WeimyWoodson

November 23rd, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^

Remember everyone was saying since Harbaugh took the job Michigan would be lucky to get to six wins.   I didn't think teams who won six games could go to the Rose Bowl ;)

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ijohnb

November 23rd, 2015 at 11:33 AM ^

Houston still get the non-power 5 bid right now?  If so, I think they should have Baylor v. Houston in the Sugar Bowl.  From a national perspective, they are the two "meh" teams of the possible bunch and they could just have it be the "Battle For Texas" in a neighboring state.  It could kind of create a narrative for the game and at least sell the stadium out or close to it.

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Hotel Putingrad

November 23rd, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^

but I thought they would only have to take a non power five if they were undefeated. I figure we beat OSU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma make the playoff, MSU goes to Rose and then Baylor and us would be the two next highest ranked teams. Iowa would go Citrus, and OSU would go Outback, which would be really awesome.

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ijohnb

November 23rd, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^

I think the highest ranked non-power five conference team gets a spot.  That is the risk for everybody getting into the NY6.  If I had to choose between playing Georgia or Ole Miss in the Citrus Bowl on New Years Day at 1:00 PM or playing against Houston in the Fiesta Bowl or Navy in the Peach Bowl I would take the Citrus.  The Committee is directed to match teams up in the most "compelling matchups" possible.  Hopefully nobody finds Michigan v. Houston compelling.  (OSU v. Houston could be at least be theoretically compelling due to the coaching connections).

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Hotel Putingrad

November 23rd, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^

so unless Notre Dame loses to Stanford, then we're stuck with the Navy-Houston winner. Well I wouldn't mind playing Navy in a showcase bowl, but yeah, I'd rather play a 3-loss SEC team somewhere warm than play Houston anywhere.

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chickenpotpie

November 23rd, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^

Rose or Fiesta would be great. I think we can fairly realistically make it to the Rose Bowl, and here's why:

If in this week's CFP rankings, Iowa and Michigan hold steady, Ohio State takes a hit for losing, and MSU gets a bump for winning, it could easily be:

#3 Iowa

#5 MSU

#8 Ohio State

#12 Michigan

Next Saturday, MSU and Iowa win and hold steady. We beat Ohio State and roughly take their spot in the rankings. That sets up:

#3 Iowa

#5 MSU

#8 Michigan

#12 (or thereabouts, but below us) Ohio State

MSU beats Iowa in the B1G Championship game. They go to the playoffs and Iowa falls a couple of spots. You can easily then see Iowa shaking out at #6 or even #7, which I would argue is close enough to our probable ranking for the Rose Bowl Committee to pick us by citing a stronger strength of schedule (at that point, we will have beaten NW, Ohio State, and nearly MSU, whereas Iowa will have beaten ... no one good). The TV drama of a potential Michigan/Stanford Rose Bowl would just be icing on the cake; you could justify it well beyond that.

Now, this assumes no weird chaos in other conferences, but I think it's emminently plausible.

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