Michigan Football: A weekend rooting guide for Wolverines fans

Michigan football might control its own destiny for the College Football Playoffs, but if not, here are the teams you should root for this weekend.

The race for the College Football Playoff is always interesting. As far as Michigan football is concerned, the formula for making it seems simple: win.

However, as we should know from watching the committee over the years, nothing is guaranteed, unless you are from a Power-5 conference and you win all your games. Sorry Central Florida, but your argument isn’t getting you anywhere.

Regardless of how the playoff race is shaking out, Michigan football fans should want the Wolverines to have the strongest resume possible. That will help make sure the Wolverines are a top-4 team if they are able to win out against Indiana, Ohio State and Northwestern.

Those three wins should be the only thing keeping Michigan football from the playoff. Yet, there are some what-ifs? Some scary ones in fact, that have to do with Alabama. Say the Crimson Tide falls to Georiga in the SEC championship game, would the Tide, as a 12-1 team go over Michigan, which would also be 12-1 in that scenario, in addition to being the Big Ten champs.

It’s hard to say what the committee would do, however, I find it hard to believe Alabama would be left out after a close loss to Georgia. It’s possible, but the Wolverines resume will need to be very impressive.

In order for the resume to look as good as possible, here is what you should cheer for this weekend:

Northwestern vs Minnesota

The Wildcats have punched their ticket for the Big Ten title game. They are going and so that means, it would be in the best interest of Michigan if Northwestern won its final two games. The Cats are ranked now, yet won’t be with another loss, so the Wolverines need Northwestern to win this weekend and next.

Syracuse vs Notre Dame

This is one of the most interesting games because it’s hard to know which team to cheer for. Notre Dame is ranked right ahead of Michigan and it would be hard not to see UM leapfrogging the Irish if they lost, yet how heavily will the committee weight that head-to-head matchup?

If it views Michigan and Notre Dame as comparable teams, then the head-to-head could give Notre Dame the edge. However, that is also when a conference championship is considered, so which is more important, a conference title or head-to-head in the first game of the season?

If the Irish lose to Syracuse and Michigan wins out, we could very well find out.

Michigan State at Nebraska

Right now, the Wolverines have two solid road wins: at Michigan State and at Northwestern. Yet, if Michigan State falls on the road at Nebraska Saturday, the Spartans would fall to 6-5 and that win would look a lot less impressive. So even though it sucks having to hope Michigan State wins, in this case, it’s probably the best.

Ohio State vs Maryland

Of course, if Maryland did somehow upset Ohio State, it would benefit Michigan. If the Wolverines beat Indiana in that scenario, it would be the Big Ten East champs, without having to even win “The Game.” Seriously though, I don’t want to see Michigan win the Big Ten without beating Ohio State and another win will help keep the Buckeyes in the top 10 too.

Duke vs Clemson

With the SEC basically taking an off week this week, the one other game to watch is Clemson and Duke. The Blue Devils are 7-3 and even though they have a monumental task trying to win in Death Valley, if a loss by Clemson did happen somehow, it could help Michigan.

Even if Clemson won the ACC championship with one loss, it would have a comparable resume to Michigan’s without a marquee win like Ohio State, if the Wolverines got it next week. Clemson’s best wins are over Syracuse and Boston College. The Cuse win will look much better if the Orange beat the Irish Saturday, but other than that, it’s hard to see how a one-loss Clemson team would have a better resume than Michigan.

Again, the biggest thing for Michigan football is just winning. The No. 1 goal has to be knocking off Ohio State and then winning the Big Ten championship. If the Wolverines do that, the season will be a success, even if the committee somehow keeps from the top four.