Michigan was 6-5, we got no props at all for playing them. We'd already played all the WAC schools but say there was one with a winning record we hadn't played and we got put with them. We were already number one and beating them in that era would've still kept us #1 (assuming all the other games went as they did in 1984).
Additionally, we would've killed any mediocre WAC school (just like we did the majority of WAC games that year) which arguably would've gotten us more props than squeaking out the win against Michigan as we did in real life.