Michigan leads contenders who could break South's grip on CFP championship

Something interesting has happened in college football as the season has progressed and the national title picture has come into clearer focus.

In contrast to much of the past decade, what's notable about this chase for that golden cylinder is just how wide open it looks, how geographically diverse it is, and, well, how controversial it might all be, too.

Sure, there are the usual suspects out of the sport's natural foothold in the Deep South, teams that look primed to add another ring between reigning champ Georgia, a resurgent Alabama, and an undefeated Florida State team that is nationally prominent again.

But this 2023 campaign also offers up the best title chances in ages for teams west of the Mississippi (Texas, Washington, Oregon) or north of the Mason-Dixon Line (Michigan and Ohio State). Both regions not only have viable candidates as we careen into December, but multiple ones at that, a rarity that really hasn't been seen since the mid-1990s. 

Take the Pac-12, which has had just one team play in the national title game since expansion in 2011, and has had only two finish in the top three of the polls in a dozen years. The last football national title from the West Coast came back in the 2004 season with USC — so long ago that players on those Pete Carroll teams now have children old enough to be recruited.

As far as the Big 12 goes, it can at least claim to have had a team in the title game less than a year ago (just don't ask how it went), but has been in a similar drought since Vince Young stamped his name into history and the Longhorns lifted that famous crystal football 18 years ago. Undercutting it all, however, is the fact that the league's two main powers will be joining the SEC next summer.

A Big Ten team has actually captured a College Football Playoff crown, but Urban Meyer's 2014 triumph at Ohio State remains the only one in the playoff era — and one of just two championships from a northern school in 25 seasons.

That kind of history lesson only underscores the issue at hand for many of this year's playoff contenders: it's their best opportunity to do something that hasn't been done in seemingly forever. At the same time, they must grapple with larger issues outside the lines.

In short, can these western and northern contenders overcome themselves before overcoming the big boys from down South? Given the changing nature of the postseason, who knows when such an opportunity will come along again?

Nowhere is this more of a central theme than at Michigan, whose sandwich game this weekend at Maryland — between their toughest tests of the regular season — has the potential to insert a new kind of sideshow into the mix. 

Jim Harbaugh and the university's hearing to temporarily overturn the Big Ten's regular-season suspension for a sign-stealing scandal will come less than 24 hours prior to kickoff on "Big Noon Saturday," and, no matter the ultimate decision from the court, the message being sent is clear: this entire episode matters that much more to Michigan because it knows what's at stake. 

Everyone in maize and blue, seemingly from the president on down, knows the importance of getting the most unique of Michigan men back on the sidelines in a headset because this team is fully capable of delivering the school's first national title since 1997.

Will the legal fight be worth it though? That depends on the results over the coming weeks. 

This Maryland game certainly doesn't look to be the stiffest challenge Michigan will face on the field, not after Mike Locksley's side snuck past Nebraska to end a four-game losing streak. But still, this is a road game in conference play late in the year — always tricky — and comes as players have dealt with weeks upon weeks of distractions from the original sign-stealing scandal which has quickly enveloped their head coach.

More importantly, how will this week's Big Noon Saturday test serve as an opportunity to get any kinks out of an attack that will soon welcome an equal CFP challenger to the Big House seven days later?

The Buckeyes, stellar résumé in hand, are also not without distractions. The arrival of The Game will undoubtedly bring about plenty of discussion surrounding Ryan Day's job status as the first to hold a losing streak to those up north since John Cooper. OSU will also be dealing with whatever fallout comes its way after reports linked the Buckeyes to helping drive the sign-stealing saga.

Throw in a university and forthcoming athletic leadership in Columbus, and it's not as calm and quiet that way either.

Out West, Washington has won six straight games with a final margin of 10 or fewer points and needed a second-half comeback in nearly all of them. Their closing stretch to even make it to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 title game is not a breeze either, with a trip to Corvallis against a top-10 Oregon State team looking like a tough task, even before considering how the Huskies will be treated at Reser Stadium after leaving the Beavers behind in their move to the Big Ten. The final, emotional Apple Cup arrives after that.

Then there's the little matter of the coaching carousel spinning up, with head coach Kalen DeBoer's name making a frequent appearance. At rival Oregon, Dan Lanning has also been mentioned in the carousel, while the Ducks also have to work around some injuries and sort out that aforementioned Big Ten move they're making a few months.

Down in Texas, owners of one of the best wins in the season (Alabama) and proof of concept that there's a title contender in Austin, Steve Sarkisian's side must say farewell to Ames one last time this Saturday and hope to avoid stepping on the rake many have been bracing for since that wild loss to Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl.

Luckily for the Longhorns, they're as capable as any of the contenders to be the last one standing.

There is not parity in college football this season as many have been labeling it. We're not having some sort of 2007-esque run of upsets among top-10 teams or unranked programs notching shocking results left and right.

Rather, the list of elite teams is simply bigger than it's ever been in the College Football Playoff era. And, just as important, all the contenders — even Georgia and Alabama — are flawed.

So it's really not a wonder that teams from Michigan, and other locales both north and west, are looking around and starting to embrace the possibility that this is the year in a way it hasn't been for past editions.

