Playoff Path Just Got a Lot Clearer

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on

With Stanford and Utah losing today, the Pac-12 would appear to be out of the CFP picture. That leaves the other four P5 conferences and Notre Dame. So just three things have to happen now for us to make the four-team field:

- OSU beats MSU next week.

- Stanford beats Notre Dame.

- We win out, and beat Iowa in the B1G title game.

- It's also possible that the Big 12 will cannibalize itself in the next two weeks and lose out on a spot.

Right now, the ACC (Clemson) and SEC (Alabama) appear to be in. The B1G champ has a great case for the third spot, so Michigan just needs to be the B1G champ.

Harbaugh took a bunch of guys who went 5-7 last year, and a quarterback that Iowa didn't want, and he's got us in the CFP conversation in late November. He's good.

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SMart WolveFan

November 15th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^

But to be fair I didn't call you a jerk, if anything, I was the jerk because I took such pleasure at watching you give a 6x FISTPUMP & be CARRIED OFF THE FIELD by your lineman because you completed the 2 pt conversion to go up by 3 with over a minute left.

 

But I see you already threw your team under the bus for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJrBP2c_i_I

 

0:36

Reporter:

"Did ya- did you think you guys kinda had the win.......after you ran in that touchdown?"

Josh:

"NO, but I kinda got the feeling everyone else did....."

 

When? Was that after the fist pumps or before scanning the crowd for more cell numbers?Maybe you forgot to explain to the team that 6 fist pumps is just for a tenous lead, SEVEN fist pumps is when you have vanquished an inferior opponent from your home field.

 

1:03

Reporter:

"By 'everyone else' did you mean the team or ...just people in the stadium?"

Josh:

"Uh, I- mean, I'm not gonna say anything specific......"

Yeah you said enough.

Kid can be a great QB but he needs to shove his ego up his ass and learn to be a leader. This was a teaching moment for him, a leader wouldn't be celebrating, he would be apologizing to his defense for leaving a minute.

 

I bet all those who think it's OK for him to celebrate like that before a game is won have a lot of "participation trophies" on your shelves.

Joined: 04/20/2015

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bacon

November 15th, 2015 at 5:54 AM ^

We'll see. If we win out we likely beat two top 5 teams to end the season. I think that's a big challenge. Still, I'd love to see Rudock get a chance to show Iowa they made the wrong decision in the big ten championship. Also, the Bama signature win over LSU looks a lot less impressive after Burt beat LSU on the road by a similar score. Similarly, NDs 4 point win over temple looks less impressive.

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I dumped the Dope

November 15th, 2015 at 6:55 AM ^

That whatever happens, a team wants to lose early in the season, and not late.  There is no time to atone for the punishment in rankings.

The injury situation worries me of course.  But, the offense has come on pretty well in the last two contests, which is sort of the secret formula...need contributions from everyone at key moments, have to scratch out close wins..."find a way to stay alive"...

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Nolongerusingaccount

November 15th, 2015 at 7:00 AM ^

It's college football.  There's still a long ways to go especially given the performance of the D this week (sans Glasgow).  I'll start speculating once more dominos fall, and Michigan actually beats PSU.

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jblaze

November 15th, 2015 at 7:13 AM ^

And ND win out. They are in. Then you have the SEC champ and then I'd say B2G champ (who will likely be an undefeated OSU or Iowa or a 1 loss MSU or a 2 loss M). The committee will love any of those since the theoretical 2 loss M team would have beaten 2 top 5 teams (OSU and Iowa).

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MGoPoints: 19301

UMForLife

November 15th, 2015 at 8:48 AM ^

Agree. a B1G champion or even a B12 champion would have a better resume than ND at the end of the year. I want this Independent S*** come back to bite them year after year so they can permanently join ACC and take Purdue with them for their second best rivalry game.

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ghost

November 15th, 2015 at 8:08 AM ^

ND is not in if they win out.  They would need OK St to lose and possibly Ok as well  ND has very few wins over even decent power 5 teams.  And that Stanford loss hurt them a lot.  Temple now has two losses and will likely end up with at least 1 and quite possibly two more losses.  

