Michigan football is embroiled in an alleged scandal, but as much as people want to act like it has affected play on the field, sign-stealing, if it occurred, wouldn’t have been much help this season.
The nonconference foes likely would not have been scouted in-person, as the allegations go, and four of the Wolverines’ five opponents huddled. Indiana had a new offensive coordinator for its game.
So with football being the main focus — you know, the actual games — some still anticipate that, hey, this team may be pretty good.
Of course, the meat of the schedule is here in the final third of the regular season, with games at Penn State, at Maryland, and the showdown at home against Ohio State. But Michigan has been dominant in ways those teams haven’t, so if the Wolverines stay the course, they’ll make it back to the College Football Playoff as the Big Ten winner, according to Sporting News’ Bill Bender.
Rose Bowl Game: No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Florida State
The Seminoles’ remaining opponents have a combined record of 16-17 – which is the worst among the five unbeaten Power 5 playoff contenders. The path is open. Michigan remains embroiled in a sign-stealing controversy, but it has not affected the product on the field at this point. The quarterback duel between J.J. McCarthy (18 TDs, 3 INTs) and Jordan Travis (18 TDs, 2 INTs) would be fantastic.
While Florida State, which was middling for a few years, is a good story, Bender expects Michigan football to beat the Seminoles, advance to the national championship game and put that “beat Georgia” period to good use.
CFP championship game (Houston): Georgia vs. Michigan
We would not be surprised if the committee puts Michigan at No. 1 in the first set of rankings for dramatic purposes, but the Bulldogs are still the two-time national champion. The scoring offense between the Wolverines (40.6) and Bulldogs (40.5) is almost identical. Michigan allows 5.8 points, while the Bulldogs are at 14.8 ppg. These are the only two schools that average 40-plus points and allow less than 15 points per game. That is sometimes the simplest — and most effective — metric.
Whether or not the Wolverines get there and win it all remains to be seen. But it would certainly be welcome for Michigan fans who have had to endure a full season of controversy to this point.