Michigan stands at the top of the national rankings for the first time since 1998. For the first time since 1998, the Wolverines should therefore be the favorites no matter who they play against.
Whether the committee requested that they face the Liberty Flames or the Alabama Crimson Tide is irrelevant. It makes no difference if Michigan was matched up against the Toledo Rockets or the Florida State Seminoles. When your team is ranked #1 in college football, you should be able to play anyone and your opponents should only complain about matchups if they are invited to play you. “One” signifies that any draw is advantageous and is more than simply a lovely number.
So feel free to voice your grievances with the College Football Playoff committee. I’ll accompany you. The committee let undefeated Florida State out of the playoffs, which was a failure for college football. It cost a club that did almost everything right—beating a top-15 team in a conference championship without its starting quarterback, among other things—to discover that those victories are meaningless if powerful Bama comes hot at the proper moment. The SEC prejudice is real.
But Michigan’s chances of making the playoffs shouldn’t be impacted by any of those grievances. The top team is entitled to the “easiest” draw, thus perhaps the Seminoles would have been the easier opponent. If Florida State had offered the Wolverines the simplest playoff route, perhaps. Perhaps after receiving the highest seed, Michigan faces a tougher test than anticipated because of the committee’s errors.
It is irrelevant, though. They shouldn’t give a damn who plays the Wolverines versus who doesn’t, as they are the top seed in this tournament and have been deemed the best team in the nation by “experts.” Whether Michigan confronts a more difficult opponent in the semifinals or a potential national title doesn’t matter if they truly are the best, as indicated by both the CFP and AP poll rankings. The Wolverines are the norm for the first time since 1998. Thus, handle them with respect.
They are predicted to defeat them, regardless of who they face. If they didn’t, the committee would have erred in selecting Michigan over all other candidates as well as in placing Alabama ahead of Florida State.
If their ranking is correct, the Wolverines should have an advantage over everyone else on the road to a championship, regardless of who they draw. Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan coach, says so. He seems enthusiastic about the draw, or at least he appears to be acting like a top-seeded team.
“No, we’re eager to confront them. It is well-known. It’s Alabama. During a Sunday teleconference for head coach selection, Harbaugh declared, “It’s Roll Tide.” “Playing in the Rose Bowl and taking on a fantastic team like Alabama is the best part of the Rose Bowl tradition. It doesn’t get any better.” It always has significance, really.
The No. 1 team in the nation should be excited to play anyone. Michigan may not be an SEC power, but right now it’s labeled as the national power. You can mourn Florida State’s brutal rejection while also accepting the fact that it shouldn’t affect the Wolverines. If anything, it just serves as an even more intriguing matchup — both sides have their starting quarterbacks healthy, after all.
And that’s not a slight at the Seminoles. I’ll say it again, they should be in. Put them in. Go back to ESPN’s drawn-out, overdramatic reveal show and add them to that graphic if you can. Just don’t give the Wolverines the benefit of being treated like an underdog anymore. They didn’t get robbed of anything. They didn’t miss out on an easier path to the championship. Because they are the path to the championship — that’s what being number one means.
Complaints against the committee are welcome. They made mistakes in their selections, and the ACC can tell you all about that. But in Indianapolis on Sunday, the Wolverines were named the nation’s best.
