Michigan Football: Bowl projections for Wolverines after Week 6

Michigan football will be back in a bowl game after the 2021 season and following a 6-0 start, we check in on the Wolverines bowl projections. 

Very few people predicted that Michigan football would open the 2021 season 6-0.  But that’s where the Wolverines sit heading into the bye week.

With the first half of the schedule complete, Michigan football couldn’t be in a better position. The Wolverines are tied with Ohio State and Michigan State for the lead in the Big Ten East with Penn State just sitting one game back.

After such a poor season in 2020, going just 2-4, it was fair to ask if this Michigan football was going to get back to a bowl? Yet six straight wins answered that question and now anything fewer than 10 wins is going to feel somewhat disappointing.

Either way, the Wolverines have themselves set up to play in one of the better college bowl games, if not in the New Year’s Six the way things have been going.

We check in on some of the projections and find out who Michigan football could play in the postseason.

Michigan football bowl projections

The Big Ten has five teams ranked in the top 10 right now with Michigan football, MSU, OSU, Iowa, and Penn State, and they will all be jockeying for bowl position.

If the Wolverines are able to win 10 games in the regular season, there’s a strong chance they will be headed to a New Year’s Six Bowl, and projections from Saturday Blitz, as well as CBS Sports, have Michigan headed to the Fiesta Bowl to take on Notre Dame.

The Irish and Wolverines meeting in a bowl game would be a dream scenario for TV/Bowl executives. The two rivals aren’t scheduled to play anytime soon and they always bring plenty of eyes to the screen — no matter who the opponent is.

However, if Michigan football isn’t able to crack the New Year’s Six, College Football News has the Wolverines projected to be back in the Citrus Bowl for the third time under Jim Harbaugh.

The Wolverines played Florida there back after the 2015 season, then U-M played Alabama in the Citrus Bowl following the 2019 campaign.

This projection has Michigan squaring off against Ole Miss and if that proves to be the case, U-M could see a Heisman-winning quarterback just like when the Wolverines beat Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators in the Citrus Bowl back in 2008.