Michigan Football: Wolverines could use help from Iowa, Northwestern

Michigan football has a solid resume for the College Football Playoff, but the Wolverines could still use help from the Big Ten West.

When it comes to the race for the College Football Playoff, Michigan football finds itself in a pretty good spot. After the release of the first set of rankings Tuesday night, the Wolverines are the No. 5 team, poised to crack the top four with a win this weekend.

Yet, at the same time, Michigan football is still not guaranteed anything, even if the Wolverines win out. The SEC is looking strong and with six teams in the top 20 and four in the top 11, it could have a decent shot at getting two bids again.

Well, not a decent shot, but a chance at any rate. The big hiccup could come if Alabama beats LSU this weekend, then losses in the SEC championship game to Kentucky or Georgia.

Kentucky and Georgia meet this Saturday too in order to decide the SEC East. After that, neither team has a challenging game left and should cruise into the SEC title game 11-1. Certainly, you would expect Alabama to beat either team, but many also expected Bama to beat Auburn last year too and we all know how that went down.

If the Wildcats or Bulldogs somehow upset Alabama, it would trigger a nightmare scenario for Michigan football, one where the Wolverines, even at 12-1 would be contending with a 12-1 Alabama team for the fourth and final playoff spot, assuming Notre Dame wins out. That’s a frightening thought, even for Halloween.

However, there are a few things that could help with that and one is seeing a strong team from the Big Ten West make the Big Ten Championship. Obviously, Michigan needs to get there first, but if it does, facing an unranked Northwestern team or a three-loss Iowa squad won’t help much.

But if Northwestern upset Notre Dame and won the rest of its games, it would certainly be ranked heading into Indianapolis. A loss for the Irish might also help Michigan. Remember, head-to-head is important, but it’s not everything. The Irish still have a neutral field game against No. 19 Syracuse and a road game at USC, so another loss isn’t out of the question either.

A Northwestern win over the Irish would also make Michigan’s road win over the Wildcats look better, even if it downgrades the loss to Notre Dame just a little bit. On the same token, if Iowa can win out to reach the Big Ten title game, it would give Michigan or whoever represents the East division a formidable foe.

The Hawkeyes are 6-2 and ranked 16th right now. Imagine where they would be if they win out against Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern and Nebraska. That resume would look even better if Northwestern wins Saturday, so that’s another reason to root for the Wildcats, as well as the Hawkeyes.

If the College Football Playoff has done anything, it has made cheering for opponents a pretty practical thing and if Michigan football wants the best resume possible for the committee, it needs Iowa and Northwestern, among others, to keep winning.