HOW TO WATCH ‘BIG NOON KICKOFF' THIS SATURDAY

• 10 a.m.-Noon ET: "Big Noon Kickoff" pregame show on FOX
• Noon ET: Michigan at Maryland on FOX and the FOX Sports app

First and 10

1. The coaching carousel got a shot of adrenaline on Sunday when Texas A&M dismissed Jimbo Fisher despite the $77 million left on his deal. (Mississippi State's Zach Arnett would later join Fisher when he was reportedly fired on Monday).

"We are not in the championship conversation and something was not quite right about our direction," Aggies AD Ross Bjork said. "Something is not working. Something is not clicking. Therefore, something had to give."

Here are some potential candidates to replace Fisher in College Station.

2. Boise State head coach Andy Avalos was also shown the door despite a 42-14 win on Saturday against New Mexico. The Broncos are hoping to avoid their first losing season since 1997 and lost too many close games to keep the defensive-minded alum around for another campaign. Former coach Bryan Harsin, who lives in town, will be a popular pick if he doesn't get a look elsewhere first.

3. Buckle up because next week could bring about a flood of other firings. Several Power 5 jobs are still likely to come open, and that's to say nothing of the already open ones helping drive the market, like Michigan State. 

4. There have been several coordinator changes, too but the most notable announcement on Sunday might have been Penn State cutting ties with OC Mike Yurcich. Given how the Nittany Lions have performed on that side of the ball in the team's big games, such a divorce was seemingly inevitable as James Franklin moves to hire his sixth — and perhaps most critical — offensive coordinator since arriving in Happy Valley.

5. It said a lot about the kind of season that LSU is having that their rivalry game against Florida was down in the prime-time pecking order, stuck on a conference network in lieu of a big broadcast slot. Yet Jayden Daniels may have taken over the lead in the Heisman Trophy discussion with yet another masterful performance, throwing for 372 and running for 234 and notching five total scores. He has more passing touchdowns this season than 47 FBS teams have total touchdowns.

6. The best coaching job of the weekend belonged to Arizona State, where Kenny Dillingham used a bag of duct tape, some loose change, and a wild offensive game plan to scrap his way to a win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl. 

With Jedd Fisch eeking out a last-second win at Colorado and pushing Arizona further up the rankings, it was a solid Saturday of football across the state.

7. Speaking of having a good year, hats off to Missouri under Eli Drinkwitz this season. The Tigers have been a bright spot in an otherwise down SEC and may have an inside track to a New Year's Six berth after thumping Tennessee.

8. Every fan base likes to complain about their conference's officials, but those complaints seemed to echo a tad louder than normal in the ACC after an especially bad weekend for the zebras in the league. Duke's Mike Elko, in particular, probably sent a few messages to the offices in Charlotte after a wild fourth quarter and overtime in Chapel Hill. 

9. Hats off to Northwestern interim coach David Braun for being the lone positive in the Big Ten West after the Wildcats upset Wisconsin in Camp Randall to move to 5-5 on the season. This program had just a single win last year and went through a difficult firing of its head coach on the eve of fall camp. Yet here the Wildcats are, on the verge of getting to a bowl game by grinding out wins in a very unexpected fashion.

10. The Mountain West has been known to produce some wild results late at night, but this past weekend was an all-time head-scratcher. San Jose State blew out a Fresno State team that had designs on the Group of 5 bid, while Air Force went out to the islands and was the lone service academy to lose on Veteran's Day weekend — its second loss in as many weeks after starting 8-0. It's possible that UNLV, which took out Wyoming with ease Friday night, is now the favorite to win the league in Barry Odom's first Sin City campaign.

Saturday Superlatives

Best player: Jayden Daniels, LSU

Team of the Week: Arizona State

Coach of the Week: Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Hot Seat of the Week: James Franklin

Heisman Five: 1. Jayden Daniels (LSU), 2. Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State), 3. Bo Nix (Oregon), 4. Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), 5. Caleb Williams (USC)

Play of the Week

Super 16

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Washington
4. Florida State
5. Ohio State
6. Oregon
7. Alabama
8. Oregon State
9. Texas
10. Missouri
11. Ole Miss
12. LSU
13. Louisville
14. Penn State
15. Arizona
16. Iowa

Just missed the cut: James Madison

Best of the rest: Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Utah, Tulane, SMU, Liberty

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Pre-Snap Reads

Michigan at Maryland (Saturday, Noon ET on FOX)

What t-shirt slogan will the Wolverines be wearing this week? Who will be coaching? These are all questions that will be answered that have nothing to do with the game itself, which will be predictably one-sided. Michigan -19

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30 p.m. ET)

It appears that Georgia is entering that phase where it's peaking on all fronts. The Bulldogs may not be quite at the level they were a year ago, but the gap between them and the rest of the SEC is growing as they'll showcase in this one. Georgia -8

Washington at Oregon State (7:30 p.m. ET)

Where do title dreams go to die in the Pac-12? Often, it's been at night games in Corvallis. The Huskies will be well aware of this as they head South for a final date at Reser Stadium for a game that should come down to the end. Washington -2.5

Texas at Iowa State (8 p.m. ET on FOX)  

Ames has been a place that has often tripped up championship-chasing teams in the past, and it's not like the Longhorns have been playing with their A-game recently. ISU will be physical and try to pull out all the stops, even if it doesn't wind up with the win in the end. Iowa State +7

Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.