Michigan football ranked No. 5 in initial 2022 College Football Playoff standings
The College Football Playoff committee released its initial rankings for the 2022 season Tuesday night and Michigan football checks in at No. 5.
The Wolverines (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) outside of the top four is a bit of a surprise, but with an uninspired non-conference schedule that featured Colorado State, Connecticut and Hawaii, the committee seemed to mark down U-M.
Michigan's three non-conference opponents have a combined record of 8-18.
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Tennessee (8-0, 4-0 SEC) is No. 1, followed by No. 2 Ohio State (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten). Defending champion Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC) is third, followed by Clemson (8-0, 6-0 ACC).
At least one of those SEC teams will likely fall out of the top four next week, when the Volunteers travel to Athens to take on the Bulldogs.
One-loss Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC) leapfrogged undefeated TCU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) for No. 6.
Pac-12 teams Oregon (7-1, 5-0 Pac-12) and USC (7-1, 4-1) are Nos. 8 and 9, and LSU (6-2, 4-1 SEC) is 10th.
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Boo Corrigan, the CFP selection committee chair and N.C. State athletic director, said on the ranking unveiling show on ESPN on Tuesday night that Tennessee's conference wins over Alabama and LSU were the difference in these rankings and that Ohio State's offense was the separator over Georgia.
A season ago, the Wolverines were seventh in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, coming off the heels of their first (and only) regular season loss to Michigan State. The Wolverines climbed to No. 6 the following two weeks and No. 5 entering the final week of the regular season before beating Ohio State, jumping to No. 2 behind only Alabama.
This season, U-M has dominated its opponents through the first two months of the year, with its best wins against No. 16 Penn State (41-17) and against unranked 6-2 Maryland (34-27). That said the committee tries to take all factors into account when ranking its teams and one reason Michigan finds itself at No. 4 behind other undefeated teams when it has an average margin of victory of 41.0 — 11.5 is its weak non-conference schedule.
Michigan's three non-conference opponents have a combined record of 8-18.
Through the first eight years of the CFP era 19 of the 32 teams (59%) of the teams in the top four in the initial rankings ended up in the playoff, so while it's the ideal position to be in, it's far from a lock.
Twice a team outside the top 10 (Ohio State, No. 16 in 2014 and Oregon, No. 15 in 2015) made the final four. Only once (2020) did the four teams who made the initial playoff rankings hold the final four spots and reach the playoff.
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
Next up: Scarlet Knights
Matchup: No. 4 Michigan (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) vs. Rutgers (4-4, 1-4).
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; SHI Stadium, Piscataway, New Jersey.
TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).
Line: Wolverines by 26.
College Football Playoff committee Top 25
1. Tennessee (8-0)
2. Ohio State (8-0)
3. Georgia (8-0)
4. Clemson (8-0)
5. Michigan (8-0)
6. Alabama (7-1)
7. TCU (8-0)
8. Oregon (7-1)
9. Southern California (7-1)
10. LSU (6-2)
11. Mississippi (8-1)
12. UCLA (7-1)
13. Kansas State (6-2)
14. Utah (6-2)
15. Penn State (6-2)
16. Illinois (7-1)
17. North Carolina (7-1)
18. Oklahoma State (6-2)
19. Tulane (7-1)
20. Syracuse (6-2)
21. Wake Forest (6-2)
22. North Carolina State (6-2)
23. Oregon State (6-2)
24. Texas (5-3)
25. Central Florida (6-2)
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan at No. 5 in initial College Football Playoff rankings
