Michigan Football bowl projections after Week 5

Michigan football is 5-0 and while the Wolverines are in the thick of the playoff race most projections have them going to the Rose Bowl. 

The Wolverines put together their most impressive win of the season last week. They won at Iowa and were impressive doing it.

The College Football Playoff selection committee always talks about game control and Michigan football has been as good at that as anyone. Also, that win over Maryland is already looking better than expected. The Terps are 4-1 and rolled Michigan State last week.

In terms of the race for the playoff though, it’s hard to see two teams from the Big Ten getting in, so when it comes to bowl projections, that’s why Michigan is being left out.

Michigan football will have a case to make if they are an 11-1 team and the only loss winds up being to Ohio State in a close game. However, if Clemson or USC, or Oklahoma was undefeated or had one loss and won their conference title, it would be tough to overcome.

ESPN, the Bleacher Report and CBS Sports are all projecting Michigan football to the Rose Bowl and so is our own Saturday Blitz.

GBMWolverine bowl projection: Rose Bowl

It’s logical. Michigan clearly looks like one of the most well-balanced teams in the country. The Wolverines have a five-star quarterback in J.J. McCarthy who is leading the nation in completion percentage and has yet to throw an interception.

He’s doing a lot of what Cade McNamara did a year ago. But he’s got more mobility and more play-making ability as he showed in the touchdown pass last week to Donovan Edwards.

Yet, in order to get to the Rose Bowl, Michigan has to take care of business. The Penn State game is likely going to be the determining factor. Both teams are undefeated and ranked in the top 10.

Michigan State could play spoiler too but as long as Michigan heads to Columbus with at least a 10-1 record and a win over Penn State, the Wolverines are a good bet to make the Rose Bowl, even with a 10-2 record.

The Big Ten West is a mess and if the division winner loses to Ohio State, the champion is probably going to have 3-4 losses and that’s not going to be good enough for the Rose Bowl.

So the Rose Bowl makes a lot of sense and it would be great if Michigan went into the last game of the season with that as the worst-case scenario.