9. Michigan Wolverines (2022)
Final record: 13-1; Big Ten champion
Michigan’s next-best non-national champion since 2010: 12-2 (2021)
Why they were elite: Anchored by one of the top defenses in the Power Five ranks, Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines were on the cusp of reaching the title game after winning a second-straight Big Ten championship with an unbeaten regular season, including a 45-23 waxing of previously-unbeaten Ohio State on the road. However, Michigan succumbed in the playoff after a plethora of turnovers — including a pair of defensive touchdowns the other way — in the Fiesta Bowl, 51-45. TCU, the team that beat Michigan in the playoff semifinal, was not included in this ranking after the Horned Frogs lost the following week to Georgia, 65-7, in the most lopsided national championship game of all-time.