Michigan legend weighs in on Wolverines chances at national title run

There is just 60 minutes of football separating Michigan from a potential College Football Playoff berth.

On Saturday, the Wolverines will head south to Indianapolis to take on Iowa with hopes of winning their first Big Ten Championship Game. If they beat the Hawkeyes, former Michigan star Charles Woodson believes they are capable of winning it all.

“When you look at the [playoff] field, if they handle business against Iowa, if you get to that tournament, the 4 teams, I don’t think there will be any team in there they don’t match up with and can’t beat,” Woodson said, per Angelique Chengelis of The Detroit News.

Michigan currently sits at No. 2 in the College Football Playoff Rankings in a year where aside from Georgia, all teams have shown fatal flaws. 

If the Wolverines make the playoff, they would be the third Big Ten team to do so. Michigan State participated in the 2015 CFP, while Ohio State has made the pinnacle of the postseason four times.

If Georgia beats Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs would presumably remain No. 1 in the rankings. They would get to choose which game they want to attend — the Orange Bowl or the Cotton Bowl. They would likely choose to go to Miami, in which case Michigan would head to Dallas should it beat Iowa. The national championship game will be held in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Woodson stands alone in his Heisman category

Woodson played defensive back for Michigan from 1995-1997, and he is the only defensive player to ever win the Heisman Trophy, although he did play some offense for the Wolverines.

From the moment he arrived in Ann Arbor, Woodson made an impact for Michigan. In his rookie season, he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year after leading the team with five interceptions. His success continued his sophomore season, as he was named an AP First Team All-American.

In his final season, Woodson won the award given to the nation’s best player, becoming the third Michigan player to win the Heisman along with Tom Harmon and Desmond Howard. The second place player in the 1997 season was Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning. Michigan won the Rose Bowl that year, defeating Washington State and earning a share of the 1997 national championship.

Woodson had an 18-year NFL career, and he started double-digit games in 15 of those years. He was the fourth overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft and headed to the then-Oakland Raiders. He played for the Green Bay Packers from 2006 to 2012 before returning to Oakland for three years to finish out his career.