Michigan’s road to the National Championship, part 3

I released part 1 and part 2 before the National Championship game was even played. That’s how confident I have been that we would do it. Also, it ended up being a kind of blessing Harbaugh missed half the games this season because it added to our legacy. Could any team in the country go undefeated, including wins over Penn State and Ohio State, without their head coach for 6 of their 12 games? I don’t think any other team could have accomplished what we did. I will cover the last few games in more detail, they are against generally tougher teams and more important.

Michigan’s defense is like a boa constrictor

Week 10 was against #9, Penn State. Just the day before the Big 10 commissioner had finally made his decision to suspend Coach Harbaugh for the remaining three games of the season. Can you imagine the effect on the players? By this time the “Michigan vs Everybody” mantra had kicked in for the Wolverines.  This was one of the better known games of the season, and it seemed everyone wanted to see how the Wolverines would do against a good team, especially now that nobody was taking any chances on their signs. Sherrone Moore took over and played a terrific game against the Nittany Lions, beating them in their own stadium.

Penn State scored first with a field goal. Michigan scored a TD on their next drive, and it was back and forth for the first half. The second half will be in some kind of record book, as Michigan ran 32 straight run plays to defeat Penn State 24-15, who at the time had the best rush-defense in the country. In the 4th quarter our defense didn’t let them convert a single first down. Blake Corum was the star of the second half, and somewhat famously bloodied the bridge of his nose. To quote him, who carried 26 times, “Obviously we wanted Coach Harbaugh to be here, but we did it for him today. We’ve been going through a lot lately, but it’s only brought us closer together.” Here is a clip of the highlights of this game, it’s worth a watch.

Mike Sainristil in action against Maryland

Week 11 vs Maryland brought an historic win for Michigan: it’s 1000th victory, and the first of any CFB school to achieve it. This wasn’t one of our best games. Maryland struck first with a field goal, but after that Michigan scored off of Corum’s legs, and we scored again after Maryland’s QB lost control of the ball on their 10 yard-line. By the end of the second quarter we were up 23-10. Things started going wrong right before the half, when McCarthy threw what looked like a short TD pass, but was intercepted. The second half was mostly the Terrapins’, and I’m here to tell you their QB, Tagovailoa, can throw the deep ball! By the early 4th quarter it was 29-24, and we got two more points from a questionable call for Tagovailoa which resulted in a safety, to bring Michigan up to 31. If I was a Maryland fan I would’ve been upset. Sainristil was great with a couple of interceptions, but this was one of Michigan’s worst games of the season. Here’s a clip of the full highlights, see what you think. This was the first time Michigan has gone 11-0 in back-to-back seasons ever.

Week 12 was the big one:  Ohio State. In this game Ohio State had risen to #2 and Michigan was #3 (the third year in a row we were the underdog). This was the toughest game of the regular season, and it was once again without our head coach. Fortunately, Sherrone Moore did a terrific job. Halfway through the first quarter OSU threw the first interception, which Blake Corum scored on a couple of downs later and we were off and running–literally. We held OSU to a field goal, and on our next drive McCarthy threw an incredibly accurate pass from 30 yards out to Roman Wilson for another TD–some questioned it but it seemed pretty clear. The Buckeyes answered with a TD of their own and it was 14-10. We failed to score and Ohio State made a final drive with a terrific pass to Marvin Harrison Jr, but they got no points out of it due to a missed 50-yard field goal.