Joined: 09/02/2011

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allintime23

November 15th, 2015 at 7:34 AM ^

What do we do about the defensive line? Adjustments will be made and this team will find a way to win, like they always do. It's just amazing to me how these coaches have adapted and suddenly this clock running defensive ball control team is now tossing the ball around and destroying people through the air. What a great year so far.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 15225

michfan23

November 15th, 2015 at 7:45 AM ^

College Football never ceases to amaze me. Teams that have no business losing to terrible teams lose. I'm not sure Michigan is really ready to be in the top 4 discussion because of some of their games this season and their inability to be dominant on defense of late, but I'm very impressed that they are even in the discussion at this part of the season. It's been said a thousand times on this board, but this team was 5-7 last year! Harbaugh deserves every dime they pay him and probably more. Last year we saw incompetent coaching that made me want to throw bricks at my TV and this year I sit back and only have the refs to yell at because I know the coaching will be there. If Hoke was still here this wouldn't be a good year. Michigan might very well be 5-5 or 4-6.
Bottom line: I'm not sure Michigan is really a top 4 team, but I love the fact we can have this discussion so late into the season in year one of Harbaugh.
Go Blue.



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AlwaysBlue

November 15th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^

a fairly talented roster with guys who had been forced to play early under Hoke (due to roster depth). That early experience was invaluable. Almost every coach on the team has talked about the importance of reps and experience when talking about their unit. Obviously Harbaugh is a better coach but let's not pretend he's turned shit to gold.

Joined: 11/23/2008

MGoPoints: 7854

Mauresi

November 15th, 2015 at 8:00 AM ^

Excuse me for being lazy, and bot looking this up, but who has Iowa beaten? Anyone good? 10-0 speaks for itself, but it has avoided playing MSU, Mich and Ohio. Hmmm.....



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LSAClassOf2000

November 15th, 2015 at 8:49 AM ^

What's interesting to be but not at all surprising is that we still maintain a slightly higher Sagarin rating than Iowa (#12 versus #16), but we are well below them (#9 versus #22) on Massey. Predictive algorithms are funny like that.

Iowa's porjected SOS was a big point of discussion in Big Ten circles back in August, and missing all the tougher matchups in the Big Ten East really have helped them out in ways I don't think we considered then. In some respects, that 10-0 record might be the lion's share of their current argument, because as others have mentioned, it hasn't exactly been a difficult 10-0.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130610

chewieblue

November 15th, 2015 at 8:04 AM ^

the day after the Michigan State game I would have sworn to you that not only would we win out, but that we might be able to play with anyone in the country.
Now, a bye week, several injuries and three WINS later and I feel very different. Even if we miraculously pull off two more wins (unlikely), I have to believe we would get mauled by anyone in the playoff.
You never know. Let's just show up and play hard.

Joined: 04/29/2010

MGoPoints: 5573

Perkis-Size Me

November 15th, 2015 at 8:22 AM ^

But they keep winning and that's what matters. Games like yesterday are not games that this team would've won last year or the year before.

Year one was going to have some tough transitions, and it makes a little sense that we struggle yesterday when the lynchpin of our DL, and maybe our whole defense, is now done for the year.

It sucks, but good teams find ways to keep winning. That's what happened.



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michfan23

November 15th, 2015 at 9:30 AM ^

Hokeish? Granted, they didn't play dominant football, but don't go comparing Harbaugh to Hoke.
Hoke would have blathered about execution and then fallen asleep on a recruits couch.
Realize that Harbaugh is working with Hoke's team that went 5-7 last year. Come on, they won a game against Indiana. The Hoosiers took Ohio State to the last play of the game.
I'm not promising wins or championships, but be realistic. Hoke can't even dream of being the coach Harbaugh is.



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CTSgoblue

November 15th, 2015 at 8:21 AM ^

This board is very manic. During the game, I read post after post about how awful we are. Some dude actually says he can't wait until out entire OL graduates. Lots says we suck and we should be embarrassed. Then we scrape out a win and then it's like "well, so when we win on the road, then against two top-5 teams..."

Joined: 08/20/2014

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Avant's Hands

November 15th, 2015 at 8:24 AM ^

Why is it again that a two loss Stanford is eliminated from playoff contention but we aren't? Stanford still has to play ND and Utah. Both will be highly ranked. And let's be real here, they are a better team than us. If our line can't hold up to Indiana running the ball what would Stanford do?

Joined: 10/22/2011

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ItsGreatToBe

November 15th, 2015 at 8:29 AM ^

After seven years (excepting 2011) of wondering whether we'd even be bowl-eligible entering into November, I'll take any serious or preposterous conversations about the CFP. Does anyone doubt that regardless of this season's outcome, we'll be consistently in said conversations going forward?

All I know is, this weird feeling's come over me during the MSU, Minny, and Indiana games. A strange, phantom feeling that's been missing for a long time. A feeling of confidence in our coaches. A feeling that they will do what it takes to put the team in a position to win. Not a feeling that for the next week I'll hear about how we practiced hard and tried to win the game, but came up short.

Combined with my overwhelming belief that this is a terminal gig for Harbaugh, I'm going to enjoy this catharsis to getting excited about our team, coaches, and prospects.

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