Michigan football set at No. 3 in initial College Football Playoff rankings
The initial College Football Playoff rankings are out with the Michigan Wolverines debuting at No. 3 in the first edition of this year’s reveal. Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan and Florida State round out the top four with Washington and Oregon set as the first two out.
Given the allegations surrounding the Michigan football program over an illegal sign-stealing/scouting operation, some had wondered how the committee would respond in their initial ranking. Harbaugh and Michigan are focused on taking care of their business on the field. CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan shared what went into the decision-making on U-M on Tuesday night.
“Our job as we look at it is to rank the teams and to follow our protocols,” Corrigan said. “As we went through it, that wasn’t part of any of the discussions that occurred during our time together.
“We really view it as an NCAA issue, not a CFP issue. At this point in time, as we’re looking at this, we want to make sure we get — not just the top four teams but the top 25 teams, right?”
The Maize and Blue are currently 8-0 on the season and coming off of a bye week after beating Michigan State 49-0 on Oct. 21 in East Lansing. Its games the rest of the way include a Saturday matchup with the Purdue Boilermakers at home before back-to-back road trips to Penn State and Maryland. The regular season comes to a close against Ohio State on Nov. 25 in Ann Arbor. Should the Wolverines win the Big Ten East, the conference title game will take place on Dec. 2 in Indianapolis.
Games against Penn State and Ohio State are essentially playoff games for Michigan and will weigh heavily on how the committee sees them moving forward given what has largely been a light schedule.
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The Wolverines had a chance to rest up last while also practicing and focusing on improving the rest of the way. Harbaugh summed up the week during his weekly press conference.
“You do both at the same time,” Harbaugh said on Monday. “We had a good week last week. In fact, it was so good I gave the guys one extra day from what was planned originally. The opportunity to get away from football. Be with their families. Every guy did something, not every single guy went home. Some guys stayed, did treatment, whatever they thought was best for them.”
“Same answer as I gave answer last year when that question was asked [about the playoff],” Harbaugh said. “The year before that when that question was asked. We just focus on a one-track mind of taking care of business today.”
Here are the full rankings released by the committee on Tuesday night.
College Football Playoff Rankings: Oct. 31
- Ohio State
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Florida State
- Washington
- Oregon
- Texas
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Penn State
- Missouri
- Louisville
- LSU
- Notre Dame
- Oregon State
- Tennessee
- Utah
- UCLA
- USC
- Kansas
- Oklahoma State
- Kansas State
- Tulane
- Air Force
This story is developing and will include quotes from the College Football Playoff committee when they become available.
