Harbaugh, Michigan have surprised all year
Now’s a chance to surprise Ohio State
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – As Jim Harbaugh fielded questions from reporters following Michigan’s latest conquest, Warde Manuel stood off to the side and watched.
The Wolverines’ head coach and the university’s athletic director shared this moment together, just as they did 347 days ago under much different circumstances. Back then, on Zoom’s virtual platform, Manuel and Harbaugh rued the cancellation of Michigan’s rivalry game with Ohio State following a COVID-19 outbreak that swept through the program. It was the sad denouement to a dispiriting season that left Harbaugh’s future in peril.
No one knew at the time whether Harbaugh would stick around to take one more crack at the Buckeyes, the team that has tormented him since he returned to Ann Arbor seven years ago.
Now here he was, all these months later, staring ahead at one of his best shots yet. This Saturday, Michigan will face Ohio State to settle the Big Ten East Division championship.
“We are in the position we want to be in,” Harbaugh said after the 59-18 win over Maryland. “We have been preparing for this really the entire year.”
Manuel’s reinvestment in Harbaugh was initially met with skepticism when the two finalized an unusual contract extension in January.
The doubters wondered if Harbaugh could even revive the sagging program, let alone position the Wolverines to beat the Buckeyes.
They certainly didn’t believe he could complete such a turnaround in less than a year.
Yet there was Michigan last weekend, savoring its 10th victory in 11 games and relishing one of its most complete performances of the season.
The Wolverines looked like a well-oiled machine for four quarters, shredding the Terrapins in every phase of the game. The offense rolled up and down the field, reaching the end zone six times as it gained 503 yards. The defense, which has allowed only 16.3 points per game, scored off an interception, suppressed Maryland’s dynamic passing attack and allowed only a field goal in the first 40 minutes of action. The special teams – a strength all fall – contributed a blocked punt and a nifty kickoff return touchdown that featured a cross-field, throwback lateral.
When the game got out of hand during a 28-point flurry in the second half, the team began
to ponder its matchup with Ohio State.
Asked when his focus had shifted to the Buckeyes, quarterback Cade McNamara responded, “Once I got taken out.”
In reality, Michigan has been eyeing Ohio State for quite some time, eagerly awaiting the next confrontation with the same team that has defeated Michigan in 15 of the last 16 meetings. The Wolverines, in fact, placed a renewed emphasis on the rivalry. A motivational banner was hung in the weight room with a message that encouraged the players to do as much as they could to defeat the Buckeyes. The “Beat Ohio” drill became a fixture in practice.
“That’s what we want to do,”
Harbaugh said at Big Ten media days in July. “And we’re going to do it or die trying.”
People laughed at the time, thinking the coach was just spewing empty rhetoric.
But the team embraced the mission and rallied behind Harbaugh’s revamped staff. One successful week begat another, and on it went.
“This team is right where we want to be,” McNamara said. “We’ve got the opportunity (to play in a) game that is going to influence this season and show how far this team can go. I don’t think we would have it any other way.”
Neither would Harbaugh or Manuel.
Less than a year after they endured their hardest season together (2-4), they have an opportunity to achieve the program’s biggest goals.
Beating Ohio State may still be a long shot.
But Michigan had to position itself to even have a chance. They have done so, defying expectations along the way.
Perhaps the only people who thought this was possible back in January were among the occupants in the cramped room where Harbaugh’s latest news conference took place. There were Michigan’s coach and athletic director sharing the same space, hopeful as ever.
“We want to finish it,” Harbaugh said. “We want to win all the marbles.”