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Podcast: Balas and Skene on Michigan - Iowa, Alabama, O-line concerns, more

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•12/04/23•

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Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh passed the baton to his right hand man, Sherrone Moore. © Mark J. Rebilas-USA

Michigan handled Iowa, 26-0, dominating defensively to earn a third straight Big Ten championship. The Wolverines will now face Alabama in the Rose Bowl as the No. 1 seed with an opportunity to get to the national championship game.

RELATED: Monday Musings: Final Michigan – Iowa, initial Alabama thoughts
Jim Harbaugh on Rose Bowl, Alabama matchup: ‘We’re thrilled to be where we’re at’

Michigan defensive back Mike Sainristil forced two fumbles to set the tone, including one that prevented a field goal and one that set up a touchdown for Blake Corum.

“It just feels great. Guys like me and Blake, this is what we came back for, to have the success with this team, like the brotherhood that this team has is one that I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world, and this team is going down in history,” Sainristil said. “The way we go about our goals is you put everything into the next goal, and there’s work — there’s more work to put in and more ways to get better.

“Coach [Jim Harbaugh] is probably going to say it. I’m going to say it first before he says it. The worm has turned around here.”

Harbaugh couldn’t have been more pleased with the result … and another Michigan title.

“You look at this whole group, and J.J. McCarthy, Blake, Mikey, so many others. The worm has turned. These are the guys,” Harbaugh said. These Michigan football players, when you look back at the history of Michigan football, wrote the book on getting the worm to turn. The worm is pretty slippery. That thing can start wiggling back and forth and turning back on you. The hook got put in it. The hook got put in the worm. They’ve written the book on how to do it.

“It wasn’t that long ago we were saying, ‘we’re going to do this or we’re going to die trying.’ They just give everything they got. That’s all we ask them is to give it their very best, but they give everything they have on a daily basis. Am I going to pull guys back? I never have to talk them in. The amount of guys that were playing through something tonight, playing with something, could have easily taken a knee, didn’t.”

TheWolverine.com’s Chris Balas and former Michigan offensive lineman Doug Skene talk about that and more in today’s podcast.

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