Heather Dinich explains how CFP committee will evaluate Michigan after Jim Harbaugh's suspension

Jim Harbaugh was not on the sideline for Michigan‘s 24-15 win over Penn State on the road Saturday — and the entire college football world was talking about it.

After failing to receive a temporary restraining order against the Big Ten Conference, Wolverines offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore moved to acting head coach for the matchup. Despite all of the outside circumstances, they earned a top-10 victory on the road — how should the College Football Playoff Committee evaluate Michigan’s win without their head coach?

“The selection committee is certainly going to be talking about the fact that Jim Harbaugh was not on the sideline,” CFP expert Heather Dinich said on SportsCenter Sunday morning. “Who in college football is not talking about that right now? But, they will evaluate Michigan the same way they did in the first three games of the season when he was also suspended that time for self-imposed violations because of violations from COVID in the 2020 season.

“But when they look at Michigan right now, yes, [Penn State] was a ranked win against an opponent on the road — but this was the only one that they have and that’s something that the selection committee will consider.”

All eyes will be on Friday morning’s hearing, which will decide whether Harbaugh will be able to coach his team for the rest of the regular season. Without the ruling, he’s still allowed to coach his team in practice during the week — but there are no guarantees he’ll be on the sidelines next weekend.

Regardless, the win over Penn State is an impressive one — but given Michigan’s objectively easy schedule — the Wolverines will likely fail to move into the top two spots in Tuesday’s new set of rankings.

“I think Michigan still stays at the No. 3 spot because their resume is not as good as Ohio State and Georgia right now,” Dinich continued. “The last phone call I made on Friday night was to CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock, I asked him now that the allegations have turned into a violation for Michigan has the CFP stance changed. And his answer was no, it has not.

“As long as they are bowl eligible, they’re eligible to be ranked by the committee, then they will continue to view Michigan the way they do any other team that’s missing a coach or a player for injury, suspension, or whatever it might be, and of course, that monster test at the end of the season.”

Assuming Michigan glides past Maryland next week, and Ohio State handles its business against Minnesota — The Game could decide who’s in and who’s out when it comes to the CFP committee’s final decision on it’s field of four.

If Ohio State (No. 1) and Michigan (3) keep their spots in the CFP rankings heading into the season finale in two weeks, a Michigan loss could see them out of the final picture entirely thanks to its poor choice in scheduling. A third consecutive win over the Buckeyes is almost mandatory in that sense, but there’s also the chance something similar to TCU’s situation last season could occur.

Regardless, Michigan needs its head coach back — and Friday will give us a better idea of what the next steps are for the Wolverines in the sign-stealing debacle.