Michigan Football: Breaking down Wolverines route to Indianapolis

The Michigan Wolverines currently sit at 3rd in the Big Ten East Division behind Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan State Spartans.

Although hope seemed lost after the gut-wrenching loss to the Spartans a few weeks ago, Michigan football still has a glimmer of hope in what seemed to be a busted season.

Michigan, unfortunately, does not control its own destiny though. That simply means that Michigan can not win out and automatically be placed in the Big Ten Championship.

There are multiple scenarios where the Wolverines can find themselves at Indianapolis on December 4th.

BIG 10 EAST STANDINGS

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Possible Route #1

This is by far Michigan’s best chance at winning this East. What I am about to say is going to be one of the most difficult things that I will have to do, same with you, but it’s to root for the team down south against the Spartans.

The Buckeyes are a major roadblock for the Spartans. Since Michigan lost head to head against the Spartans, if they ended the season with the same record Michigan State would win the division due to head to head.

But this case is different because Michigan State lost to Purdue. Michigan State losing to the Buckeyes this weekend would effectively remove them from contention all around. They’d have two losses and going into the last weekend (assuming Michigan beats Maryland) Michigan would face Ohio State in Ann Arbor to decide the winner of the east.

While Ohio State would be 8-0 in the conference and Michigan would be 7-1 heading into the game, if Michigan were to pull off the win, they’d both be 8-1 and Michigan would have the head to head over the Buckeyes. Spartans would not matter since they’d have two losses.

This is Michigan’s most likely shot at winning the Big Ten East, but they’ll need some help this weekend.

Possible Route #2

While this route is more unlikely than the first, it’s still a reasonable possibility. If Michigan State pulls off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory against the Buckeyes this weekend, they’d be in the driver seat for the Big Ten East.

Ohio State would need help from Penn State if it lost. While they’d technically be tied with Michigan State record-wise they’d lose the head-to-head matchup. So would Michigan if they both won out. You can tell this looks very favorable for the Spartans.

But, Michigan State does not play a team like Indiana in their last game of the season, they play Penn State. Unfortunately, the game would be played in East Lansing but I think it’s reasonable to think James Franklin will want to play spoiler in what most likely will be his last game at Penn State.

If Penn State were to beat the Spartans in East Lansing, that’d completely knock Michigan State out of contention for the Big Ten East. And once again, similar to Route #1 it’d lead all signs pointing to that looming matchup between Michigan and the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor.

Michigan football would need to win against the Buckeyes in order to secure their tickets to Indianapolis. While it’s unlikely to happen this way, it’s still a very real possibility.

In conclusion

In short, we can safely say Michigan football is going to need some help this week. However, if they do get that help they need we will be talking about Big Ten Championship & Playoff implications for the Wolverines.

I’ve exhausted every possibility and these are the only two. I do think though that these are two possibilities that are likely to happen. Luckily the Wolverines have positioned themselves in a good spot after that crucial win in Happy Valley.