Michigan Now Most Academically Prestigious CFP Championship School

With its 34-13 win over the Washington Huskies Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship, the Michigan Wolverines won its first football national championship in 26 years. The last time Michigan was able to call itself national champions, many things in the college football world looked drastically different. As such, new milestones and precedents are being set each year.

For example, Michigan is now just one of six schools to ever go 15-0 or better in a college football season. Next season, 15-0 will only be good enough to get a team to the national championship game as the College Football Playoffs are set to expand to 12 teams.

The sport is constantly evolving, however, Michigan's consistency academically allowed the university to enjoy a notch in its cap alongside its shiny golden trophy.

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According to College Rover, Michigan is the most academically prestigious school to ever win the College Football Playoff National Championship. Of course, this means only since 2014 when the CFP was introduced.

For example, Yale, Harvard and many other schools more academically prestigous than Michigan have won national championships at the same level - Yale actually went 16-0 in 1894. Of course, Yale had to retroactively be named national champion years later. Yale and its fellow Ivy League schools now play a tick below Michigan these days, meaning there isn't much competition for Michigan where the football program matches the academics so highly.

According to QS World University Rankings, Michigan ranks as the No. 11 school academically. However, only Stanford plays at the FBS level and is ranked higher than Michigan. Stanford hasn't been a national contender, well, since current Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was there with Andrew Luck at quarterback.

While Michigan won't soon lose this accomplishment, the 2023 CFP bracket was the most academically prestigious offering yet. It was the only season in which at least three top 25 universities made the tournament as no other year had more than one.

Texas ranked No. 22, Washington No. 23 and Alabama at 131 - Again, this accounts for every university in America, even those that don't play football at all or at a much lower level than these schools.

Once Michigan defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl, this year's champion was set to hold the honor that now belongs to Michigan.