Michigan football: Wolverines can ruin College Football Playoff hopes for Ohio State

Michigan football could be Ohio State football’s unexpected nightmare in 2020.

In a down season for Michigan, playing spoiler for Ohio State’s College Football Playoff hopes is as good as it gets at this point.

The Michigan Wolverines have stunk out of the gate under Jim Harbaugh. Though a 2-3 record does not look all that horrendous, Michigan could be 1-4 if the Wolverines lost to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in overtime. With five games left this season, the biggest one left is the only game that matters: At the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Dec. 12. Can the impossible happen?

If the unthinkable happens between Michigan and Ohio State, what is to follow?

Will a loss to Michigan at home prevent the Buckeyes from playing in the Big Ten Championship? No, because Ohio State has the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten East. However, a loss to the Wolverines could be too devastating for Ohio State to overcome and still make the College Football Playoff. Keep in mind why that might be the case here.

Ohio State is 4-0 on the season but had one of its conference games canceled due to the coronavirus. Not having another potential win on the resume means the Buckeyes would only have played seven games before presumably getting to Indianapolis. If they are undefeated and beat the Big Ten West champion, probably the Northwestern Wildcats, they are making the field.

However, a 6-1 regular-season record with a truly awful home loss to Michigan may be too much for the College Football Playoff Selection Committee to swallow. With the Big 12 out of it now, this might allow a one-loss Pac-12 team to get in. It feels like only an undefeated Pac-12 team gets in at this time, but a terrible loss by Ohio State to Michigan complicates everything.

It may be enough to give Northwestern the confidence to do the impossible and beat Ohio State. To make things even more complicated, let’s say the Wildcats lose twice the rest of the way and it is the Wisconsin Badgers who will face them in Indianapolis. You better believe Wisconsin will confident about beating the Buckeyes if they had just lost to Michigan the previous week.

Overall, an undefeated Big Ten is getting in this year and so might a one-loss team. However, a loss to a Michigan team that might part ways with its head coach would be like getting an F on a report. A’s the rest of the way would help their cause, but the Selection Committee will so ground the Buckeyes for this. Take the atrocious loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes a few years for example.

Ohio State will not get the benefit of the doubt if the Buckeyes were to lose to the Wolverines.

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