Mark Ingram on Michigan's national championship chances: 'The time is now'

There’s no better time than the present for Michigan to win a national championship, according to former Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram.

The Wolverines have found themselves in the College Football Playoff in each of the last two years, but have nothing to show for it. It could be now or never to do it under head coach Jim Harbaugh.

“If they have any opportunity to do it, it’s now,” Ingram said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “ You have JJ McCarthy coming back, you have Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards who I think is a super underrated running back. I think in Blake Corum’s absence he was averaging like 160 rush yards per game. He comes out the backfield, has smooth hands.

“The defense was one of the top 10 defenses the last two years. So you have Harbaugh teaching these guys to play physical, playing smart, and you have just a half your starters coming back, or over half your starters coming back. I think the time is now for Michigan.”

While the defense speaks for itself, and Edwards and Corum could be the nation’s most lethal one-two punch in the backfield — it’ll be McCarthy’s play at quarterback that makes or breaks Michigan’s season.

McCarthy threw for 2,719 yards and 22 touchdowns on a 64.6 percent completion rate in 2022. He threw just five picks in his first season as a starter with two coming in the final game of the year against TCU in the playoff. On the ground, he rushed for 306 yards and five more scores on the ground to round out his strong season.

Those numbers don’t necessarily jump off the page by any means, but it was more than enough to get Michigan within reach of the promised land. Those numbers are only expected to improve, though, andMichigan is expected to be a player in the race for one of the four spots in the College Football Playoff when the end of the regular season rolls around.

Still, Michigan has but one regular season loss since 2021, has won two-straight Big Ten championships — which means they’ve earned consecutive wins over Ohio State — but there’s still more to be done. But the questions remain — is this the group that can finally bring a national title back to Ann Arbor? Or will history repeat itself in the postseason for the third year in a row?