Playoff Chance?

Submitted by Catchafire on November 29th, 2018 at 7:43 AM

If OSU, Oklahoma, and Georgia lose is there a chance for Michigan to sneak in at number 4?

jp24elk

November 29th, 2018 at 7:48 AM ^

Doubtful. Of those, Georgia and OSU would have to get blown out, and both getting run off the field is unlikely. And you'd probably want UCF to lose as well, or you'd see them jump us in my opinion.

steve sharik

November 29th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^

Georgia would definitely have to get blown out but I don't think OSU would have to.  If they play the way they did vs. Purdue, Maryland, and basically everyone on their schedule not named Michigan--and lose--I think the committee would reasonably conclude that this is the true Buckeye team and the Michigan game was an aberration, thus Michigan is better equipped to play other playoff teams.  I think the only way OSU gets in is if they blow out Northwestern, as well as have their previous flaws tested and demonstrate they no longer exist.

g_reaper3

November 29th, 2018 at 7:50 AM ^

ESPN’s playoff predictor gives us a 2% chance. Georgia and OSU need to get blown out. OU and maybe UCF have to lose. Possible but highly unlikely. 

Honestly, not sure going to the playoff and matching up against Alabama is the best option for us.  

WestQuad

November 29th, 2018 at 9:43 AM ^

I'm sure there is a dream scenario where we squeak in, fix all of our problems and then knock off Alabama and then Clemson/ND, redeeming Michigan football forever,  but the season shows that we're a top 10 team and not a top 4 team.

I'm beginning to hate the national championship stuff.  It's super hard to go undefeated in college football.   A lot of years a team with a good SOS would go undefeated and deservingly win it.   Then we had all of these years where you'd have 2 undefeated teams and they wouldn't play each other, or 5 one loss teams and they came up with this national championship stuff.  So now you have undeserving 2 and 3 loss teams wanting to play for the championship.    It's garbage.  

Alabama and Clemson should play in a bowl game for the national championship and ND should have sour grapes for joining the weak ACC. 

lhglrkwg

November 29th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^

2007 was super weird #2 Kansas beat #3 Missouri, but then lost to #9 OU. Then #1 LSU lost to unranked Arkansas and #2 West Virginia lost to Pitt and then LSU got back into the title game anyway once WVU and Mizzou lost and they won the national title.

Clarence Beeks

November 29th, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^

I don't get the down votes.  We can probably (mostly) all agree that what has happened since was (and is) weird, but at this point it's not really disputable that the data was there to show it was going to happen (thus what happened on November 8, 2016 is not that weird).  More just curious why this comment is being down voted, that's all...

LickReach

November 29th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^

Proud owner of an uncooked meat, zip up hoodie here saying no, I would not want that.  Frankly, sliding into the 4th spot would annoy me to no end.  "Highlights" of the OSU game would be cycling even more.  I am fine with a 2004 style back door Rose Bowl or a non Florida bowl opponent somewhere near Tampa or Glendale, AZ.  It seems like the brain trust on here is ok with that as well. 

JPC

November 29th, 2018 at 7:57 AM ^

Why, so Alabama can score 90 on us? Better to win a bowl game and figure out what happened - that is if Harbaugh doesn’t actually think it was just a bad day. 

608Monroe

November 29th, 2018 at 7:59 AM ^

Nope.  Even if lightning struck, this team isn’t ready to compete there.  Don’t want it. Don’t need it. 

Show me our NY6 opponent, let’s focus on getting healthy, and finishing with 11-wins.  We’ve improved every year under Harbaugh. Next year will better still. 

LSAClassOf2000

November 29th, 2018 at 8:02 AM ^

We would need a lot more help than this, I fear, and it would need to come in the form of some unexpectedly lopsided losses too. 

It's clearly not a non-zero chance, but it probably isn't a chance worth a lot of discussion as it is that small.

Magnus

November 29th, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^

I have mixed feelings on this post.

On the one hand, I would love for Michigan to make the playoff.

On the other hand, I would love to see at least OSU and Oklahoma lose.

And on the other hand, I wouldn't mind seeing UCF get into the playoff.

Sideline

November 29th, 2018 at 8:45 AM ^

I want Northwestern to win extremely bad. Validates our close loss to them... I just don’t see Fitzgerald having the horses to compete. No one saw Purdue either, so maybe? 

As for Oklahoma, I’m torn. I want them to win to keep Ohio State out, but I also think I want Michigan to get to the Rose Bowl. 

TK

November 29th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^

Validates our close win to them? How would it make us look to have blown out by an OSU team that literally blew no one out in the conference except us and Rutgers? I think that makes us look worse. I actually hope OSU blows out NW so that it’s not just us being incompetent in that game. 

Sideline

November 29th, 2018 at 8:32 AM ^

No.

 

 

and do we even want that? I mean, I guess on one hand it’s exposure, top-4 team, on the other, it assures we play Alabama who, I personally, would not want this team to play and have a Saban drop 50-60+ on us with over a month to plan.