Michigan football bowl projections: PSU win cements playoff status
The Michigan Wolverines will hear their latest College Football Playoff ranking on Tuesday night, which will be interesting given there is now a strong resume win on the docket. The 24-15 win at Penn State should serve as a way to create a more intense conversation around U-M’s ranking, which has been third in the first two sets of rankings released.
Here’s an updated look at the projections for the postseason destination from across the national media.
ESPN.com – Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach
In the latest bowl/CFP projections from Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach of ESPN, Michigan heads to the CFP’s Rose Bowl semifinal. Bonagura has Michigan playing Washington, while Schlabach predicts a matchup with Oregon.
“Michigan picked up its most impressive victory, 24-15 at Penn State, despite not having coach Jim Harbaugh, who was suspended for three games by Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti as punishment for the program’s sign-stealing scheme,” Schlabach wrote. “The Wolverines bullied the Nittany Lions, running the ball 32 straight times. Michigan plays at Maryland next week before closing the regular season against Ohio State at the Big House. A judge in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will decide Friday whether Harbaugh will get an injunction to coach in those two games.”
CBS Sports – Jerry Palm
The CBS Sports projections have Michigan and Florida State playing in the Rose Bowl as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively. Georgia and Texas would play in the Sugar Bowl with the winners of both games heading to Houston.
As far as the other Big Ten Powers go, Ohio State would play Louisville in the Orange Bowl and Penn State would take on Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
Athlon Sports – Steven Lassan
Starting to notice a pattern here? Athlon is another outlet that has a Michigan vs. Florida State matchup in the Rose Bowl with Georgia and Texas on the other side of the bracket. Athlon also projects at Michigan vs. Georgia national title game in Houston.
Action Network – Brett McMurphy
McMurphy has Michigan playing Florida State in the Rose Bowl and has a line set at six points in favor of the Wolverines. U-M would then advance to the national title game in Houston against Georgia (a 2-point favorite over Oregon in the Sugar Bowl), which Action Network currently has set as a 1-point game in favor of Georgia.
The Athletic – Stewart Mandel and Scott Dochterman
Throw another Michigan/Florida State Rose Bowl prediction on the board here with Georgia and Oregon playing in the other semifinal.
“In our latest bowl projections, three 13-0 teams — Georgia, Michigan and Florida State — join 12-1 Pac-12 champ Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinals, sending 12-1 Big 12 champ Texas to the Cotton Bowl and 11-1 Ohio State to the Orange Bowl,” they wrote.”
