Will the Michigan Wolverines Make College Football Playoffs?

The Michigan Wolverines have succeeded at vanquishing their bitter rivals, the Ohio State Buckeyes, for a third straight season. Note the “the” is lowercase in that first sentence. Folks in Columbus may want you to call the team “THE Ohio State,” but names, as the old saying goes, can never hurt you.

• The Wolverines, troubled by not one, but two “scandals” this season, both of which kept head coach Jim Harbaugh from the sidelines, have survived the scrutiny to post a 12-0 record.
• For the first time in school history, Michigan is 12-0 in back-to-back seasons.
• The team is clearly the class of the Big 10, only one win from securing a third straight conference title.

But Michigan can do something no other Big 10 school has: appear in the College Football Playoff for a third consecutive season. All that remains is a win over Iowa in the conference championship, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 2 in Indianapolis. Michigan is listed as at least a three-touchdown favorite for that game against the Hawkeyes according to popular sportsbooks. It’s safe to say that a Michigan loss in that conference title game would be the biggest upset in some time.

Harbaugh may not gloat, but he has a right to. This year the Big 10 has set its sights on the U of M coach and the program in general. It certainly can’t be upsetting to the folks in Columbus or College Station, PA, that the Big 10 is picking on Ann Arbor. But, Harbaugh and his team, wrapped in “MICHIGAN VS EVERYBODY” garb, seem intent on proving themselves.

Wolverines Dominating B10 Since 2021

Sign stealing isn’t why Michigan has dominated the Big 10 since 2021.

• The Wolverines have won 24 straight conference games dating back to late October of 2021.
• Since 2018, the team has won 43 of 48 in the conference, with three of those losses coming against OSU.
• Outside of “The Game,” Harbaugh is 43-2 against Big 10 opponents over the last five years.

That spells DOMINANCE.

A win against an SEC team in the CFP will go a long way toward cementing Michigan as a national superpower in the sport. It may be that the SEC is too fast and big for Big 10 challengers, but Harbaugh and his coaching staff have groomed a roster of monstrous competitors and trained them to play mistake-free football. If any program can break the stranglehold the SEC has on the national championship, it’s the Wolverines.