HOUSTON – First they said Michigan football couldn’t win big games.
Then they couldn’t beat Ohio State.
They couldn’t win a playoff game.
Surely they wouldn’t beat Alabama.
At the very least, Michael Penix would be too much, right?
One by one, Michigan smashed through those barriers until there was nothing left standing in the way.
The Wolverines have reached the mountaintop. They’re national champions.
3 seasons felt like 1 long ride
This season felt more like the final episode of an epic trilogy than its own separate journey. So many of the faces on the Michigan football team have stayed the same since 2021, and each year followed a very similar script.
In the pilot episode, the Wolverines finally broke through as the plucky underdog and made the playoff. In the sequel, they suffered a heartbreaking defeat that drove them to achieve their ultimate goal in the finale.
Michigan fans remember the 2020 season, when the program hit rock bottom. Sure, the Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke eras were worse on paper, but when it looked like Jim Harbaugh’s tenure might come to an unceremonious end, those were incredibly dark times.
After all, if Harbaugh couldn’t bring Michigan back to its former glory, who could?
The criticism that followed Michigan throughout the Harbaugh era reached its loudest point that year. It was true, the team struggled to win big games. It was true, Harbaugh hadn’t beaten Ohio State. It was true that 18 years had passed since the program’s last conference title, and it had never reached the playoff.
It all started to change in October 2021. First, Michigan went into Madison and beat Wisconsin in a stadium where it hadn’t won in 20 years. Then, a week later, the Wolverines overcame two blown leads in the final 16 minutes to beat Nebraska in a hostile road environment.
Michigan hadn’t done that since Lloyd Carr retired. It was the first sign that something was different about this group.
Even the loss to Michigan State showed how much this program had grown. Two weeks after that heartbreaking defeat in East Lansing, the Wolverines bounced back for a comeback win over Penn State, despite falling behind late in the fourth quarter.
After that win, the first narrative was debunked. Clearly, these Wolverines could win big games.
They cleared another hurdle on Nov. 27, 2021, when they beat Ohio State for the first time in a decade. Seven days later, they boat raced Iowa for their first Big Ten title in 18 seasons.
All it took was one team to smash through three of the barriers that had been haunting the program for decades. Michigan couldn’t compete with Georgia in the College Football Playoff, but make no mistake: That group laid the foundation for what happened in Houston on Monday night.
Blake Corum rushed for 952 yards that season. Roman Wilson and Mike Sainristil were key members of the passing attack. Junior Colson, Rod Moore, Kris Jenkins, Jaylen Harrell, Michael Barrett, and Braiden McGregor were young players contributing to a great defense. Zak Zinter, Trevor Keegan, Karsen Barnhart, and Trente Jones were members of the Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line.
Those are a lot of familiar names -- ones who would accomplish even more in the years that followed 2021.
The 2022 season was glorious because it validated everything that happened in 2021, with a blowout win in Columbus as a cherry on top. That Michigan team became the first in program history to win 13 games after an undefeated regular season and second-straight Big Ten title.
But when Michigan fell to TCU in the semifinal, the world found a new narrative to push: The Wolverines couldn’t win playoff games.
That felt a bit unfair, especially considering how much Michigan had accomplished during those years. But a loss to Death Star Georgia in 2021 and the flurry of self-inflicted errors against TCU were enough to define this successful era of Michigan football, according to many.
Which brings us to this season. The Wolverines didn’t just beat Ohio State for the third year in a row -- they did it without their head coach. They didn’t just win another Big Ten title -- they did it in blowout fashion. They didn’t just win their first playoff game -- they did it against Nick Saban and Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
And on Monday, when the lights were brightest, it was Michigan that fully controlled almost the entire game against a 14-0 Washington team led by the Heisman Trophy runner-up at quarterback.
It was a long three-year journey, but also perhaps the best in program history. Michigan went an absurd 40-3 across those seasons, with three wins over Ohio State, three wins over Penn State, and three Big Ten titles. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Why it needed to be this year
It was so important for Michigan to get the job done this year, because everything lined up perfectly for this national title run. Think about what it took for this core of Michigan players to stay together.
Nobody wants to see a player get injured, but Corum has openly admitted that he wouldn’t have returned for 2023 if he didn’t hurt his leg against Illinois in 2022. Do you think Michigan goes 15-0 without him? Not a chance.
But it wasn’t just Corum who returned. Zinter and Keegan could have gone pro -- the same with Jenkins, Harrell, and others.
That group only came back because the loss to TCU left such a bad taste in their mouths. Sure, it would have been fun for Michigan fans to see their team go to the national title last year, but against that Georgia team, a win would have been unlikely.
Instead, the TCU loss made this year’s team that much hungrier.
Michigan needed everything that happened in 2021 and 2022 to play out perfectly in order to end up with the group that won the ultimate prize in 2023.
It also helped that this incredible Michigan roster coincided with Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, and Ohio State not being at their best. Sure, Michigan beat some great teams along the way, but there wasn’t a Trevor Lawrence-led Clemson or a fully loaded Alabama.
The stars aligned perfectly for Michigan to be at its absolute peak while other top programs were trying to figure out the most important position on the field.
That’s why it was so critical for Michigan to win this national title. If it didn’t happen now, it would have been fair to wonder whether the Wolverines had it in them at all.
Historical significance
The 15th and final win also cemented this Michigan season as one the best in the sport’s history.
Michigan is the first Big Ten team ever to go 15-0, and only three other programs in the nation have done it in the modern era: LSU, Clemson, and Georgia.
That’s right: Even mighty Alabama and Ohio State have never won 15 games in a season.
Jesse Minter’s defense is also the first unit in 120 years to hold each of its opponents under 25 points for an entire season.
As college football stands on the precipice of a massive makeover, Michigan celebrating in Maize and Blue confetti will be the lasting image of an incredible era.
The four-team playoff is over, and Michigan is one of only five teams that made the field multiple times and also won a championship. Just three years ago, the teams at the top of the sport seemed so far above Michigan, but now, fans can look back and talk about the Wolverines in the same discussion as Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Clemson.
There are about 120 FBS schools that never made the four-team playoff. And they’ll never get another chance. For Michigan to go three years in a row, despite playing in the second-toughest division in the sport, is incredibly impressive.
Validation
No matter how many times Michigan wins in the wake of Connor Stalions’ departure, there are still some who want to claim this season is tainted.
Well, good luck with that argument after the Wolverines stomped the only other undefeated team in the country by three touchdowns.
Since the sign-stealing reports broke, Michigan has eviscerated Michigan State 49-0, gone on the road to beat Penn State, defeated Ohio State, pitched a shutout in the Big Ten Championship Game, beat the greatest dynasty in the sport, and shut down the vaunted Michael Penix passing attack.
If someone is still questioning the legitimacy of Michigan’s success after all that, then they’re just looking for a way to cope with the Wolverines being national champs.
The sign stealing likely had very little to do with what Michigan accomplished in 2021 and 2022, but it meant absolutely nothing in the second half of 2023.
Monday night’s win served as one final reminder.
Michigan fans have been through a lot the last 15 years, but now, they don’t just own the Big Ten, they stand on top of the entire sport. And that just feels right for the winningest program in football history.