The latest edition of College Football Playoff rankings was released Tuesday night and the Michigan Wolverines are still nowhere to be found.
After Michigan cruised past Minnesota to pick up its second straight win and improve to 7-2 on the season, it seemed likely the Wolverines would debut in this year’s rankings. Instead, the committee put five three-loss teams in the top 25 and left Jim Harbaugh’s team out.
The argument against Michigan is obvious: There isn’t a quality win on the resume. Then-No. 17 Florida has fallen to 3-5 since playing the Wolverines in the opener. Cincinnati and Air Force both have losing records, leaving Michigan’s nonconference resume bare.
In Big Ten play, Michigan has knocked off Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers and Minnesota. All four teams are in the bottom three spots in their divisions, and none have a winning record on the season.
At this point, Michigan’s best win might have come against Rutgers, the recent conference laughingstock that has won three of its last four games.
But Michigan only has two losses, and they came to teams ranked in the committee’s top 15. Michigan State, which topped the Wolverines by just four points, rose to No. 12 in the rankings. Penn State, which crushed the Wolverines by 29 points in a Happy Valley night game, is ranked No. 14.
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Michigan’s resume isn’t great, but is it worse than some of the other teams ranked in the top 25?
For starters, there are three three-loss teams at the bottom of the rankings: No. 23 N. C. State, No. 24 LSU and No. 25 Northwestern.
N. C. State’s resume is similar to Michigan’s in that it lost both games to the ranked teams it played. In addition to those losses, the Wolfpack also lost to South Carolina, which isn’t ranked. Is the win over 5-4 Louisville — N. C. State’s best victory — enough to offset a loss to an unranked team?
The LSU ranking is even more difficult to understand. Yes, the Tigers have a win over two-loss Auburn at home, but they also lost a home game to Troy — a Sun Belt school — and got crushed by 30 points against Mississippi State. When LSU played Florida, it took a failed PAT from the Gators to decide the game. Michigan beat Florida by 16 points.
Northwestern has really solid victories against Michigan State and Iowa, both of which are ranked in the committee’s top 25. But the Wildcats have lost three games by an average of 19 points, including a 41-17 loss to Duke, which is 4-5 on the season.
Even some of the two-loss teams have major question marks. Mississippi State is No. 16 in the rankings despite a 31-3 loss to Georgia and a 49-10 loss to Auburn. Both teams are in the top 10, but the Bulldogs aren’t being punished for losing two games by a combined 67 points. Other than a win over three-loss LSU, there’s nothing overly impressive about Mississippi State’s resume.
The Wolverines haven’t done much to deserve being ranked in the top 25, but they haven’t lost a game that warrants them being dropped below several teams with more losses. Michigan will ultimately determine its own fate with tough games down the stretch, but it’s clear the committee isn’t impressed with Harbaugh’s young team.
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