Interesting stuff on #Michigan from the CFP chair. #GoBlue
Thanks to both a dominant win over Rutgers on Saturday, as well as Clemson and Tennessee losing, Michigan football moved up to No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. But was it simply because teams ahead of the Wolverines lost or was it because the maize and blue asserted themselves?
On Tuesday night, after the rankings were released, we got some answers.
College Football Playoff rankings committee chair Boo Corrigan met with the media via a conference call to discuss the second release by those who put the rankings together. In terms of Michigan football and Ohio State, how the two relate or differentiate, Corrigan says that the Buckeyes have a slight edge given the win over Notre Dame, but both teams have been spectacular as they’ve compiled 9-0 records thus far.
“We put them up and we talked about each team individually,” Corrigan said. “We talked about them in groupings to make sure that we’ve got it in the right area or in the right spot as we go through this. The win over Rutgers this weekend in the second half, in particular, the way that they played. They’ve done a really good job of pulling away from teams.
“As you look at Ohio State, obviously they both have to win over Penn State and Ohio State has that win over Notre Dame. Both have top-10 scoring offenses, top-10 scoring defenses and we’re going to continue to evaluate it as we move forward. If anything, that nonconference schedule for Michigan and has been a factor.”
RELATED: Latest CFB Playoff rankings
RELATED: Twitter reacts to second CFB Playoff rankings
Of course, that begs the question: is Michigan ranked No. 3 simply because the teams that were ahead of it lost, or is it because the Wolverines deserved to be there in the eyes of the committee?
“It seems like combination of both is what it is. It’s not one particular thing,” Corrigan said. “You can’t just look at a team without any comparable information with the people that are around them. Again, really, really good football team, really talented football team, has done a good job on both sides of the ball. But as we look at it, as we evaluated it, we had Michigan No. 3, Ohio State No. 2, and Georgia No. 1.”
Corrigan was adamant that the committee does not look ahead, and as for OSU’s struggle at Northwestern, he said that weather was a discussed factor when it comes to the rankings. Ultimately, if the Wolverines want to be in the College Football Playoff, their best bet is to win in Columbus on Nov. 26.
[listicle id=65243]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=none image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
