Michigan football: 2025 schedule and key games
Michigan football’s schedule and key games for the 2025 season.
Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore on Thursday backed the Big Ten and SEC’s push for both conferences to have automatic qualifiers for the College Football Playoff.
Moore, who called the Big Ten the best conference in college football, said both conferences should have automatic qualifiers in the 12-team CFP, which debuted for the 2024 season.
“I think our conference and the SEC, for sure, should have automatic qualifiers,” Moore told On3. “You can just look at the strength of schedules, the week-to-week and the games. You feel like you’re in the NFL sometimes, where every week is a battle. Doesn’t matter who you play; every week is a battle. Absolutely, that should be the case.”
The current CFP ruleset doesn’t officially offer automatic qualifying bids. It instead offers entry to the five highest-ranked conference champions, with the top four of those receiving a top-four seed and an automatic bye. That said, both the Big Ten and SEC are widely considered virtual locks to be among the highest-ranked champions. Indeed, Big Ten champion Oregon and SEC champion Georgia were awarded the top two seeds in the inaugural 12-team playoff.
The idea of automatic qualifiers was reportedly mentioned in the CFP’s meeting on Tuesday, but not talked about at length, according to ESPN. The meeting was instead centered around seeding, with the committee yet to decide whether changes will be made for the 2025 college football season.
The Big Ten and SEC are widely viewed as the two top conferences in college football, claiming the six last national championships. The Big Ten claims back-to-back winners in Michigan and Ohio State. The two conferences, who are in favor of straight seeding for the CFP based on teams’ ranking — rather than the top four conference winners — view their teams’ body of work harder than any conferences based on strength of schedule.
“If other conferences are only going to play eight conference games,” Moore said, “and if we’re playing nine conference games, maybe those nonconference games are going to be a little different than they are now.”
The CFP management committee must unanimously agree to format changes in 2025. Boise State and Arizona State earned the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds in the 2024 College Football Playoff based on being the third- and fourth-highest ranked conference champions.
Moore is fully onboard with CFP seeding changes, and potentially more CFP changes with the Big Ten having an upper hand at earning a berth.
“I would say we have the best conference in football,” he said. “With us winning the national title in 2023 and Ohio winning in 2024, and as competitive as all the bowl games were, the Big Ten is back on top as the best conference in football. People are going to challenge that, but the facts are the facts.”
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