How many ranked teams will Michigan end up playing the rest of the regular season?

After 5 weeks of the 2016 season, Michigan is tied for first nationally in terms of number of wins over currently ranked teams (#11 Wisconsin, #21 Colorado). 

This got me thinking: how many more ranked matchups will we get to see in the 7 remaining games this regular season?

(Disclaimer: Yes, I know that who is ranked at the end of the season matters more than who was ranked while you played them, aka why everyone considers our Colorado win vastly superior to MSU's over then-ranked Notre Dame, but Top 25 matchups always do bring extra excitement and attention). 

I see things as follows:

110% Will Not Be Ranked (2): 

• Rutgers: Duh
• Illinois: Duh. Illinois is 1-3. They do play Purdue and Rutgers the next two weeks before coming to The Big House, but a 3-3 Illini team with 2 blowout losses will never, ever be ranked.

Extremely Unlikely to be Ranked (2): 

• Indiana: While the Hoosiers are 3-1, riding high off one of Kevin Wilson's biggest wins during his tenure and receiving a few votes in the "Others" category, it's very hard to see them coming into Ann Arbor on November 19th as a ranked team. There are two main reasons for this: first, we play them so late in the season that they will already have played every single losable game on their schedule (only game after us is a home matchup against the mighty Purdue Boilermakers). The second reason is their schedule itself. Choking against Wake Forest and having a very weak strength of schedule in the non-conference is going to all but elminate them from rankings unless they beat ALL of the middling teams on their schedule (@Northwestern, Maryland, @Rutgers, Penn State) AND knock off another ranked opponent (@Ohio State or Nebraska). Hoosiers look poised to play in a bowl game again, but going 8-2 in their first 10 games (likely what they would need to come to The Big House ranked) seems highly, highly unlikely. 

• Iowa: Due to the curse of Kirk Ferentz's contract extension, the once Top 15 Hawkeyes are not even receiving a single vote in the poll after posting a 3-2 record the first five games. This includes losses to two unranked opponents and a troubling single digit win over putrid Rutgers in a game that was tied until late in the 4th. A 7-2 Iowa team would probably be able to just make it into the bottom of the rankings in time for our November 12th showdown in Iowa City. However, that would require Iowa to win its next four games in a row. At this point, I only think it's significantly likely that Iowa wins one of those (@Purdue). Next week they hit the road to take on the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis (toss up game). But then they have to host the Badgers (likely loss) and play a night game in Happy Valley (PSU is obviously not very good, but night games in Beaver Stadium are always difficult ventures, especially for highly flawed teams like the Hawkeyes). 

Could go either way (2):

• Michigan State: The Spartans are 2-2 with wins over two equally horrible teams with FCS level defenses (Furman and Notre Dame), a blowout home loss to a Top 15 team and an overtime loss to an unranked, likely middling-at-best team. MSU has three more games before they face us, all against currently unranked teams with 2 out of 3 in East Lansing: BYU, Northwestern and @Maryland. Obviously, the Spartans would need to go 3-0 in these games to resurface in the rankings by October 29th, and even that may not be enough. However, I do think MSU has a decent chance of going 3-0. Northwestern is bad this year and has one of the few offenses that has looked even worse than MSU's. BYU could pose a challenge, but they have a lot of their own problems and MSU will have home field advantage. Maryland is harder to predict and the most likely loss on this slate in my opinion. In October, lower end Top 25 teams will start losing more frequently as conference play kicks in causing more churn in the rankings. MSU needs Wisconsin to beat Iowa and look at least semi competitive against OSU. Also, if they beat a ranked Maryland team (you heard that right, more below), that would likely give them a #21-#25 type ranking before the Battle for Paul Bunyan. 

• Maryland: The Terps honestly may be the most likely to be Michigan's next ranked opponent. Heck, November 5th in The Big House could even be an undefeated Top 20 matchup (I promise I'm not crazy, hear me out). Maryland is 4-0. They have played absolutely nobody. However, 3 of their 4 wins were utter blowouts and the fourth was a road win over a UCF team that will likely be a bowl team this year (they are halfway there, with 3 wins). However, the biggest reason is the timing and substance of Maryland's schedule. The terps have an extremely backloaded schedule; their three hardest games are in November (@Michigan, vs. Ohio State, @Nebraska, and we are the first of those three teams they play). Their four games before they play us are: @Penn State, Minnesota, Michigan State and @Indiana. Not exactly murder's row, especially getting the Spartans at home for a night game in a week they easily could be looking ahead to Michigan. Maryland won their most recent trip to Happy Valley and PSU looks very bad this year (Maryland loves to run the ball and PSU has no starting linebackers left). Indiana is a team that Maryland can beat, and both Minnesota and MSU look vulnerable. Frankly, I don't think that Maryland will come into Ann Arbor at 8-0 or 7-1. I'd imagine they will be 6-2 and unranked. However, they realistically could be 6-0 and ranked when MSU plays them on October 22nd (which could propel the Spartans into the rankings if they beat BYU and Northwestern beforehand). 

110% Will Be Ranked (1):

• Ohio State: Duh

What do you guys think? Will we have to wait until Columbus to face another ranked team? That would be unfortunate, but honestly may be likely at this point.