Believe it or not, bowl season is right around the corner. We rounded up where several publications have the Michigan Wolverines headed as of now:
Despite the incredibly disappointing season the Michigan football is in the middle of, a bowl game still likely awaits the Wolverines if they are able to win one of their final three games. A win on senior day against the lackluster Northwestern Wildcats seems the most likely, but you never know in college football.
One quirk of college football is the immense power that brand names and their massive viewer audiences have on subjective things such as bowl placements. With Michigan’s brand being about as big as it gets, lower-tier bowls will be clamoring to get the Wolverines.
As a reminder, the Big Ten currently has ties to seven bowl games. However, with the expansion of the CFP to 12 teams, multiple Big Ten teams will be headed there. Additionally, the four former Pac-12 teams remain eligible for the former Pac-12 bowl tie-ins as no new formal process has been put in place yet. Those bowls are the Alamo, Holiday, Independence, LA, Las Vegas, and Sun Bowls. With Oregon likely going to the CFP and UCLA unlikely to make a bowl game, that leaves USC and Washington as potential suitors.
Here are the seven Big Ten bowl tie-ins:
- Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (vs. SEC)
- ReliaQuest Bowl (vs. SEC)
- Duke’s Mayo Bowl (vs. ACC)
- Music City Bowl (vs. SEC)
- Pinstripe Bowl (vs. ACC)
- Guaranteed Rate Bowl (vs. Big 12)
- Quick Lane Bowl (vs. MAC)
With all that in mind, we rounded up some projections we’ve seen for where Michigan may be headed should they reach the six-win threshold:
CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)
: Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs. West Virginia
Palm certainly doesn’t have a rosy outlook for the Wolverines as he has them all the way down in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona on December 26th. Interestingly, Palm has Indiana being left out of the CFP so the Hoosiers lay claim to the Citrus Bowl and bump everyone else down a step.
USA Today (Erick Smith)
: Music City Bowl vs. South Carolina
Unlike Palm, Smith has four Big Ten teams in the CFP but interestingly gives Minnesota the Citrus Bowl. The Citrus is the most sought-after bowl for non-CFP, Big Ten teams and will likely come down to Iowa, Minnesota, or Illinois. Should Michigan go to the Music City Bowl, they would play in Nashville, Tennessee on December 30th.
Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)
: Pinstripe Bowl vs. Duke
Should Lassan’s prediction come to fruition, Michigan would be playing in Yankee Stadium on December 28th. While certainly a novelty of a bowl game as it’s played in an MLB stadium, it would be odd to see the famed winged helmets in Yankee Stadium regardless of opponent.
247Sports (Brad Crawford)
: Music City Bowl vs. South Carolina
Crawford agrees with Smith of USA Today and projects Michigan to go to the Music City Bowl against the same opponent: the South Carolina Gamecocks. If South Carolina feels like a familiar bowl opponent that’s because they are. Michigan faced the Gamecocks in the Outback Bowl following both the 2012 and 2017 seasons. The Wolverines ended up on the losing end of both of those matchups so hopefully history doesn’t repeat itself.
The Action Network
(Brett McMurphy): Music City Bowl vs. LSU
The Bryce Underwood sweepstakes are heating up, and even though Underwood would have already signed with his school by the time this bowl game kicks off, it would be an interesting game to watch nonetheless. Michigan and LSU have never played each other in a college football game before, so it would be a historic matchup despite the stakes not being very high here.