Michigan Football: Wild week of upsets good for Big Ten

Michigan football and others in the Big Ten could benefit down the road thanks to another Saturday full of upsets.

Michigan football and the rest of the Big Ten didn’t play Saturday, however, with a number of top-ranked teams going down, it was a solid day for the Wolverines and their conference rivals.

The most notable defeats came in the Big 12 for the second straight week. Last Saturday, Oklahoma went down to Kansas State, which was a big upset and this week, the Sooners followed that up with a loss at Iowa State, meaning the Sooners won’t be back in the playoff.

In this abbreviated season, getting into the playoff as a one-loss conference champion is going to be hard enough and as a two-loss team, unless there is untold chaos, simply isn’t going to happen.

Especially when there were no chances to build resumes in non-conference play.

So the Big 12’s best hope going into Saturday was going to be Texas and Oklahoma before their loss. The Longhorns barely survived at Texas Tech last week and Saturday, went down to unranked TCU at home, handing No. 9 Texas its first loss of the season.

How does this impact the Big Ten?

Texas and Oklahoma play next week and if the Longhorns win that game and happen to run the table, they would probably be a good bet to make the playoff. Oklahoma State is also undefeated and could be in the mix down the road too.

But either way, this is good news for the Big Ten. The SEC is the big dog in college football still, there’s no debating that and the Big 12 issues make it more likely two SEC teams get in.

But it also makes it more likely that the Big Ten champion will make it, even if that team has a loss. To be honest, I don’t think Texas runs the table, so I think you might have a two-loss champion from that league or a team like Oklahoma State, which would only rank ahead of a one-loss Big Ten champion if it were undefeated in my opinion.

The Pac-12 also has to be happy. Who knows if that leagues abbreviated schedule will be enough to get them into the playoff, but for the Big Ten’s playoff hopes it’s a positive development.

Obviously, Ohio State is expected to be the Big Ten’s representative just like Clemson with the ACC. But if another Big Ten team such as Michigan football, Penn State or Wisconsin, even Minnesota finished as a one-loss champ, they’d have to feel good about getting in.

With Mississippi State going down, along with Auburn to Georgia, the SEC still has three top-5 teams in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Two of those three could still easily make the playoff.

But even before Big Ten games kickoff, things up setting up pretty well in the race for the College Football Playoff.