The Michigan Wolverines lost their final game of the season against the Ohio State Buckeyes, falling to 9-3 on the year and 7-2 in Big Ten play. What does the loss mean for Michigan, and what is the outlook moving forward?
Michigan Wolverines’ Big Ten Title, CFB Playoff Hopes Dashed in Home Loss to Ohio State
There was hope for the Michigan Wolverines that they’d be able to engineer a surprise Big Ten Championship and CFB Playoff run with a win against the Ohio State Buckeyes. After all, Michigan won against Ohio State in Columbus last year, without Bryce Underwood at quarterback.
But the transitive property didn’t pull through for Sherrone Moore and Co. The Wolverines fell 27-9 against Ohio State in Week 14 this year, in a game that was scarcely competitive past the first quarter.
According to the PFSN CFB Football Playoff Meter, the Wolverines had an 8.3% chance of making the CFB Playoffs before their game against Ohio State. With a win, the Wolverines’ chances would have surged to 34.8%.
Instead, any and all hope of making a Playoff leap has been extinguished. The PFSN CFB FPM now lists Michigan with a 0% chance of making the CFB Playoffs.
The Wolverines have three total losses — two conference losses against Ohio State and USC, and a non-conference defeat against top-ten Oklahoma.
One could argue that the Wolverines don’t have any bad losses, but they also don’t have any good wins, with perhaps their best victories coming against 7-5 Nebraska and 8-3 Washington. They do not have the wins they need to sway the committee as an At-Large contender.
Michigan still has a high-profile bowl game to look forward to, likely against a ranked opponent — but for the Wolverines’ faithful, much of the focus will turn to 2026.
Underwood is set to return with another full offseason under his belt, along with 2025 breakouts Jordan Marshall and Andrew Marsh — but Moore will have work to do, and considerably more pressure on his shoulders to close the gap against Ryan Day, Curt Cignetti, Dan Lannning, and Lincoln Riley.
Ohio State, meanwhile, ends the season a perfect 12-0 and 9-0 in Big Ten play, and will face off against the Indiana Hoosiers in a heavily-anticipated Big Ten Championship matchup.
Both Ohio State and Indiana will be in the CFB Playoff, and both could have first-round byes regardless of the Big Ten title game result, but the winner of the Big Ten Championship puts themselves in position for the No. 1 overall seed.
It wasn’t long ago that Michigan carried the No. 1 overall seed in the 2023-24 CFB Playoffs, under head coach Jim Harbaugh. The onus will be on Moore, in the weeks and months to come, to regain that momentum and spur a rebound in 2026.