Michigan football rises in College Football Playoff Week 2 rankings after bye week

The 7-2 Michigan Wolverines are back in action this weekend when they head to Chicago's Wrigley Field to take on Northwestern. The Wolverines had this past weekend off to correct some wrongs and get healthy.

While Michigan didn't play this past weekend -- the Wolverines won the bye week. On Tuesday, the latest College Football Playoff Rankings were released and Michigan moved up three spots and the Wolverines are now ranked No. 18 in the country.

Michigan needs to see results starting this Saturday

Michigan controls its own destiny and these rankings don't mean a ton for the Wolverines in the grand scheme of things. One more loss and Michigan's College Football Playoff hopes are down the drain. But win out and the Wolverines are making the CFP.

The Wolverines entered the bye week in hopes of getting healthy and head coach Sherrone Moore said on Monday that was the No. 1 goal, and it sounds like things are trending in the right direction.

"Getting guys healthy, that was the number one goal, we want to make sure we got guys healthy," said Moore. "Obviously, get work in, do things to get us better, but trying to get guys back. We’ll see what their status is as we go through the week, but feel good about it. Feel good about where Cole is. We’ll see where they are, we’ll see where Jimmy is, we’ll see where Jaishawn is. But feel like we’re in a positive place with all of them.

"And feel like we’ll just keep getting more guys healthy. And then the guys that we’re playing, we’re getting into game 10 of the season, everybody’s got something. Some bruise, nick, something. So keep those guys healthy, and getting their bodies back was important for us."

The next step will be to see the offense look more complete. The passing attack has really struggled in the last two games -- both being wins. Bryce Underwood, the pass protection, and the wide receivers haven't been on the same page.

While Michigan has an elite rushing attack, and Jordan Marshall has been elite, the Wolverines need to show some signs of life throwing downfield. Michigan had another week to work on this and starting Saturday, we need to see some improvement.