Kirk Herbstreit claims Michigan could opt out of rivalry game vs. Ohio State

Could Michigan refuse to play just to screw Ohio State?

The latest College Football Playoff rankings featured an unchanged top four, with Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Ohio State on track to make it into the playoff at the end of the regular season. A Big Ten championship over Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern would be a nice feather in Ohio State’s cap, but ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit seems to think that their rivals to the north might play spoiler in an attempt to keep them out.

Herbstreit pushed the idea of Michigan refusing to play against Ohio State in their December 12 rivalry game, which would leave Ohio State without enough games to qualify for the Big Ten Championship.

Michigan and Ohio State are trending in opposite directions this season

While Ryan Day and the Buckeyes, who are supposed to play Michigan State this week after the Illinois game was canceled, are once again undefeated as they lay waste to the rest of the Big Ten, Harbaugh’s Wolverines have limped to a 2-4 start with a loss against a previously winless Penn State team mixed in there. As tempting as choosing not to play just to give the Buckeyes the middle finger sounds, that is fraught with logistical problems.

Ohio State doesn’t necessarily need to win the Big Ten in order to make the playoff, provided that Alabama wins the SEC and knocks out a few other contenders.

Every maize and blue-clad Wolverines fan probably wants this season to end as soon as possible, and doing so while also causing a potential playoff problem for their most hated rival would be a win-win. However, Harbaugh actually pulling this off and having it not count as a forfeit and automatic Ohio State victory seems almost impossible.

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