Predicting where Michigan football lands in first College Football Playoff rankings

The first CFP rankings comes out on Tuesday night. Where will Michigan land?

Brendan Mullin-Imagn Images

Tuesday night will be the unveiling of the first College Football Playoff rankings at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Michigan Wolverines are sitting at 7-2 on the season and they are entering their second bye week of the season.

With three games left, Michigan can still claw its way up into the top 12 to make the CFP, but the Wolverines can't suffer any more setbacks this season.

With the CFP rankings coming out on Tuesday, I'm going to make an official prediction for where the Wolverines are going to be ranked. I view the committee putting Michigan at No. 20 on Tuesday night when the rankings are released.

Why Michigan could be ranked higher

Not only is Michigan a national brand, something the committee will take into consideration regardless of what they say, but the Wolverines have mostly taken care of business this season. The Wolverines' two losses came against ranked teams on the road: Oklahoma and USC.

Michigan's away win over Nebraska and home win over Washington will give it some momentum heading into the first rankings. The Wolverines will be competing against other two-loss teams such as Vanderbilt, Utah, Miami, and Missouri for higher positioning. If the committee views the Wolverines' win/losses better than a couple of those teams -- Michigan might be in the upper teens when it's all said and done with.

Why Michigan could be ranked lower

Michigan is a bit of an enigma and people have varying opinions of the Wolverines. Michigan's lack of explosion through the air has some people wondering if Michigan is still a year away. Not only do the Wolverines have two losses, but Michigan didn't look too great against lower competition like Michigan State and Purdue the past two weeks.

The Wolverines are riddled with injuries and that is also something else the committee will factor in. But even if Michigan starts at No. 20 or lower, if the Wolverines take care of business, everything will take care of itself.

Regardless of where Michigan is ranked, the Wolverines will enjoy a much-needed bye week before returning in two weeks to take on Northwestern in Wrigley Field.

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