Why Michigan needs to win by a large margin against Maryland on Saturday

No. 18 Michigan football sits with an 8-2 record with a tremendous opportunity in front of them with upcoming games against Maryland and No. 1 Ohio State.

Many believe that if the Wolverines can win out with a win over the Buckeyes, that it would be enough to punch a ticket to the College Football Playoff, despite whether Michigan plays in the Big Ten title game or not.

However, Tuesday night's reveal of the College Football Playoff rankings signaled a potential warning sign for Sherrone Moore's team. The Wolverines, after also being ranked No. 18 last week, did not move up in the polls after a win at Northwestern, and the fact of the matter is, the committee still has multiple teams in front of them that range from having one to three losses (Texas is the three-loss team at No. 17).

Clearly, while the Wolverines have won four games in a row, they haven't necessarily impressed the committee with blowout victories or by looking overly impressive for 60 minutes in any of those wins.

Nov 15, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Michigan Wolverines running back Jordan Marshall (23) runs for a touchdown against the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

Michigan, to improve it standing in the CFP race, needs to win big this Saturday, and here's why:

There is a jumble of teams who may be fighting for the last spots in the CFP

Ultimately, the goal for Michigan, and any team for that matter, should be to win no matter how it looks. For the most part, this young Wolverines' team has been able to do that in the 2025 season.

However, at this stage of the season, it's getting to the point where the committee is not only looking at wins, but how those wins came and against what competition level, with everything in the last few weeks of the college football season magnified.

The fact is that Michigan could have put itself in a much better position as the rankings stand today if the team didn't get beaten so badly by Oklahoma and USC and if they would have taken more control of games against teams they are superior to.

Now, the Wolverines are in a situation where they are being judged against other teams with similar resumes. And if Michigan ends up 10-2 and its resume is being stacked against teams from other conferences, the Wolverines will want that resume to look as clean as possible heading into the final rankings show on Dec. 7.

Oct 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore in the second half against the USC Trojans at United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

When looking at the teams above Michigan now, No. 13 Miami (FL) will be vying for most likely an At-Large spot with Virginia and Georgia Tech likely set to play in the ACC title game. If Michigan beats OSU, I imagine the Wolverines would get the nod over the Hurricanes as the Wolverines would have the better win of those two teams.

However, No. 11 BYU, No. 12 Utah, No. 14 Vanderbilt and No. 15 USC will also be making runs for At-Large spots if those teams win out. The Trojans winning out would be especially problematic for the Wolverines with Lincoln Riley's team holding the head-to-head.

Maybe Michigan can jump the other teams in that mix with a win over Ohio State, but all of those teams currently rank ahead of the Wolverines, meaning there is ground that has to be made up and that it's not just a given that Michigan is in the playoff simply by winning the rest of its games.

Then, there's Texas, with the Longhorns also being a threat to receive an At-Large bid if they were to beat Texas A&M in the final week of the regular season and finish 9-3. If it came down to the last playoff spot and the committee was choosing between a 10-2 Michigan and a 9-3 Texas, which team gets in? At that point, Texas would have beaten Oklahoma, who Michigan lost to, but the Wolverines would have beaten Ohio State, who Texas lost to in Week 1.

As the results play out, a lot of this could work itself out, but the point is, Michigan has to do everything in its power to not only win, but look as good as they can doing it so the committee has no doubts as to whether the Wolverines deserve to be in the playoff with other teams also up for consideration.

Momentum going into OSU

In 2022 and 2023, the Wolverines nearly laid eggs against Illinois and Maryland ahead of the Ohio State games, winning by one possession in each one where the Wolverines were heavy favorites.

Those types of things can happen before The Game with both programs being anxious to get to Nov. 29. However, even though the games that are played before Michigan and Ohio State meet have no bearing on the result of Nov. 29, I still don't think the Wolverines want to make a habit of not playing their best going into the OSU contest.

At times, Michigan seems like it has fully hit its stride, such as last week during the first three quarters when the offense was moving the ball with ease with the run and pass, with the defense locking the Wildcats' offense down.

During other points, it feels like the Wolverines are about to fall off the train tracks completely and dismantle altogether with turnovers on offense and giving up the occasional big play on the defensive side of the ball.

Some of those inconsistencies are going to come with being the youngest team in the conference, but for Moore's team, it would be ideal if they could click on all cylinders against Maryland this Saturday to build positive momentum heading into the biggest game of the year.

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