Michigan Football appears destined for College Football Playoff

With the way it has been dominating teams, Michigan football looks like a machine, one that is headed directly towards the College Football Playoff.

Outside of Michigan football and the other top four teams, the playoff landscape is littered with woulda-coulda-shoulda contenders, now lying by the roadside, hoping the top six run into a late-season buzzsaw.

It could happen, of course. Notre Dame is the only one of the top-ranked teams not facing a conference championship game – good news/ bad news as they aren’t in battle on the last weekend so won’t lose but aren’t in battle on the last weekend when the committee has its eyes on teams with momentum.

Alabama could lose to Georgia (huh?) in the SEC championship and still land a spot, but everybody else has to run the table to stay in the hunt. Oklahoma has to beat West Virginia, may have to beat them twice, or West Virginia has to handle the Sooners twice.

Washington State’s chances are slim, even if they trample Colorado, Arizona, and Washington, which they are unlikely to do. The loss to USC will not help them. UCF has won 21 straight games and put 50 points on Temple last week, but Temple put 40 on UCF.  The only other name still in the top ten?

Ohio State.

Whereas Michigan football fans once had reason to anticipate a bloody battle with Ohio State just to get to the BIG Championship, the odds now favor the Blue, who should be hale and hearty after dealing with Rutgers and Indiana.  Ohio State’s loss to Purdue, a nail-biting down-to-the-wire win over Nebraska, and a terrifying first half against Indiana are a testimony to OSU’s vulnerability.  The Buckeyes face both Michigan State and Michigan in the next three weeks.

The BIG West is still wide open as Northwestern holds the lead at 5-1 in the conference, but faces Iowa and Minnesota in the next two weeks.  Purdue and Wisconsin are 4-2, Purdue facing Minnesota and Wisconsin, Wisconsin facing Penn State, Purdue, and Minnesota.  An increasingly healthy Michigan on a roll should be in good shape to come out of the conference unblemished.

What does a healthy Michigan football look like?

Don Brown’s defense is among the top two or three best in the country, certainly in contention with  Alabama’s and Clemson’s, and getting better by the moment.

Rashan Gary is back. Terrifying. Oh, but in his absence, Kwity Paye and Josh Uche have figured out how to wreak havoc and sack slam with impressive speed.  Ask Penn State how much they enjoyed Uche’s stunting into the backfield.  And he was the weak side end.  Chase Winovich, perhaps the most improved defensive player in the nation, has to be double teamed just to keep him from riding roughshod.  And yet, he just keeps coming.

Michigan Wolverines

So does the rest of the defense.  Both Josh Metellus and Brandon Watson have 3 picks, Devin Bush has 29 solo tackles, six tackles for loss, four sacks, and an interception, Khaleke Hudson has 12 solo tackles and a sack.

Penn State’s Trace McSorley is the real deal as a Division I quarterback holding Penn State’s records for most passing yards in a season and most passing yards in a career, ahead of Christian Hackenberg. Against Michigan, McSorley was 5/13  with an interception for a total of 83 yards.  Penn State was successful on 2 of 11 attempts to convert on third down.

Michigan’s offense is clicking at the right time.  Karan Higdon picked up 142 yards against Penn State, increasing his string of 100 plus yard games to seven in a row.  He’s 37 yards, one good break away from 1,000 thus far.

Shea Patterson has found his rhythm and his receivers, operating Michigan’s offense with confidence and authority.  Tarik Black returns to take his place among Patterson’s prime targets, bumping up the number of excellent options Patterson can choose in the play action offense built around a powerful running game.  The hefty wide-outs, Nico Collins and Zach Gentry and nifty and shifty Donovan Peoples-Jones can break loose at any time, and bulldozer Ben Mason‘s six touchdowns are the epitome of in-your-face, how-do-you-like-smash-mouth-football- now short yardage power.  Gentry, 6’8, 285.  Mason, 6’3, 250.

And then… Michigan’s offensive line is now clearly the best in the conference, opening holes and keeping Patterson’s jersey nice and clean.

At the start of the season, the only familiar name on that line was offensive captain Ben Bredeson, but the Michigan State and Penn State game featured the expected impressive performance by steady sophomore center Cesar Ruiz and break-out performances by Juwann Bushell-Beatty, John Runyan, Jr., and Michael Onwenu, each of whom had potential to spare but who have gained traction steadily as the season has progressed.

Michigan is a team of destiny and a whole lot of fun to watch.  Might as well hunker down, America, open a bag of chips and watch this Wolverine team take the ride all the way to the first showdown on December 29th.