Michigan, Baylor and Utah State went a combined 5-16 in the abbreviated 2020 college football season. Predictably, this knocked all three programs off of the radar screen entering the 2021 season.
Embattled head coach Jim Harbaugh and Michigan picked up a smattering of preseason AP Top 25 votes but were picked fourth in the Big Ten East.
Baylor was voted eighth in the Big 12, closer to last-place Kansas than the top half of the conference. Utah State, under new head coach Blake Anderson, was voted fifth in the Mountain West's Mountain Division, far closer to last-place New Mexico than the rest of the pack.
All three won their respective conferences in 2021, going a combined 35-7 overall. Michigan and Baylor both finished in the AP top 5 — UM's first in 22 years, BU's first ever — while Utah State finished ranked for just the fourth time in school history.