Jim Harbaugh details the factors that have allowed Michigan to beat Ohio State the last two years
A lot went on behind the scenes in the past two seasons, surely, as Michigan turned the tide on Ohio State and won back-to-back matchups in The Game after a decade-long drought. Recounting what changed or what happened to lead to that, head coach Jim Harbaugh wasn’t exactly rife with specifics.
Asked about how the Wolverines flipped the rivalry paradigm and heaped pressure on the Buckeyes and head coach Ryan Day, Harbaugh chalked it up to “the compiled work.”
“Lot of little — a lot of things. A lot of little things that people think are minutiae. It’s really 1,000 little things. It’s the work. We always — if you ever analyzed it and took it apart you’d understand that it’s the work, the compiled work,” Harbaugh said.
Not exactly a Harbaugh-ism for the history books. However, two big things that clearly helped Michigan dominate the Big Ten and go 25-3 the past two seasons are a dominant offensive line and reworked defense.
After Don Brown’s defensive outfits got torched ad nauseam by the Buckeyes, Harbaugh brought in Mike Macdonald from the Baltimore Ravens to be the Michigan defensive coordinator in 2021. That unit held Ohio State to under 30 points in a 42-27 catharsis in Michigan Stadium.
It was a similar story in 2022 with a different coordinator at the helm. Michigan held the Buckeyes to 23 points by forcing methodical, patience-testing drives from Ohio State. Except Macdonald had returned to the Ravens to be the DC, and Michigan had turned to Jesse Minter, who is still the defensive coordinator.
And behind a strong offensive line, Michigan’s run game steamrolled Ohio State in 2021 before a series of big plays doomed the Buckeyes as their defense melted down in 2022.
It’s led to a two-year scoring margin of 87-50. And according to Harbaugh, that’s all just a reflection of “the compiled work.”
Plays like the one Mike Sainristil made to save a touchdown in 2022 have also been a difference for Michigan
Mike Sainristil joined Andy Staples live from Big Ten Media Days to break down a pass breakup on Cade Stover.
But Sainristil made a game changing play to swing the momentum in the favor Michigan.
“So first thing is we’re in nickel,” Sainristil said on the “Andy Staples On3” podcast. “I’m pretty sure to have they base out there … So my man here is Cade Stover … He’s bigger than I am for sure. Like no question about it. But so he starts off here with it looks like he’s running. He’s blocking me.
“I’m supposed to not blitz the quarterback but like, you know, contain in a way. But I took my eyes off him to see what the next thing coming around. And when I took my eyes off him here, I lost leverage.”
That’s when Sainristil described how he didn’t panic in the moment.
“So he gets by me and instantly I’m in a you know, get back and face mindset,” Sainristil said. “But what goes unnoticed, because of the play I made, is the pressure by the D-line here. Kris Jenkins got in the face of CJ Stroud. Honestly if I think he had a clean throw, it probably would have resulted in a touchdown. So, you know, big shout out to the D-line.
“Big shout out to Kris for getting that pressure on him. So the pressure forces him to float the ball in the air. And just you know, only thing I was thinking that whole entire time was don’t panic.”