Very few have had faith that Michigan football could or would be a solid team in 2026, but one media analyst has been remarkably consistent.
Over at On3, Andy Staples had the Wolverines in his preseason College Football Playoff bracketology coming in as the 10-seed. That notion had briefly seemed absurd, as the maize and blue struggled mightily in the season opener against Western Michigan. However, despite most believing that Michigan would lose to Oklahoma in Week 2, it prevailed, and hope remains alive in Ann Arbor.
And so it also does with Staples, who revealed his post-Week 2 top 12, and the Wolverines come in squarely as the 9-seed in his projection.
9. Michigan
Some of you will hate this pick because Michigan should have lost to Western Michigan.
But the Wolverines didn’t lose, and they followed that by stuffing Oklahoma repeatedly in a 17-10 win. Perhaps the Sooners aren’t as good as we predicted, but my suspicion is this win will look excellent at the end of the year. Wolverines QB Bryce Underwood improved dramatically from game one to game two. He’ll probably look fine against UTEP. The next true test comes week four at home against Iowa.
In this scenario, the Wolverines would be relatively evenly matched with their opponent and would travel to Oxford to face Ole Miss for the second time in program history. The winner of that game would face No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Other teams on the schedule who made Staples' projection include No. 4 Indiana and 7-seed Ohio State. Oregon, which was his projected Big Ten champion, is out of his prediction after losing to Oklahoma State.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Andy Staples predicts Michigan in CFP again after Oklahoma win
