College football analyst David Pollack revealed one matchup between the SEC and Big Ten that he thinks will be a CFP elimination game.
David Pollack Reveals Major SEC-Big Ten Matchup That Will Be A CFP Elimination Game originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The 2025 college football season has a lot of storylines floating around, as always, and it will be interesting to see which teams emerge as College Football Playoff contenders.
College football analyst David Pollack dropped a new episode of "See Ball Get Ball With David Pollack." During the conversation, he revealed one showdown between the SEC and Big Ten that he thinks will be a College Football Playoff elimination game.
David Pollack Suggests Big Nonconference Showdown as CFP Elimination Game
The game Pollack is referring to is the September 6 game between Michigan and Oklahoma in Norman.
"That OU game is an elimination game. Whoever loses that game is possibly not going to the playoff because of that out-of-conference loss," Pollack said. "Everybody else is going to be in that range, and I think they're going to lose several other games, and I think that will be a big out-of-conference game that will really matter."
In the preseason Coaches Poll, Michigan dropped in at No. 14, although Oklahoma was at No. 26, marking the first time the Sooners were out of those rankings since 1999.
But, Pollack is a bit reserved about the Oklahoma-Michigan game for both programs and mentioned the Wolverines will likely lose other games.
Michigan also has notable Big Ten showdowns against each of Nebraska, Wisconsin, USC and Ohio State in a not-too-favorable schedule.
Oklahoma faces Auburn, Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and LSU, so finding a way to beat Michigan would go a long way to boost the resume.
What Are Michigan's Expectations for 2025?
In 2024, Michigan went 8-5 overall with a 5-4 Big Ten record in the first year with head coach Sherrone Moore.
But the most notable was the season finale win over Ohio State in Columbus after a 5-5 start to the year.
Bryce Underwood, the five-star quarterback, flipped from LSU to Michigan and is battling it out with Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene and East Carolina transfer Jake Garcia for the QB1 job.
Michigan landed Alabama transfer running back Justice Haynes to pair with Jordan Marshall.
The offensive line returns a few starters and Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley came to Ann Arbor to give the Wolverines another playmaker.
All in all, the hype is there for Michigan, and Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports predicted them to finish fourth in the Big Ten behind Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon, respectively. So, that September 6 showdown against Oklahoma could be an indicator of how good this Michigan team really is.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: General Sports