The second half started with Michigan making a 50-yr field goal, which was a surprise given that we didn’t have a great kicker this year. Ohio ran the ball for their next drive which resulted in a TD, tying the game 17-17. We answered with a drive full of passes, putting Michigan up again. We even pulled a trick play (similar to last year’s), with McCarthy pitching the football back to RB Donovan Edwards, who stopped and threw the football downfield to a wide-open Colston Loveland which netted us 34 yards. The 4th quarter was eventful, with our star offensive lineman Zak Zinter getting his leg broken and carted off–it was a powerful scene, the entire team was on the field. The very next play Corum ran in for a touchdown flashing 65, Zak’s number. Michigan did two things that sucked the life out of the Buckeyes: the first was a 7-minute drive in the 4th quarter which left them only 1 minute; the second was OSU’s QB McCord throwing a second interception. The hardest game of the season but a most satisfying win, 30-24. Three years of beating Ohio State, it doesn’t get much better than that! Here is a clip of the full highlights, it’s a great game.

Things didn’t get any better for Ohio State, by the way. They went on to lose the Cotton Bowl to Missouri, who deliberately wore their classic block M helmets to troll them. Buckeye football lost to block M twice in one season that day. The Buckeyes put in their worst offensive performance in nearly a decade, and their first game without a touchdown since they were shut out in the 2016 CFP semi-final by Clemson.

The Big 10 championship game was against #16 Iowa, and it was one-sided. Michigan was again #2, Harbaugh was back, and we shut them out 26-0. The end of the first quarter was capped by freshman Semaj Morgan receiving a punt on our 8-yard line and explosively running 87 yards–Morgan will be a guy to watch next year. Iowa had a stout defense holding us to two TD’s, the rest were field goals. Sainristil was awesome on defense, forcing two fumbles and getting a sack and was named the MVP. Corum, meanwhile, is the only FBS player this year to score in every game of the season and was the nation’s leading scorer. Michigan fans booed as Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti presented the championship trophy and couldn’t even look at Harbaugh as he became the first coach in league history to win three straight outright conference championships. Later Harbaugh said “I’ve got one question for the Michigan Nation: who’s got a better team than us?” Here is the clip from the game.

Just a beautiful shot

New Year’s Day 2024 brought us to the playoffs and a difficult game against #4 Alabama. I will go on record one last time and say that we should have played Florida State. I wrote an article on it so I won’t go into it here. Anyway, everyone knows Alabama’s history and their legendary coach Nick Saban, one of the best in the history of the sport. Having 18 5-star recruits on their team (versus our 2) didn’t hurt either. Most folks bet against us. Michigan lost the toss and went wrong right away, with McCarthy’s first play being nearly intercepted. Two minutes later our special teams muffed catching Alabama’s punt, turning the ball over and allowing them to score a TD. Michigan’s following drive resulted in a touchdown, and we were tied. Deep in the 2nd quarter we picked up a crucial first down after our RB Donovan Edwards threw a too-high back pass to McCarthy, who somehow made a one-handed grab before throwing a completion to Roman Wilson for a 20-yard gain. I don’t know how he threw it while falling down and getting tackled. A few plays later Morris scored a reaching TD for us, which only resulted in 6 points as we really screwed up the PAT, almost turning the ball over. Our defense fortunately held Bama to a field goal to end the half.

The second half was different. Our defense was stellar, forcing errors and holding the Tide, but our offense stalled and nothing really happened in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter started with Bama scoring a TD, and now they led 17-13. Our next drive failed and on Bama’s drive we got a turnover, but it turned into a missed field goal in the third failure by special teams. We stopped the Tide from getting a TD but they made their field goal and it was 20-13. Michigan was running out of time, but we rallied on a great play McCarthy made with his legs, then a beautiful pass to Roman Wilson tied the game at 20 with 1:30 left. We stopped Bama’s drive, but once again dropped their punt right next to the end zone, picking it up at the 1 yard line in the final, fourth mistake by special teams, whom I’ve never seen play this badly. In OT Corum made an extraordinary rushing TD, and then we got the stop to topple the Tide, 27-20. Here are the highlights of the game.

