A bowl game isn’t guaranteed for Michigan Football

With another bowl game getting canceled, one that had Big Ten tie-ins, Michigan football isn’t guaranteed a postseason berth.

Last week against Rutgers, Cade McNamara came off the bench and rallied Michigan football for its third-largest come-from-behind win in school history.

But in the grand scheme of things, what will that really mean? We can’t really say that McNamara saved the season for Michigan, although maybe that game was the start of something.

A loss Saturday to winless Penn State would put an end to any momentum Michigan built and would also put Jim Harbaugh‘s job back into the spotlight, even more so than now.

Another thing some Michigan football fans might not be thinking about is the fact that the Wolverines really need a win Saturday if they want a shot at a bowl game.

Obviously, this season has been different than any other college football season in recent memory and it has caused a number of bowl games to be called off. Well on Saturday, another was canceled and that was the Pinstripe Bowl, a game with Big-Ten tie-ins.

What the current bowl situation is

In fact, one projection actually had Michigan going to that game where in the hypothetical matchup, the Wolverines would have taken on Boston College.

As fun as that would be and I don’t mean that sarcastically, that game is no longer an option for the Wolverines and according to Bowlseason.com, which is the new name for the collective bowl coalition, the Wolverines won’t be playing in the postseason.

For the first time, through Bowlseason.com, the bowl games essentially put out their own bowl projections which are said to include the opinions of bowl reps and all the people who actually make the decisions and again, U-M right now isn’t among the teams selected.

Right now, there are 35 bowl games left and if Michigan football wants to be among the teams participating it needs to win some games, starting with Penn State Saturday.

In fact, the Wolverines are likely going to need to win the next two games against the Nittany Lions and Maryland, which currently is projected to make a bowl game.

We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks, but if Michigan fans think the Wolverines will get  a bowl berth based on name only, it’s not as likely as some think and that’s why these next few games really do matter, at least if Michigan wants a bowl trip in 2020.