Pete Thamel’s report that the College Football Playoff is moving to a 24-team format starting with the 2027 season changes the conversation around Michigan in a pretty major way.
The immediate reaction across college football has been plenty of skepticism, and the source of that skepticism is obvious: a lot of people see the move as driven by TV money rather than anything else. But for Michigan, the bigger question is what the new setup actually means for the Wolverines once it kicks in.
The bar in Ann Arbor is about to get higher in a very different way. Under a 24-team bracket, a program like Michigan should be expected to show up in the field almost every year.
The idea is simple: with the kind of talent Michigan can recruit, falling outside the top 24 should be the exception, not the norm. Anything short of that would be a problem.
That expectation becomes even clearer when you look at the state of the roster. The Wolverines are described as a young group right now, and if Michigan can hold onto players like Savion Hiter, Andrew Marsh, Tariq Boney, Carter Meadows and others, there’s every reason to think the team will be in the CFP picture in 2027 and beyond.
There’s also the reality that roster turnover is constant in college football, so nothing is guaranteed. Still, the standard being set is blunt: Michigan should be in.
Kyle Whittingham’s second year in charge is the other piece of the equation. If the Wolverines can’t crack the top 24 in Year 2 of his tenure, that would be a disaster. That’s the level of expectation this format creates for a program like Michigan.
The 2025 team is the clearest proof point. Michigan went 9-3, had an easy schedule, never really showed much in its losses, and dealt with a coaching staff tangled up in controversy.
Even so, that team would have qualified for a 24-team playoff. That alone says plenty about where the threshold sits now.
The writer’s view is even more aggressive than that: Michigan shouldn’t just be a regular playoff team under the new system, it should be good enough to host one or more games. In other words, making the bracket is no longer the ceiling.
But the ripple effects go beyond Michigan’s playoff odds. The regular season could lose a lot of its punch if the new format becomes reality.
There’s a real belief here that blue-blood programs will stop scheduling difficult nonconference games because the penalty for extra losses becomes too steep when the main goal is simply staying afloat in the bracket race. Michigan and Texas potentially dropping their return game in Austin for 2027 is floated as a real possibility.
Traditional rivalries could also take a hit over time. Michigan State and Ohio State would still matter, but not necessarily in the same way.
The concern is that The Game could eventually feature two teams already locked into the playoff picture, with players potentially sitting late in the year because the stakes have changed. That would go against everything the rivalry is supposed to be about, even if the logic of the new system pushes things in that direction.
For Michigan, then, this isn’t just about whether the Wolverines make a bigger playoff. It’s about how much of the season around it survives intact.
In Other News...
Michigans Offensive Line Just Became A Real Penn State Concern
Michigans injury report entering the Penn State game adds another layer of uncertainty to a matchup already carrying plenty of weight. The Wolverines offensive line, in particular, looks like the area under the most pressure, with the list of players out, doubtful or questionable growing from what it had been earlier in the week. For a team that wants to control the line of scrimmage, that kind of turnover up front can change the feel of the entire offense before a snap is even taken.
Jake Guarnera and Brady Norton being listed as questionable is the part Penn State will be watching most closely, because it keeps Michigans protection and run-game plans from feeling settled. There is at least some precedent for those designations not ending in absences, since players such as Dom Nichols and John Henry Daley were questionable in prior games and still managed to play. Even so, the uncertainty leaves Michigan with real lineup decisions to sort through and gives Penn State reason to think the Wolverines front might not be at full strength. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Gets A Different Penn State Test Than Anyone Expected
Penn State came into the season with the kind of profile that usually makes for a difficult November opponent: a new coach in Matt Campbell, enough continuity in the program to think about the College Football Playoff, and a schedule that looked manageable on paper. Instead, the Nittany Lions have stumbled into a three-game losing streak, with the latest setback coming in a late loss to Wisconsin after a road trip to USC already deepened the concern around where this team is headed.
The most jarring result may have been the one at Northwestern, where Penn State could not answer a strong rushing attack and wound up in a multi-score defeat, something that has not been common for the program in recent seasons. For Michigan, that changes the texture of this matchup a bit. It is still a name opponent, but it is not quite the version of Penn State anyone expected when the schedule was made. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans First Big Ten Win May Depend On Two Lingering Problems
Michigan heads into its matchup with Penn State still searching for its first Big Ten win, and the path to getting one has been shaped by the same issues that have lingered through the conference opener stretch. The Wolverines have had trouble generating consistent production on the ground, which has made it harder to control games the way they usually want to, and that leaves some room for adjustment as they prepare for a Penn State team dealing with its own offensive frustrations.
Penn State has leaned more heavily on quarterback Rocco Becht because its running game has not provided enough help, and that puts more pressure on both lines of scrimmage to decide the game. Michigans outlook also comes with a defensive concern, since injuries to key players could affect its pass rush, adding another layer of uncertainty to a matchup where one clean answer on either side may be enough to swing the result. [Read more 🡒]