The Michigan Wolverines survived a scare on Tuesday night against the Penn State Nittany Lions in Happy Valley. As 22-point favorites on the road against one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten without their best player, that was a bit of a surprise.

But the regular season is approaching its midway point, and the Wolverines remain undefeated in the second year of the Dusty May era. They are off to a historic start despite the close one they played Tuesday.

After beating USC last week, Michigan became the first team in AP Poll history to win three straight games against ranked opponents by more than 30 points, according to ESPN research. Using KenPom’s data, Michigan also became the No. 2 team in the history of the metric, trailing only Duke’s 1999 squad. Overall, Michigan’s margin of victory the last 10 games (prior to the win against Penn State) was 34.5 points.

We’re talking about a potentially astronomical pace and potentially one of the best teams ever. Not just in the modern era or in Michigan program history — ever.

With 14 games in the books, we decided to compare this start for the Wolverines with some of the other best starts of all time to see where the 2025-26 Michigan squad ranks. To do so, we took a dive into some of the best starts halfway through the season (15 games) in the history of the sport, and then dove closer into the modern era. The results are telling, as this squad’s start is among the best of all time.

Through 15 games, the Bruins’ margin of victory was an astounding 35.8 points per game, winning 14 times by 20 or more. That included a 79-53 win over the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes. The knock here is 13 of those 15 games were at home, Ohio State was the only ranked opponent they played in the regular season, and there was such little parity in this era. In the end, Wooden and the Bruins won their sixth straight national championship, going 30-0 in the midst of their 88-game winning streak.

1990-91 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels

Some might argue this was the greatest start of all-time, and it would be hard to argue. A more modern-era for college basketball and UNLV rolled everyone in its path to start the season. The Runnin’ Rebels’ margin of victory through the season’s midway point was 30.8 points per game, including a 20-point win over No. 21 Michigan State, a 68-35 win over No. 25 Princeton and a 12-point win at Louisville. But it was also the Big West Conference where competition, even early on, was lackluster. The team finished 34-1 with a heartbreaking loss to Duke by two points in the National Championship.

The great Lew Alcinder and the Bruins had an excellent campaign when he was a sophomore. They played a rare home-and-home series with the Duke Blue Devils in 1965 and 1966. But they played twice, on back-to-back nights both times, basically to start the season. UCLA dominated the No. 7 Blue Devils, 98-54, on Friday, Dec. 9, and then crushed them by 40 point one night later, 107-67, at Pauley Pavillion. Follow that up with two wins over USC and a nearly 60-point drubbing of Wisconsin, and you have a team that won games by an average of 28.5 points through 15 games. UCLA won Wooden’s third national title this season with a perfect 30-0 record.

2025-26 Michigan Wolverines

Through one less game, the Wolverines are right up there among the greatest. Sadly, their two-point win over Penn State dropped their margin of victory from 30.2 points per game to 26.4, dropping them on this portion of the list to fourth from a spot higher prior to Tuesday night’s game. Considering this is the modern era and they have played a ton of good competition — including three top-25 teams — and now into conference play, there’s an argument to be made about Michigan being in the top-three if they can tackle a good Wisconsin team Saturday following back-to-back sluggish performances.

Honorable Mention – 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils

MOV (Margin of Victory): 22.7Top 25 wins: 491-81 over No. 7 St. John’s88-85 over No. 18 Michigan97-84 over No. 14 Georgia Tech104-82 over No. 18 UNC CharlotteFinish: National Championship win over Michigan (34-2)

You might look at this and say…hang on. This guy is making the case for this Michigan team to be included with some of the greatest teams of all-time mentioned above? What about Kentucky’s near perfect bid in 2014-15, the Gonzaga team from 2021 that was 15-0 and some of the other great teams we have seen the last two decades. Well…the Wolverines have a case.

If you’re balancing record, margin of victory, who teams beat, and KenPom’s metrics, the Wolverines are a cut above the rest. Looking towards the end of the season, there are nine teams since 2002 that have finished with a NET Rating of over 35 points:

2008 Kansas Jayhawks -35.212015 Kentucky Wildcats – 38.912021 Gonzaga Bulldogs – 36.482024 Connecticut Huskies – 36.432025 Duke Blue Devils – 39.292025 Houston Cougars – 36.592025 Florida Gators – 36.462025 Auburn Tigers – 35.052026 Michigan Wolverines – 37.64 KenPom Rating (through 14 games)

Shockingly, four of them came last season with the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament — Duke, Houston, Florida and Auburn. Heading into Tuesday night, the Wolverines were actually tied with last year’s Duke team at a 39.29 rating. Although they didn’t win the title, that Duke team was historically stacked and went 13-2 through its first 15.

In fact, only four of the teams listed above went 15-0 to start the season. Here’s how the numbers lay out:

2007-2008 Kansas Jayhawks

MOV: 26.8Top 25 wins: 1Final KenPom: 35.21Finish: National Championship win over Memphis (37-3)

2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats

MOV: 25.4Top 25 wins: 472-40 over No. 5 Kansas63-51 over No. 6 Texas84-70 over No. 21 North Carolina58-50 over No. 4 LouisvilleFinal KenPom: 38.91Finish: Final Four loss to No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (38-1)MOV: 25.1Top 25 wins: 4102-90 over No. 6 Kansas87-82 over No. 11 West Virginia99-88 over No. 3 Iowa98-75 over No. 16 VirginiaFinal KenPom: 36.48Finish: National Championship loss to Baylor (31-1)

2025-26 Michigan Wolverines

MOV: 26.4Top 25 wins: 3102-72 over No. 21 Auburn101-61 over No. 12 Gonzaga96-66 over No. 24 USCCurrent KenPom: 37.64Finish: ????? (14-0)

Among these four teams from the last 25 years, Michigan has the second-widest margin of victory, the third-highest KenPom rating (not the full season, but still), and the most dominant wins over ranked opponents. At a minimum, it’s in the conversation for the best start in the modern era. And if the Wolverines dominate Wisconsin on Saturday, these numbers could look even more gaudy.

No matter how this 15-game stretch to start the regular season ends, the pace the Wolverines are on proves, by the numbers, to be among the best of all time. What really matters and how they will be remembered is how they finish the season. Remember, three teams that had a KenPom rating of 35 or higher didn’t win the national championship last season — historic seasons with nothing to show for it.

The results speak for themselves, as this start Michigan is on bodes well comparatively to its counterparts mentioned here. A Final Four run or better should be the expectation for this team. For true history to be made, this astounding run must continue deep into the tournaments (Big Ten and NCAA) this March. This team has everything in front of it and a fantastic story it can tell if the stars align.