Wolverine Watch: Michigan Football Stands Alone At 15-0

By John Borton

They’re champions of the west, the east, the north and the south. In arguably the biggest game, capping the greatest season, in Michigan football history, the Wolverines let their fists fly and the confetti flutter.

“15-0,” Jim Harbaugh proclaimed. “Took on all comers. The last one standing. Champions.”

National champions, for the first time since 1997. National champions. Not by a vote. Not by pleading, begging or televised appeals. Not with the proud affirmation of their own league commissioner, curled up somewhere in the bowels of the Big Ten offices. Not with the help of the national media, which genuflected only when forced, like Alabama and Washington.

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Not with any help at all, save their own grit, talent, and tenacity. When it ended, and Harbaugh hoisted the national championship trophy following his team’s decisive 34-13 takedown of the high-flying Huskies, the message came through loud and clear: We’re the best there is. Try to take THAT away from us.

“We just stood together as brothers,” proclaimed senior tailback Blake Corum, the offensive player of the game, with 134 yards and 2 touchdowns on 21 carries. “We have something special. We’ve built a strong culture at the University of Michigan, and especially inside Schembechler Hall. It started in our locker room. When we faced adversity, we just looked to our right, looked to our left, and knew we couldn’t let our brothers down. We just locked arms, and just kept going forward. Now we’re national champs.”

A raging beginning

At first, it looked like the Wolverines would crush any hint of adversity out of this grand finale in Michigan’s winningest season ever. As it turned out, Harbaugh’s crew scored all the points it would need to win in its opening two possessions, covering the first 12:37 of the game. But that doesn’t tell the story of this one. U-M faced one more titanic battle, in which it once again proved the iceberg.

The Wolverines did it their way, for certain. They unwrapped junior tailback Donovan Edwards (6 carries, 104 yards, 2 TDs) in a fashion that left Buckeye fans looking on through barely parted fingers, convulsing in uncontrollable flashbacks. Edwards scored those first two touchdowns on bolts of 41 and 46 yards, leaving the Huskies looking like pups in knee-deep snow and shocking Washington with a 14-3 deficit.

Harbaugh’s crew never relented on the ground, rushing for a championship-game-record 303 yards on 38 tries, to Washington’s 46. Sure, UW superhero quarterback Michael Penix threw for 255 yards to junior QB J.J. McCarthy’s 140, and clawed the Huskies back within seven at the half, 17-10. But Penix, and Washington, paid a heavy price for hoping to treat Michigan’s defense like they had everyone else’s on their road to 14-0 entering the College Football Playoff title game.

Penix passes while pulverized

In the end, Michael Penix became Michael Piñata, a folded-up physical wreck by the end — clutching his side, but clutching no hardware. Sophomore cornerback Will Johnson — the defensive player of the game — picked off Penix’s first throw of the second half, to send a message. These Wolverines don’t wilt when the first 30 minutes roll to the second 30. Grad DB Mikey Sainristil intercepted one of the last of Penix’s throws, returning it 81 yards to set up Michigan’s final touchdown.

In between, Michigan’s defense beat the Husky right out of Penix. He bravely continued, but came away with more bruises than points, in Washington’s least-productive scoring game of the year. After a 45-yard field goal pulled Washington within seven, 20-13, with 8:58 left in the third quarter, the Huskies never scored again. Against the other undefeated team in the nation, under the brightest lights, on college football’s biggest stage, the Wolverines treated their new Big Ten comrades like they treated everyone else in the second half this season.

Like dirt. With no paydirt.

“It’s glorious,” McCarthy said amid the on-field celebration. “That’s all I can say. I love my teammates so much. I love my coaches. It’s bittersweet, because this is the last time we get to play together. I love those guys so much. It’s such a special group. There’s no better way to end it — no better way.”

Michigan lives the dream

It’s the way so many of them dreamed of ending it. It’s the way they talked about ending it, from the start of fall camp in August, and some even before. National championship or bust. If we don’t win it all, it’s not a successful season. Talk about setting yourself up for a massive fall. And when your league conspires to put you on a cliff and the commish gives a shove, it’s not easy to keep your balance.

But they did. Make no mistake. This national championship stands unlike any other in the Wolverines’ hallowed history. They didn’t stand alone at the end by an election, rigged or otherwise. They didn’t win it by becoming media darlings. They didn’t win it by making their bowl victory look better than anyone else’s.

They went on the road to conquer Penn State, without a single second-half pass. The much-maligned Manball, now hoisting a trophy. They physically battered the Buckeyes for a third straight year, knowing well OSU’s new Michigan playbook — scold then fold. They played the extra obligatory rout to win the Big Ten title, THEN faced the best 2023 had to offer, in terms of competition. Alabama, the invincible team from the unbeatable league. And Washington, which surely would pass Michigan into submission.

In the end, Washington passed out. In the end, Michigan ran away with it.

Embracing their finest moment

Where does it all go from here? Does Harbaugh come back, determined to remain the scourge of the league and the expanded Playoff for another decade? Does he look to add a Lombardi Trophy to his newly hoisted golden college football hardware? Can Michigan hold onto the magic that propelled them to the greatest on-field example of Those Who Stay Will Be Champions in their illustrious 144 seasons of football?

For one night, it doesn’t matter. For one night, just enjoy the dominance.

“This is everything I imagined,” Corum said, beaming. “When we said to come back, it was a lot of us. We said we had unfinished business. So I’ll leave you all with this — BUSINESS IS FINISHED!”

“15-0,” Harbaugh reiterated. “This was a spectacular team. I would just say, there are over 100 Michigan Men on this team, in uniform, tonight. What they’ve done for the last 372 days is amazing. They’re champions. Simply known as national champions.”