Michigan Sign-Stealing Scandal 'Not A College Football Playoff Problem' Says Committee
The Michigan Wolverines came in at the No. 3 spot in the initial edition of the 2023 College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night.
And they did so, despite their highly publicized sign-stealing scandal that has been the talk of college football over the last two weeks, and has the Wolverines under NCAA investigation.
However, according to College Football Playoff committee Boo Corrigan, the scandal is not a CFP problem, but an NCAA one.
“We really view it as it's an NCAA issue, not a CFP issue," Corrigan said on ESPN. "At this point in time, as we’re looking at this, we want to make sure we get not just the top four teams but the top 25 teams right.”
And to make this even stranger, it appears that the issue was never even under discussion by the committee to begin with.
“Our job, as we look at it, is to rank the teams and to follow our protocols,” Corrigan said. “As we went through it, that wasn’t part of any of the discussions that occurred during our time together.”
Based on that criteria, the Committee likely does have the top-4 rankings relatively correct.
The Buckeyes have the best resume in college football as of this past weekend, which earned them the No. 1 spot, while Michigan and the Georgia Bulldogs have faced relatively soft schedules up until now.
Meanwhile, Florida State does have a win over LSU but has also not had much challenge outside of that.
So for now, if Michigan's opponents want to keep the Wolverines out of the playoffs, they will have to beat them on the field.
The rest of the way, Michigan will face the No. 1 toughest strength of schedule in the nation, with matchups against, Purdue, No. 9 Penn State, 5-3 Maryland and finishing with the Buckeyes on Nov. 25.