Michigan Football: Bowl projections for Wolverines after Week 7
Michigan football moved up two spots in the AP poll this week and also received some favorable bowl projections following Week 7.
The bye week came at just the right time for Michigan football. The Wolverines needed some players to get healthy and after back-to-back road games, it was a good time for a week off.
But now the stretch run begins and the back-half of the schedule is even more challenging than the first six games.
Michigan football opens the second half of the season against Northwestern on Saturday but games against Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State loom.
As long as the Wolverines can take care of business against Indiana, Northwestern, and Maryland, the other opponents, they will be playing in a bowl game on New Year’s Day.
However, there is a difference between a game like the Outback or Citrus Bowl and the Peach, Fiesta, or the Rose.
Of all Michigan football’s bowl projections from ESPN, The Athletic, Athlon Sports, College Football News, and CBS Sports, only one had Michigan football, not in the NY6 bowl.
Where Michigan football could go bowling
The projections vary. Some of them have Michigan football going to the Fiesta Bowl — that’s the most common — against Notre Dame, while others have U-M going to the Peach and Rose.
For my money, a trip to the Rose Bowl would be almost as good as reaching the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines haven’t played in that game since 2007 and they lost that game to USC.
Michigan has played in three major bowl games since: The Sugar Bowl (after 2011), the Orange Bowl (after 2016), and the Peach Bowl after the 2018 season.
So reaching the New Year’s Six would be a major accomplishment and as long as Michigan football can win one of the three games against MSU, Penn State, and OSU, it should earn an invite.
Of course, the team is also in the mix for the Big Ten title right now, but we’ll see how the games in East Lansing and Happy Valley got before buying this team as a legit threat to win the Big Ten championship, although one ESPN analyst has the Wolverines projected to the playoff.
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It’s certainly fun to look ahead and it’s good to know Michigan is actually going bowling in 2021 after missing out in 2020. But also, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.