In a reader survey conducted by The Athletic, Big Ten fans were asked to rate every conference team's likelihood of winning the College Football Playoff in the next five years on a scale of one to five.

The results were revealing, and for the Michigan Wolverines, genuinely interesting.

"Only four programs had '5 (very likely)' receive more than 20 percent of the vote. To no one’s surprise, that list includes recent national champions Ohio State (74.5 percent), Indiana (34.1 percent) and Michigan (21.7 percent)," Scott Dochterman of the Athletic reported on May 6.

So why did these four programs make the cut? Simple. Ohio State won the national title in January 2025.

Indiana won the CFP in January 2026. Michigan won it all in the 2023 season. These programs earned their spots through results.

The rest of the conference fell far behind.

Oregon led the remaining teams at 51.6 percent. Penn State managed 8.9 percent and USC 3.9 percent. Everyone else came in under 2 percent.

21.7% of respondents rated Michigan as "very likely" to win another national title in the next five years. That puts the Wolverines fourth in the entire conference.

Not a bad position to be in. But not where Michigan fans expect their program to sit either. The full conference ranking tells the complete story.

Michigan Fans Are Confident the Program Has a Shot at Contending for a National Title

The Michigan Wolverines have undergone some big changes. Head coach Kyle Whittingham took over the program, but the fans still have their doubts about him.

"Will Michigan get significantly better under Kyle Whittingham?" asked Colter, a Michigan fan. "Hard to tell, although I'm optimistic that a professional, qualified adult in the room will be good for the program."

Even though the fans are expecting better results under Whittingham, they are skeptical about other staff members in the program.

"Michigan seems to have fallen backwards into a strong, stable hire,” said Craig, a Michigan fan. “Once they finally get around to replacing Warde Manuel, I think they're well set up to compete for the near future.”

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Read more at Michigan Football Community.

Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore