The mantra entering the week of The Game has been beat Ohio State, and Michigan football is in. However, even if the currently-ranked No. 15 Wolverines were to beat the No. 1 team in America, according to the College Football Playoff rankings committee chair, it’s no sure thing that the maize and blue would make the field of 12.
On Tuesday evening, committee chair Hunter Yurachek was asked if Michigan wins would it be in, and he was awfully noncommittal about the prospect, even though it would be the best win of any team in the country.
“We’ll rank the teams one through 25,” Yurachek said. “Your path to the playoffs is being one of the five highest-ranked conference champions or one of the seven highest-ranked at-large teams. Where Michigan falls with a win at Ohio State, I can’t predict that.”
Michigan does have two losses on the season, both against ranked teams, in No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 17 USC — with both having taken place on the road. There are currently six teams ranked ahead of the Wolverines that also have two losses, including the Sooners, who do have the head-to-head win, as well as another big, ranked win over No. 10 Alabama. No. 9 Notre Dame has two losses, also to one ranked team (No. 3 Texas A&M, the other is to unranked Miami), but has also beaten USC and No. 22 Pitt. Alabama, at least, has ranked wins over No. 4 Georgia, No. 14 Vanderbilt, and No. 19 Tennessee with losses to Oklahoma and unranked Florida State. Utah’s losses come to No. 5 Texas Tech and No. 11 BYU, with a win over No. 20 Arizona State. Vanderbilt, like Michigan, has not beaten any currently ranked teams.
Still, it stands to reason that the Wolverines would have to be among the top two-loss teams should they beat the Buckeyes on Saturday, but they will have to do that in order to get any type of respect from the committee.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Win over Ohio State may not lock Michigan into CFP per committee chair
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
