CFP bracket projection has Kyle Whittingham doing something unprecedented at Michigan

When it comes to the Michigan Wolverines' overall viability of making it back to the College Football Playoff after a two-year absence, it all hinges on new head coach Kyle Whittingham coming in. The hall-of-fame-level head coach comes over from Utah to do what Sherrone Moore never could do. Whittingham aims to bring respectability back to Michigan. Will he make the playoff in year one?

CBS Sports' Brad Crawford has Michigan as the last team to make the field in his early projection.

1. Miami Hurricanes
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
3. Texas Longhorns
4. Indiana Hoosiers
5. Texas Tech Red Raiders
6. Georgia Bulldogs
7. Oregon Ducks
8. Ohio State Buckeyes
9. LSU Tigers
10. Texas A&M Aggies
11. Memphis Tigers
12. Michigan Wolverines

If you need a visualization of what Crawford's way-too-early projected bracket looks like, here you go!

Yes, Crawford has Michigan as the last team making it in. While he has the same win/loss projections vs. the same teams as GBMWolverine, how is Michigan making the field with a 9-3 (6-3) mark with conference losses to Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State? If Oklahoma made the field, that would be easier to get one's head around. For now, it is unprecedented territory for Michigan and Whittingham.

His first-ever playoff team will be the first three-loss team that did not win its conference title bout!

Way-too-early CFP bracket projection has Michigan bucking major trend

When looking at Crawford's field, the 12 teams he has making it in are not that much of a surprise. Georgia, Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon all made the first two 12-team playoffs. They should be back in 2026-27. Notre Dame and Texas barely missed out on last year's and should be better this fall. Who else would you have winning the ACC than Miami or the Big 12 than Texas Tech? They make it in.

So that gets us to eight teams, plus Memphis representing the Group of Five to get us to nine. The last three at-large spots from Crawford's projection go to LSU, Texas A&M, and Michigan. Those are three teams in a cluster of about a dozen or so with good, to semi-realistic chances of making it in. Again, the 12 teams Crawford settled on are quite plausible. Surely, the real one will look different...

What is still hard to get one's head around is not the fact that Michigan is the fourth of four Big Ten teams to make the field, but to do so with three losses in conference play on its resume. The upper echelon of the Big Ten needs to be utterly sensational for that to happen. For Crawford to have presumptive Big Ten champion Indiana coming in at No. 4, that runs counter to that overall argument.

Overall, Michigan hired Whittingham to do something he never could at Utah. He is a fantastic head coach, but has never had the resources available to him he will now have at his disposal at Michigan. Right now, the Wolverines' most formidable challenger for that fourth Big Ten team into the playoff field would have to be the USC Trojans. Guess who is nowhere to be found on Crawford's bracket?

If Whittingham does lead Michigan to the playoff for the first time this fall, they will need to go 10-2...