This was not one of Michigan’s best games but our offense was great, with Corum setting a record for the most TD’s in program history. Our defense was flat out awesome. Michigan sacked Alabama QB Milroe a total of 7 times in the game, and tackled the Tide for a loss 10 times! We sacked Milroe a LOT, and blitzing him was one of the key strategies to winning the game. I have to say, if our special teams hadn’t made so many big mistakes we would’ve never gone to OT. Why did they have such trouble? I can only chalk it up to nerves, and maybe an off-night on top of it. I don’t think it was until after we beat Alabama that we started getting real respect from everyone.

Donovan Edwards getting it done

Finally we come to the national championship, Michigan vs Washington. Most know how it turned out, with Michigan earning a 34-13 victory and our first national championship since 1997. We started out great, our first drive earning a touchdown on a 45-yard run from Donovan Edwards. UW came back with a long drive but we held them to a field goal. Michigan’s answer was a 50-yard TD run by Edwards to end the first quarter. We held the Huskies from a TD until right before the end of the first half. Michigan’s plan had changed from blitzing (vs Alabama) to simply disrupting Penix. Michigan was up 17-10 by halftime.

Disrupt him we did, and we wore him down, especially in the second half when Will Johnson intercepted him on his first play. Our offensive line was still missing the star centerpiece, Zak Zinter, but it didn’t matter. Washington’s O-Line won the Joe Moore award, but frankly Michigan’s was better. Meanwhile our defense is what held everything together and pressured Penix on practically every play. Make no mistake,  Penix didn’t just ‘have an off night’, our defense gave him have an off night. In the early 4th quarter Penix threw a beautiful pass to Odunze but it was called back for holding, and though he later did complete a long pass it was all but over. A few minutes later the Huskies’ defense missed a tackle and Corum scored again, making it 27-13 notwithstanding an ugly extra point. That should have been it, but Penix later threw a pass into coverage that Sainristil intercepted, turning it into an 81-yard run which we scored on two plays later to end the game. Here is clip of the extended highlights.

Another beautiful shot

Corum was the offensive MVP but I think Edwards was just as good, rushing for multiple TD’s. Our defense held Washington to just 46 rushing yards and conversions on only two of 14 third downs. In fact Michigan’s defense held Washington’s offense to one TD for the entire game! Will Johnson was named defensive MVP but I think Sainristil was just as good, he was everywhere it seemed. It ended on a classy note: Penix made an emotional walk off the field following the final whistle, and while he made his way up the tunnel Michigan defensive end Jaylen Harrell caught up with the Huskies QB to offer his best.

Some statistics for you. This is Michigan’s 12th national title. McCarthy is now 27-1 in his career as a starter for a winning percentage of 96.4, better than any starting quarterback in at least the last 20 years. We are the first Big Ten team to win 15+ games since 1899. The Wolverines’ defense dominated during the regular season, allowing just 9.5 points per game, the fewest in a regular season since 2011. Michigan is the first team to hold 15 different opponents to under 25 points in a single season since 1903. Blake Corum has 58 career rushing touchdowns, the most by any Wolverines player and fourth-most all time in the Big Ten. I’ve gotta say, the majority of this season was “Michigan vs Everybody” and you know what? Michigan won.

Who has it better than us? NOBODY!

Michigan’s road to the National Championship, part 2

JJ McCarthy and Blake Corum–my guys!

This is part 2 of my documenting Michigan’s record-breaking season. I’ll give some brief highlights as well as a link to some video highlights of each game. As I review these, ask yourself if any of these teams in the first several weeks are ones that Michigan needed to steal anything from in order to win. Also ask yourself if any college football team would be undefeated without their head coach for half of their games in the regular season. Has it ever been done?

