The Wolverines are 6-2 ahead of a home game against Minnesota.
Michigan will enter the final four games of the regular season unranked in the poll that really matters.
The College Football Playoff committee released its first Top 25 poll of the 2017 season on Tuesday, and the Wolverines were left off.
Four Big Ten teams cracked the list, including Ohio State (7-1), which checked in with the lowest ranking at No. 6. Penn State (No. 7) and unbeaten Wisconsin (No. 9) round out the Big Ten teams in the top 10.
Michigan State — which knocked off the Wolverines, 14-10, on Oct. 7 in Ann Arbor — made the poll at No. 24.
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Michigan (6-2,3-2 Big Ten) also has a 42-13 blowout loss at Penn State on its resume, practically eliminating it from playoff contention. There’s still a outside chance to win the Big Ten East Division and qualify for the conference title game.
But this isn’t exactly a surprise, either. The Wolverines, while No. 24 in this week’s Amway Coaches Poll, went unranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for a second straight week.
“A lot of people might say we don’t deserve to be in the college playoff, but we just want to take one week at a time,” said fifth-year senior fullback Khalid Hill. “Do what we can to get better. Keep winning games and let the pieces fall where they may.”
The College Football Playoff rankings are decided by a 14-member committee made up of former head coaches, athletic directors and executives. Five more sets of polls will be released before the four-team playoff selection show on Dec. 3.
Michigan has not reached the playoff since its inception in 2014. The Wolverines host Minnesota on Saturday (7:30 p.m., FOX), with games against Wisconsin and Ohio State still on the schedule.
