and a step in the right direction record-wise, but the surrounding chaos and the near-miss in Indianapolis keep it out of the top half of this ranking.

3. The 2021 Michigan Football Team: The Breakthrough Season

After years of frustration under Jim Harbaugh, 2021 marked the moment everything finally clicked. Michigan won 12 games, captured its first Big Ten championship since 2004, and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. The Wolverines also delivered arguably the signature win of the Harbaugh era to that point, knocking off rival Ohio State for the first time since 2011.

Michigan’s playoff run ended with a loss to eventual national champion Georgia in the Orange Bowl, but the significance of the season went well beyond the final result. This was the team that proved Michigan could once again compete at the very top of the sport and it set the stage for everything that followed.

2. The 2022 Michigan Football Team: Even Better, Still Left Wanting More

If 2021 was the breakthrough, 2022 was the exclamation point that came before the ultimate payoff. Michigan improved to 13-1, won a second consecutive Big Ten championship, and returned to the College Football Playoff for a second straight year — a level of sustained success the program hadn’t touched in decades.

The season ended in heartbreak, though, as Michigan fell to TCU in a wild, high-scoring Fiesta Bowl semifinal, 51-45. Still, back-to-back playoff appearances and Big Ten titles cemented this as one of the most successful two-year stretches in program history, even before the ultimate breakthrough arrived the following season.

1. The 2023 Michigan Football Team: Perfection and a National Championship

There’s no argument for anything other than 2023 sitting atop this list. Michigan went a perfect 15-0, won its third consecutive Big Ten championship, survived a wild overtime Rose Bowl against Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal, and then dominated Washington 34-13 to claim the program’s first consensus national championship since 1997.

It was a season that overcame real adversity, including a sign-stealing controversy that hung over much of the year and a mid-season coaching shakeup that saw Jim Harbaugh serve a suspension. Through it all, Michigan’s roster — loaded with future NFL talent across the roster delivered the results that had eluded the program for over two decades. For a fanbase that had waited so long for a championship, 2023 stands as the defining season of the entire decade, and one of the greatest in program history.

Final Thoughts

Six seasons, one national title, three College Football Playoff appearances, and enough highs and lows to fill a decade’s worth of storylines Michigan’s run from 2020 through 2025 is a perfect snapshot of just how quickly fortunes can shift in college football. From the depths of a COVID-shortened 2020 campaign to the heights of a perfect national championship season in 2023, the Wolverines have experienced nearly every extreme the sport has to offer. As Kyle Whittingham begins a new chapter in Ann Arbor, the challenge now is clear: prove that 2023 was the standard, not the ceiling.