Michigan will make it to the postseason. Who Knows Who Will Join the Wolverines?
Thankfully, the boring Big Ten championship game came to an end on Saturday night, and the real show got underway in Lucas Oil Stadium. How were the antagonists of a bitter drama in November, Michigan coach jim Harbaugh and commissioner Tony Petitti, going to share the same stage? The stage equipment was wheeled out and set up on the pitch after the Wolverines defeated Iowa 26–0 in a workmanlike fashion. Prior to the Michigan party, Petitti spoke with Fox analyst Joel Klatt on the dais before holding out for the Wolverines. After taking the stage, Harbaugh waved up a few of the star players on his unbeaten squad and seemed to give Petitti a quick handshake. If any player acknowledged that their coach had been suspended by the commissioner
After that, Petitti, a few other Big Ten employees, and a security detail hastily left the stadium, drawing a barrage of jeers as they went through the tunnel and under the stands. Before the Wolverines had even left the stage, they were swept into a waiting Jeep Grand Wagoneer and disappeared.
All in all, it was a rather straightforward conclusion to a highly charged story. The College Football Playoff selection committee’s task of selecting the final four teams in the field is now the only complicated aspect of this season left. Michigan is included. Washington is present. Subsequently, the selection committee will have to make difficult decisions on Sunday. These decisions could have been avoided had the Big Ten, Pac-12, and Atlantic Coast conferences not delayed a 12-team playoff to this season by over a year.One of the following three groups must be eliminated: Florida State, the ACC’s unbeaten champion, hobbled home due to several quarterback injuries. Jordan Travis’s season as a star has ended. Tate Rodemaker, the backup, came in against North Alabama and nearly
(An additional query the committee probably has in mind is: did No. 3 Washington do enough to overtake No. 2 Michigan and earn the number one seed? The Wolverines were eliminating a team that really shouldn’t have been here and won’t be when the Big Ten does away with divisions, while the Huskies were impressive in defeating 9.5-point favourites Oregon on Friday night.) I don’t think the committee will exclude Florida State, despite the fact that they are a much weaker team; however, they may receive a No. 4 seed rather than a No. 3. I don’t think the committee will pick Alabama ahead of a team that defeated it either. The games’ outcomes must count, and they favour Texas over the Crimson Tide.
Really, it’s surprising that this type of logjam hasn’t happened more often. Other than the first playoff in 2014, most of the committee’s decisions have been fairly simple and straightforward. Whatever controversy existed from ‘15–22 was small and short-lived. Prior to Saturday night, the only Championship Week development that made the committee’s job any easier this year was Washington beating Oregon. If the Ducks and Huskies had both finished 12–1, that would have added another team to the equation. At kickoff of the Big Ten and ACC games after 8 p.m. ET, Washington was the only team that could feel sure it was in the field. The Seminoles staggered through their title game. The Wolverines didn’t exactly roll, but they also were never threatened by an Iowa team that was dragged down by the nation’s worst offense. Given the predictable mismatch, a lot of Iowa fans didn’t bother coming to Indy. Instead, a huge Michigan crowd overran the city and took the vast majority of seats in the stadium. They got what they came for, and now will aim for something bigger. Michigan rolls into the playoff for the third straight year and is 13–0 for the second straight season. Only two other schools have made three or more straight playoff fields: Alabama (five straight from 2014–18) and Clemson (six straight from ‘15–20). But Michigan also is 0–2 in the playoff, having been punked by Georgia in 2021 and stunned by TCU in ’22. Those were humbling losses after breaking through the Ohio State firewall. The expectations will be for more this time around. This team is probably better than both of those versions of the Wolverines, and the rest of the field is less daunting. There is no one of Georgia’s 2021–22 caliber this time around. Outside of the luckless Seminoles (if they do make the field), everyone else should feel like they have a legitimate chance of winning the national title. By noon Sunday, we’ll know the lineup for the final act of this season. Don’t blame the selection committee members if they look a little haggard at that time. Their job has never been tougher than it is this year.
