Michigan bowl projections: New destination emerges as possibility
The Michigan Wolverines are coming off a bye week sitting at 5-5 and needing one more win to gain bowl eligibility in the first season under head coach Sherrone Moore.
Coming off the bye, Michigan has two regular season chances left to get to win No. 6. The first comes with a visit from Northwestern on Nov. 23 at 3:30 p.m. before heading to Ohio State on Nov. 30 for a noon kick in Columbus. The Wolverines are a 10.5-point favorite over the Wildcats, while they are expected to be a multiple-score underdog against the Buckeyes.
The possible bowl destinations are still a bit hazy as we get close to the end of the season. After the release of Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings, here is where Michigan is projected to land.
CBS Sports: Music City Bowl vs. Missouri (Dec. 30, Nashville, Tennessee)
The Missouri program has been copying a lot of Michigan traits of late, right down to beating Ohio State on the field last postseason. The two could settle somewhat of a score in Nashville, and renew a series that has not been played on the field since 1975. Michigan is 2-2 against Missouri all-time.
Action Network: Dukes Mayo Bowl vs. Duke (Jan. 3, Charlotte, North Carolina)
Michigan is 6-0 against Duke all-time in football with all of the games in the series played between 1960-78. Playing against Duke in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl would be quite the storyline. The headlining aspect of this game is the winning head coach taking a mayo bath out of a water cooler.
Athlon Sports: Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl vs. Duke (Dec. 28, Bronx, New York)
Another Michigan-Duke projection comes in this week, but at Yankee Stadium a few days after Christmas compared to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl from a few headings above.
Sports Illustrated: Armed Forces Bowl vs. Cincinnati (Dec. 27, Fort Worth, Texas)
This is the first time we have seen this destination pop up in the bowl projections, and it is a bit of an outlier, so it is tough to say how realistic it is. It would give Michigan another Ohio-based team to close the season out against, and an opponent they have seen only once. The Wolverines beat the Bearcats 36-14 during the 2017 season.
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USA Today: Music City Bowl vs. South Carolina (Dec. 30, Nashville, Tennessee)
A trip to Nashville continues to circle as the most likely destination, at least as far as the bowl projections go. This game would provide a rematch of the Outback Bowl in 2013, meaning a famous hit will probably be played on repeat during the game coverage.
College Football News: Dukes Mayo Bowl vs. Louisville (Jan. 3, Charlotte, North Carolina)
The Mayo Bowl was absent for a few of these projection roundups but appears to be clearly back in play as the dust settles on the rest of the country. A showdown with Louisville would be the first in series history for both of these teams.
Kyle Bonagura, ESPN: Dukes Mayo Bowl vs. Duke (Jan. 3, Charlotte, North Carolina)
Mark another Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Duke down for this week, this time from one of ESPN’s prognosticators.
Mark Schlabach, ESPN: Music City Bowl vs. Florida (Dec. 30, Nashville, Tennessee)
What better way to close out this week than another Music City Bowl project, this time against one of Michigan’s most familiar bowl opponents. The Wolverines are 4-1 all-time against the Gators with their most recent victory coming in a regular season tilt in 2017. They lost to Florida 41-15 in the 2018 Peach Bowl.