You’ve got to see this insane interception to believe it

Michigan’s season started without a head coach and we began ranked #2 in the country, right behind Georgia. We haven’t started a season that highly ranked since 1991. Our first game was coached by Jesse Minter, the defensive coordinator. This was Michigan’s first time playing East Carolina and we steamrolled them, 30-3. The game began with J.J. McCarthy walking alongside his teammates in a single-file formation as each player raised an arm over their head, letting suspended Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh know his players were thinking about him. That was pretty cool, and would typify the unity this team had through the adversity to come. McCarthy completed 26-for-30 pasees, his 87% completion rate the second best in Michigan history. It would’ve been a shutout but ECU scored a field goal in the last 5 seconds. Here is a link to the highlights of the game–watch for the unbelievable interception by Josh Wallace in the 2nd quarter.

Week two we played UNLV (only the second time ever). In a strange setup, the first half was coached by Jay Harbaugh (Jim’s son and special teams coach) while Mike Hart (the running backs coach) coached the second half, becoming the first Black football coach of UM.  We more or less routed them, 35-7, the Rebels finally scoring a TD in the last 3 minutes of the game. Of note in this game, JJ McCarthy wrote the number 47 on his hand to honor his friend and teammate Ryan Keeler, who died in February of a heart ailment at the age of 20. Our QB put on a show today completing 22 for 25 passes, one of which was for 47 yards to Roman Wilson for a TD, which I thought was cool. UNLV’s best play was an interception early in the 4th quarter. Here is a link to the highlights of the game.

Week three we played Bowling Green (only the third time ever, weird pattern?). This is where offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore first served as interim head coach. McCarthy didn’t do very well in this game, throwing a career-high three interceptions. We also fumbled the ball for a turnover, the Falcons fumbled it a couple of times, we had an interception… it was a turnover-filled game, though we did have an outstanding trick play in the 3rd quarter. We won, 31-6, but McCarthy said he deserved the blame for the issues. Here is a link to the highlights of the game, warts and all.

During week four coach Harbaugh was back, as Michigan played against Rutgers in our first conference game. This game was a classic example of the Michigan style, establishing the run and slowing down opponents on the ground. This was also the 100th game Harbaugh coached at Michigan, in a pretty decisive 31-7 victory. We actually started slow, Rutgers getting a 7-0 lead before we took control. The best play of the game was an incredible interception by Mike Sainristil in the 3rd quarter that resulted in a 71-yard TD. I like the Scarlet Knights head coach, I think they’ll be a team to watch in the future. Here is a link to the highlights of the game, and they’re worth watching. One interesting stat is that Michigan’s defense had not allowed a 4th-down conversion all season.

How did he do that?

Week five brought us against the once-great Nebraska. This was a rout, no two ways about it. We killed them 45-7, and it felt like it was all Michigan, all game long. Roman Wilson had an unbelievable catch this game, maybe the best catch in college football all season, and it came in the first quarter. The Huskers were ranked 2nd in the country for their rush defense, but not after today–Corum alone rushed for 249 yards. Nebraska barely avoided a shutout with a terrific 74-yard run. Here is a link to the highlights of the game, including a brutal hit that Michigan lays down in the early 4th quarter you need to see.

Week six was another week of dominance against Minnesota. Not many know that the Michigan-Minnesota rivalry is the oldest in all of college football, and the Little Brown Jug is the oldest trophy I know of. We killed them 52-10. There were two pick-6s–the first one coming in just the second play of the game–and our defense was outstanding. The Gophers were missing their star running back but did have a beautiful pass to score a TD right before the half. After the game Minnesota’s head coach had some kind things to say: “They’re one of the deepest teams, one of the best teams, one of the biggest teams, fastest teams, strongest teams, and they do not make mistakes. They are truly like a boa constrictor, and they do not beat themselves.” Here is a link to the highlights of the game.

Indiana just can’t fly like we can

Week seven Michigan played Indiana and we started slow, similar to Rutgers. The entire first quarter the Hoosiers looked really good. They drew first blood in their only touchdown of the game, on a trick play that worked. After that Michigan stopped them cold in a 52-7 blowout. The Wolverines had a terrific punt return at the end of the 2nd quarter, and Indiana had an amazing upside-down(!) catch in the 3rd quarter. McCarthy put on another show, completing 14 for 17 passes including a 54-yarder resulting in a TD. At this point we were only the third FBS team since 2000 to win each of the first seven games by 24-plus points. Indiana played two QBs for this game which isn’t a good sign, while on the flip side our QB was sacked four times. Here is a link to the highlights, including Indiana’s trick play.

