Harbaugh’s future still in the air ahead of last road trip of season
PASADENA, Calif. — Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh addressed his future Monday night, and he said it was in the air.
“My future consists of a happy flight back to Ann Arbor, Michigan,” Harbaugh said with a grin as wide as the Huron River. “I can’t wait.”
His immediate future also consists of another happy flight: to Houston later this week to coach the Wolverines in the College Football Playoff national title game against Washington.
No. 1 Michigan (14-0) and No. 2 Washington (14-0) meet on Monday night in NRG Stadium, the first time the home of the Texans has hosted college football’s biggest game.
“A great way to start the new year off,” Harbaugh said following the Wolverines’ 27-20 overtime win over No. 4 Alabama in a CFP semifinal in the Rose Bowl. “Glorious. That was glorious.”
Harbaugh, in his ninth season at Michigan, was asked about his future following the Wolverines’ biggest win this century because it’s a relevant inquiry. Following bookend three-game suspensions during the regular season because of two different matters, one involving potential recruiting misdeeds and the other concerning a sign-stealing scandal, Harbaugh has been linked to returning to the NFL once Michigan’s season wraps.
A season that, despite the Wolverines’ myriad distractions, will wrap up in Houston after Michigan knocked oftmighty Alabama for a loop for four quarters-plus on New Year’s Day.
“I’m not taking anything away from Michigan, they played a great game,” said Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who was denied a chance to win his eighth national title as a head coach. “They’ve got a good team, they’re really well-coached … but we could have done things a little better, as well.”
Michigan, in scoring a big win for the Big Ten over the Southeastern Conference, did things better when it counted most, however. The Wolverines wiped
out a seven-point deficit late in the game with a clutch drive covering 75 yards in eight plays behind veteran quarterback J.J. Mccarthy.
“The fight started in week one with everything we’ve been through,” Mccarthy said. “All the adversity — it’s a team that goes through adversity (to) get to the heights we’re trying to reach. We just did a tremendous job of responding to all that and pushing through, and we’ve got one more game left.
“The job is not finished.” The Wolverines also had running back Blake Corum; the Crimson Tide did not. Michigan lost in a CFP semifinal last year to TCU with Corum sidelined by a knee injury. This time around, and with the Wolverines 0-2 in the last two CFPS, Corum in overtime ducked, dodged and darted into the end zone on a 17yard dash for the Michigan history books.
Alabama then failed to score on its lone chance in overtime
when quarterback Jalen Milroe was dropped a couple of yards shy of the end zone on a fourthand-three from the 3-yard line.
“It was a team effort, and we’re going to deal with adversity here,” Corum said. “We had some adversity … and were a little sloppy, but we came together as one. I’m my brothers’ keeper, and I know my brothers had my back. I told them if … we go to overtime we’re going to win.
“We came out on top, and I’ll see you in Houston.”
Michigan hasn’t won a national title since 1997, when Brian Griese was quarterback and future NFL legend Tom Brady was his backup.
Michigan is 26-1 behind Mccarthy, with his lone loss as starter coming against the Horned Frogs a year ago — and that was a 51-45 final. Mccarthy threw three touchdown passes against the Crimson Tide and moved into a tie for fourth alltime at Michigan with 49 career touchdown passes.
“This team was not going to be denied, and J.J. said it when he walked off this same (interview) podium last year in the semifinal game,” Harbaugh said. “He said, ‘We’re going to be back,’ and what he told me was, ‘We’re not only going to be back, we’re going to win.’ And we did. … I’ve said it before but this is the greatest quarterback in University of Michigan history (in college).
“He’s got a long way to go to get to where Tom Brady eventually got to (in the NFL), which is the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time). He lapped the field when it comes to that. But in a college career, there’s been nobody at Michigan better than J.J.”
Harbaugh, a former Wolverines quarterback himself, coached the San Francisco 49ers to a 44-19-1 record from 2011-14 before heading to his alma mater with the idea of restoring Michigan to its last-century glory.
“This is right where we wanted to be,” Harbaugh said of heading to Houston for the title game. “It’s everything we worked for, everything we prepared for, everything we hoped for and everything we trained and strained for.”