The committee has made its decision. As a huge Michigan fan, this hurts. It is painful to think that after looking so dominant all year, Michigan will be left out of the top four come New Year's. I know that probably comes as such a disappointing reality to all Michigan fans given the way the season started with so much promise, but relax. Everything will be fine.

First off, no one is going to beat Alabama. No one. The Crimson Tide have had the toughest schedule filled with top teams that anyone has seen in recent history, and they have made it look overwhelmingly easy. Just watch a couple plays of the Bama defensive lineman rushing the quarterback, and you’ll see what I mean. Or how the team had -7 yards on offense in the first quarter yesterday, and they still scored 16 points in the quarter due to defense/special teams. This team, as it has been in recent history under coach Nick Saban, is no joke. Whether its Ohio State, Clemson, or Washington, none of these teams have the speed/discipline to outgain the Tide for 6o minutes, or at least I wouldn’t count on it. Case in point, it took a Vince Young-esque performance by Deshaun Watson to make it reasonably close against Alabama in last years championship, and this Bama team is statistically better in all aspects than last year’s team. It’s too unlikely that this team will lose to anyone, even the Wolverines.

On the flipside, Michigan will end up in a New Year’s Six Bowl outside of the playoff, such as the Orange Bowl, where they'll almost be guaranteed favorites over whoever they play. They'll be ready to play, so put another bowl win on Harbaugh’s resume, and revamp our roster with a strong recruiting class for next season, where we’ll be expected to compete for a championship again.

In addition to that recruiting class, Michigan will most likely return a core of players that still hasn’t beaten Ohio State, and thus will be more determined than ever going into that game. The upset of losing this year in Columbus could bring juniors, such as star utility player Jabrill Peppers, back for his senior season instead of bolting for the NFL. They’ll also return quarterback Wilton Speight, with a year of pretty solid quarterback play under his belt. It will be hard to replace the seniors that they’re graduating, but younger players will also be developing and will now have gained the experience of playing in the big games.

And as for Harbaugh, you have to look at what he’s accomplished. He inherited a ton of players from a losing culture and an overall mediocre program, and took them to two straight 10-win seasons in a row. How often can a new coach come in and have that impact on what was a losing program for almost a decade? Seriously? He’s turned around what was a disappointing team year after year, and has made them competitive in nearly every single game. Case in point, the Ohio State game this year. That same team that played the Buckeyes even up in Columbus last Saturday got routed 42-13 at home the season before. That was also the only time in the last two seasons where Michigan has lost by more than a double digit deficit. Harbaugh has completely changed the culture around Michigan football in less than two years time, and this team will certainly embrace that winning mentality for years to come.

So, as we all anticipate the decisions on Sunday and see that Michigan really has its back against the wall, die-hard fans like myself will probably get caught up in the result, and will forget just how far this team has come in the past two years, where the chances of getting into the playoff virtually came down to questionable referee calls. So don’t worry, Michigan football fans, we will all be fine. We’ll be back and better than ever next season.