Week eight brought a big rivalry game, Michigan State, and we had a bone to pick. After last year’s game MSU started a big fight in the tunnel for which the Spartans were ultimately fined $100k. This is the first game we played after the sign-stealing investigation came out. This game might be our most complete performance of the season up to this point, in a 49-0 shutout. McCarthy was awesome, completing 21 for 27 passes and 4 TD’s and he left midway through the 3rd quarter! Sainristil had another interception which he ran for a 72-yard pick-6. This game broke a record for the most consecutive Big Ten game wins in program history, with 20, and it was our best win against MSU since 1947! The fact that we did that to them in their own stadium…sweetness. Here are the highlights from the game, worth watching for McCarthy and Sainristil alone.

Week nine we played Purdue. NBC, who broadcast the game, had us ranked #3 for the first time. By this time the sign-stealing story was all over the country and Connor Stallions had resigned, so if we were stealing anything previously it certainly did not happen from this week forward. This is also the last game Harbaugh coached in the regular season. Michigan again routed, beating Purdue 41-13. Blake Corum matched his season-high with three TD’s, and Roman Wilson also had a season-high nine receptions while McCarthy threw for a season-high 335 yards in some spectacular plays! Defensively, no opponent had scored more than one touchdown against the U-M defense all season. Purdue was held to just two field goals for most of the game, finally getting a TD in the last minute. Here are the highlights from the game.

That’s all I’ll cover for the season in this post. Week ten brought the absence of Harbaugh for the rest of the season starting against Penn State. I will cover that game and all of the post-season action in my third and final post of Michigan’s record-breaking national championship season next time. Click here to head there now.

Michigan’s road to the National Championship, part 1

I’ve been planning on writing this post for quite a while. While some of it was self-inflicted, I don’t know any college football team that has had to overcome as much adversity as the University of Michigan players did this year. I’ll cover the games and the controversies of Michigan’s magical season, and the return to their place as one of the preeminent teams in CFB. This first post will be about the controversies, before diving into the games. Why do I care about all this? Because even though I am originally from Washington state, I went to school at Michigan and I love their program. If you just want to skip to the games themselves, feel free to jump to part 2.

The last two seasons of Michigan football had been wonderful: two straight victories over Ohio State, two straight Big 10 championships, two straight playoff seasons. The chatter about Michigan in 2023 started before the season began. The talk was “their schedule is too easy.” Don’t ask me how the schedule is determined, all I know is that a combination of conference scheduling, non-conference scheduling and TV broadcasting determines college football schedules. Michigan State is usually a good mid-season game, but this year all of our tougher games were toward the end of the season. This is not significantly easier than the other elite football teams’ schedules this year.

The NCAA then investigated our head coach, Jim Harbaugh, who would not coach the first three games, voluntarily taking himself out because of the so-called “cheeseburger suspension.” Back in 2020 Harbaugh was accused of meeting with recruits during the “dead period”, as well as having too many coaches on the field during some practices during COVID restrictions. What happened was two recruits–who had already committed to Michigan–allegedly stopped by for an impromptu visit and while there Harbaugh bought them cheeseburgers. The NCAA found a receipt and said Harbaugh lied about it. Harbaugh stuck to his guns saying he did not recall the meetings with recruits on that date when speaking to investigators, and that he was never knowingly and purposefully dishonest. The NCAA and Michigan had agreed to a four-game suspension for Harbaugh, however the NCAA later rejected the plan and said the investigation was still ongoing when Harbaugh voluntarily took himself out. Why this came up this season instead of two or three years ago I don’t know, it’s ridiculous. It’s never been proven that he lied at any point.

