Wolverines trounce Iowa to take Big Ten title
Michigan ignored the preseason predictions, the early poll snub and especially the critics who thought the program’s best days were long gone.
Instead they set out to prove everybody wrong. On Saturday, they did.
Hassan Haskins ran for two scores and broke a longtime school record leading No. 2 Michigan past Iowa 42-3 while clinching their first Big Ten title in 17 years and, on Sunday, the first playoff berth in school history.
“We defied all expectations,” record-setting Wolverines end Aidan Hutchinson said after becoming the first defensive player to earn game MVP honors. “Nobody ever thought we could do this, especially this season and we did it — in dominant fashion.”
Earning the ring they’ve been craving -- and into position for their first national championship since 1997 — sure didn’t come easily. The Wolverines (12-1, No. 2 CFP) had to overcome a midseason loss to in-state rival Michigan State and end the futility against Ohio State for a chance to end their conference title drought.
And then on championship week, the whole state was shocked by the shooting tragedy that took the lives of four high school students in Oxford, Michigan, including Tate Myre, a football player and wrestler. Michigan honored the victims of the school about an hour away from its campus by wearing a patch on their right shoulder with Myre’s jersey No. 42 and four hearts — one for each student who died — inside the school’s traditional block ‘O’ logo.
Myre’s family also joined the Wolverines captains at midfield for the pregame coin toss and, perhaps fittingly, the Wolverines final score gave them 42 points.
“It was Aidan who came to me and wanted to dedicate this game to Tate Myre and ‘yes, let’s do that,’ that was huge,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Tate was a warrior ... Best athlete in the school could have easily made it out of that school and been the first one out but you just know while people were running away from that fire, he was running into it. He’s a hero. I’m glad our players got sold on it.”
Resurgent Michigan (12-1, No. 2 CFP) has won five straight and if it makes the playoff, as expected, one more win would send it back
to Indianapolis for an even bigger championship game in January.
The Hawkeyes (10-3, No. 13) lost their second straight title game, preventing coach Kirk Ferentz from capturing his first conference crown since 2004. Iowa lost to Michigan State in the 2015 title game and this one came on a night both quarterbacks, Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla, struggled. They were a combined 19 of 37 with 175 yards and one interception.
“One thing just leads to another sometimes, there are games like that unfortunately,” Ferentz said. “They’re not much fun. I’m not sure the score is totally representative of the two teams.”
This one got away quickly.