Michigan’s College Football Playoff hopes and dreams were dashed last Saturday, but a high-profile non-CFP bowl game awaits.
We’ve been rounding up various bowl projection lists over the past few weeks, which have been shockingly consistent. The Wolverines already seem destined for one place and one place only — the Citrus Bowl. This was all but confirmed on Saturday afternoon, as On3’s Brett McMurphy reported that Michigan was locked into being the Big Ten’s representative for the Citrus Bowl.
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Here are the latest projections following the madness that was Conference Championship Weekend.
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CBS Sports (Brad Crawford): Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
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ESPN (Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach): Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
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On3 (Brett McMurphy) : Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
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The Athletic (Scott Dochterman): Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
Folks, we have ourselves a consensus.
As a reminder, the Citrus Bowl has the first choice of Big Ten and SEC schools to not make the CFP. While Michigan will likely be ranked near USC and the Trojans beat the Wolverines head-to-head, USC is still bound to grandfathered Pac-12 tie-ins for the 2025 season (likely the Alamo Bowl). The Citrus Bowl will likely be choosing between Michigan and Iowa to be their Big Ten representative.
As for the SEC, Texas has been the trendy pick for quite some time. The 9-3 Longhorns missed out on the CFP due to their loss to lowly 4-8 Florida. However, they proved their resilience in a 27-17 win over then-No. 3 Texas A&M. Arch Manning and company would certainly be a test for a young Michigan team looking to go into the offseason with some momentum.
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Should Michigan indeed go to the Citrus Bowl, other possible opponents include the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Tennessee Volunteers. However, Texas seems very likely to be the choice at this point.
The Citrus Bowl is set to take place at 3 p.m. ET on Dec. 31 in Orlando, Florida.
