Michigan's Path To The College Football Playoff

By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid

Despite losing to Ohio State on Saturday, Michigan still has an outside chance of making the College Football Playoff.

According to Kirk Herbstreit, if Washington loses to Colorado in the Pac-12 title game, the Wolverines will qualify for the national semifinal.

Though the latest College Football Playoff poll has yet to be released, it bears mention that Michigan dropped just two spots in Sunday's A.P. poll, to No. 5. Washington jumped two spots to No. 4, after dismantling Washington State.

But the Huskies are no shoo-in for the four-team playoff.

The same could be said - and should be said - of Clemson. Ranked No. 3 in the A.P. poll and No. 4 in last week's CFP poll, the Tigers (11-1) still have to play Virginia Tech (9-3) in the ACC Championship. Should they lose, another playoff spot could open up for the idle Wolverines.

According to fivethirtyeight.com, Michigan's best odds of making the College Football Playoff involve Washington losing to Colorado, Clemson losing to Virginia Tech, Wisconsin (10-2) losing to Penn State in the Big Ten Championship (10-2) and Oklahoma (9-2) losing to Oklahoma State (9-2) in the Big 12 Championship.

Under that scenario, fivethirtyeight.com says the Wolverines have an eight percent chance of earning an invite to the College Football Playoff.

The takeaway? Michigan's championship hopes are alive, but they're hanging by a headset thread.