Championship Saturday has come and gone, but the four-team playoff field is far from complete.
No. 2 Michigan clinched a spot by blanking No. 16 Iowa 26-0 in Indianapolis for its third Big Ten title and 13-0 start. It held Iowa to 155 yards of offense and three turnovers, but it also finished with a season-low 213 yards and punted six times.
Is Michigan’s resume strong enough to earn the No. 1 spot after No. 1 Georgia lost to No. 8 Alabama in the SEC Championship? Will it instead go to Pac-12 champion Washington?
Only those two teams appear to have a confirmed spot. Michigan will learn its opponent and bowl location on Sunday afternoon. Here’s what the national media is saying about Saturday’s Big Ten championship game and the CFP picture heading into Sunday:
X, formerly known as Twitter, posts:
“One last thought for the night,” wrote Dan Wolken of USA Today. There’s a lot of “The committee has to do X or Y.” They do not. This is an arbitrary process with subjective rules. It was not written on Mount Sinai’s stone tablets. They are also people, not robots, and they face a difficult decision.”
“Jim Harbaugh just had his injured O-lineman Zak Zinter accept the Big Ten Championship trophy from commissioner Tony Petitti, rather than embarrass him face-to-face (as most of us would have done,” Daily Wire’s David Cone wrote. JH made a great move.”
The Athletic’s Kennington Lloyd Smith posted: Iowa held Michigan to 213 yards (66 rushing), 3-15 on third down (!!!!!!!!) and did so with Michigan holding a 14-minute lead in time of possession. Championship-level defense. It’s truly a shame.
Football analyst Jason Staples posted: Consider this: the Iowa offense has been a punchline all season. FSU just gave up fewer YPP (2.7) to a very good Louisville offense than Michigan did to Iowa (2.8). Whoa.
Jeff Riger of 97.1 The Ticket posted: “Look at Harbaugh having Petitti hand the trophy to Zak Zinter. And then when being interviewed he yells BET into the mic. Hilarious.”
“Michigan 1, Washington 2, Texas 3 (that’s all settled”),” Alex Kirshner posted. FSU 4. Yes, Bama is “better,” Michigan will demolish FSU, and Bama has the best win in the country. I just don’t think they have the guts to do it. That’s the wager.”
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