None of this had anything to do with Michigan’s players, and with different coaches acting as interim head coach for these games we did just fine without him. Harbaugh came back in for week 4 and coached through the Purdue game in week 9, Michigan dominating in most games. Quarterback JJ McCarthy and running back Blake Corum were outstanding, and along with defensive stars like Mike Sainristil, the excellent wide receiver Roman Wilson, and Michigan’s famous offensive line headed by Zak Zinter opponents rarely had much of a chance. No team scored more than 13 points against the Wolverines during the first nine games of the season, and we shut rival Michigan State completely out, 49-0, in their own stadium.

That leads us to the famous–or infamous–“sign stealing” controversy, which was the biggest headline in college sports for months. In October of last year Yahoo Sports reported the NCAA was investigating allegations that Michigan had engaged in in-person scouting in an effort to steal signs. Teams are allowed to steal signs in college football — it is actually really common — however, it is against the rules to send personnel to scout future opponents and they are not allowed to use electronics to assist in stealing signs.

At the center of the investigation was Michigan off-field analyst, Connor Stalions, who is alleged to have created a network where he would buy tickets for games of future opponents and send people to those games, where they would film the opposing sidelines and review them to break down the signals. Multiple games were found to have tickets purchased by Stalions. He was investigated, and resigned in early November.

Interestingly two schools, Ohio State and Rutgers University, were found to have stolen Michigan’s signals in 2022 by the folks who were hired to do the stealing. They then shared the signs with Purdue ahead of the Big Ten Championship last year. No disciplinary action was ever taken. More recently, just before the Rose Bowl game this year Ohio State was the target of a cheating scandal for alleged “unauthorized access to practice videos.” Here is the link.

Did Jim Harbaugh know anything about the sign-stealing scheme? Attorneys have ordered him not to talk during the investigation, but he gave a statement: “I do not have any knowledge or information regarding the University of Michigan football program illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed any staff member or others to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment. I have no awareness of anyone on our staff having done that or having directed that action.”

It was widely reported that Big Ten coaches pressured new commissioner Tony Pettiti to discipline Michigan during the 2023 season, while Michigan argued in a letter to the commissioner that the conference needs to wait for the NCAA investigation to conclude and for Michigan to have the benefit of due process before a punishment is handed down. Pettiti folded under the pressure, perhaps not wanting to be seen as “soft.”

Pettiti announced a three-game suspension for Harbaugh on the day before the Wolverines were scheduled to play Penn State on the road, even though the NCAA investigation was not complete. As a result Harbaugh was out again as Michigan played Penn State, Maryland and most importantly of all, Ohio State. The press release noted that the Big 10 Conference has not received any “information indicating that Head Football Coach Harbaugh was aware of the impermissible nature of the sign-stealing scheme.” However, it described the punishment as a sanction against Michigan rather than Harbaugh. It said the punishment allows the student-athletes to continue competing while indicating Harbaugh’s position as embodying the “University for purposes of its football program.”

I want to give my opinion on all this as I’ve given it a lot of thought. I could not care less about the cheeseburger suspension, it’s ridiculous and incidental stuff like that happens all the time. I am embarrassed by this sign-stealing scandal, because it’s a breach of integrity. Did Harbaugh know about it? I don’t know, I don’t think so, football is a huge program at Michigan–we may never know. It certainly has not been proven. Everyone involved has been fired or resigned. Sign-stealing is going on legally all over the country. That doesn’t make it right, and my hope is this will mean it stops for every team, as Michigan had its signs stolen (and shared) as well. The timing seems awfully suspect, between the cheeseburger suspension at the beginning of the season and the sign-stealing suspension at the end of it. Do I think Harbaugh is being targeted? Yes, I do. Fortunately it doesn’t matter because we kept winning.

In part two I’ll discuss the games themselves, which will be a lot more fun.