Ohio State Buckeyes

Michigan Football: Why We Should Probably Be Rooting For Ohio State

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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It may not feel right, but Michigan football fans might find it in their best interest to be rooting for Ohio State this week against Michigan State.

Since Michigan football lost on the road Saturday night to Iowa, the race in the Big Ten East got a whole lot more complicated (and interesting if you don’t have a vested interest).

Outside of continuing to win, Penn State will be pulling for anyone to beat Michigan; Ohio State will be pulling for anyone to beat Penn State; and Michigan can just stay focused on winning its next two games since it already owns a head-to-head advantage over Penn State.

There are 23 results on reserve for these next two weeks, and 10 of them have the Wolverines winning the Big Ten East and going to the conference title game against (likely) Wisconsin. Here’s a handy chart Eleven Warriors put together.

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GBMWolverine 1 dMichigan Football: Wolverines Fall to Iowa, Still Control Playoff Destiny

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A one-loss conference champion is probably going to the College Football Playoff, especially this season. But for safe measure, Michigan should be pulling for Ohio State against Michigan State this week.

If the Wolverines and Buckeyes both win this week, what essentially happens is their meeting on Nov. 26 turns into a game to see who gets one of the spots in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings. That’s significant to Michigan because it’s likely the committee will keep Clemson  ahead of the Wolverines, knocking them out of the top four this week. At least that’s what the committee has been doing.

Even if that isn’t the case—even if the committee decides Michigan is the No. 4 team in the country, not Clemson—it would still serve the Wolverines well to beat a team ranked higher, putting them in an almost guaranteed position to move up.

What’s interesting about this is we ran into a similar situation last season. Had Ohio State taken care of its business at home against Michigan State, the Buckeyes and Wolverines would have been playing the next week to see who would represent the East in the Big Ten Championship.

That obviously didn’t happen, and Michigan lost the next week anyway, but this isn’t unfamiliar territory.

Michigan’s loss to Iowa last weekend was devastating, but it was far from derailing. The Wolverines still control their own destiny in the East, and a playoff spot is waiting for them if they win the Big Ten.

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