Michigan Football: 5 reasons to embrace Wolverines as playoff contenders

The biggest games are at the Big House

Steele mentions the Wolverines schedule as one of the reasons why he is predicting them to make the playoff and that’s absolutely correct. Michigan football gets Notre Dame, Michigan State, Iowa and yes, Ohio State at home.

That’s huge and it could be the difference between winning the Big Ten and going to another New Year’s Six Bowl.

The bottom line is that Michigan had really good teams in 2016 and 2018. However, they had to travel to Ohio Stadium, which is a really tough place to win, especially against a top-ranked team. The home team generally gets a slight edge and it might have been enough to get the Buckeyes over the top in 2016 or even Notre Dame last season.

Certainly, Ohio State has won three in a row in Ann Arbor and Michigan State has won its previous two trips to the Big House, so playing at home isn’t automatic. But this Wolverines team is also better than those teams in 2015 or 2017.

This team feels much more like 2016 or 2018. The difference is that the key games come at home this season, which could help sway things in Michigan’s favor. There will be tough road games at Penn State and Wisconsin, but even if Michigan splits those and sweeps at home, it will be headed to Indy and most likely, the College Football Playoff.