The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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20 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2023 Bell to stretch the lead, and Michigan's defense — led by a rookie's timely pick- offs — did the rest. McCarthy floated a 25-yard TD throw in the first half to freshman tight end Colston Loveland, who made a spec- tacular leaping grab between two Pur- due defenders. The sophomores in the backfield never wavered in their belief about the direction of Michigan foot- ball, Harbaugh stressed. "These two guys [McCarthy and Ed- wards], they came in and said, 'Coach, we're winning the Big Ten champion- ship,'" Harbaugh recalled. "'We're beat- ing Ohio State. We got it.'" They got it, all right — for the second year in a row. "We just kept pressing on them, and we knew that eventually the game plan would work," grad transfer center Oluse- gun Oluwatimi pointed out following the title win. "We were just happy to pull away at the end and put the game away." Oluwatimi noted Harbaugh reminded Michigan players of precisely who they are at halftime. "He just told us that we're the best second-half team in the country," Olu- watimi said. "We know what we need to do, how we need to adjust to mistakes being made in the first half and how to clean them up," Mullings added. "That's al- ways the message in the locker room, cleaning up the little things, cleaning up the things that need to be fixed. We know we're going to be fine." Mullings also savored the Big Ten title, even while others were quickly looking ahead. "Making sure we secured the Big Ten championship was definitely the top focus," he said. "We weren't as focused on the playoffs as we were the Big Ten championship. We want to win every single time we step on the field. Making sure we won this game was the most im- portant thing. Building that momentum and keeping it going on the way to the playoffs is great." SKYROCKETING EXPECTATIONS It's no small measure of how far the Wolverines have come since a miser- able, COVID-truncated 2-4 campaign in 2020 that the Big Ten championship got somewhat taken in stride. It meant something, no doubt, and yet … Emotions exploded a week earlier, when the Wolverines slayed the OSU dragon on its own field. Michigan saved some for Indianapolis, and certainly Harbaugh's "Who has possibly got it better than us?" question in the post-game locker room was met with a rousing "Noooooobody!" And yet the title game — in a contest the West has never won — seemed al- most anticlimactic. Eve n i n Mc C a r t hy 's p os t - ga m e words, the sense of unfinished business pervaded. He well remembers the feel- ing after last year's loss to Georgia in the playoff and staying on the field to watch the Bulldogs celebrate. "I feel like it drove me so much that this victory tonight doesn't really feel like anything," McCarthy said. "And this is something that's really hard to come by. Back-to-back Big Ten Cham- pionships is amazing. "But just the feeling that we had last year, this is in the way of making sure that feeling never happens again. We have a drive and a fire inside of us that was ignited, and it's still burning." For 17 long years, Michigan went without a Big Ten championship. That seemed almost inconceivable to long- time U-M followers. Now, two in a row fell into place, and with them, convincing wins over Ohio State and a pair of College Football Playoff appearances. Even Harbaugh's greatest detractors are taking notice. ESPN's Paul Fine- baum, who rarely misses an opportunity to take a swipe at Harbaugh, marveled at what the Wolverines have done the past two seasons. "This is one of the greatest, if not the greatest transformation in college football history," Finebaum stated via "Get Up" on ESPN. "Two years ago, he was this close to getting fired. They slashed his con- tract, he survived because of COVID, and what does he do? He runs the table two straight years in the regular season, he's in the Playoff two straight years and he ab- solutely owns his rival two straight years. "Suddenly, Jim Harbaugh is no longer on the hot seat, and some people are pointing the finger at Ryan Day at Ohio State. That's how great this has been for him." A measure of the greatness has to be the Big Ten championship. It was cel- ebrated with enthusiasm, but not as the end-all in an historic campaign still laden with promise. "The Big Ten is nice, and that was the goal, but we've got that ultimate goal of winning a national championship," Oluwatimi stressed. "We've positioned ourselves well. We just have to go out and execute and take it one down at a time." "We just can't get complacent," se- nior linebacker Michael Barrett insisted. "We all know coming into the year what our goal was. Last year wasn't how we wanted it to end, we just all knew that we had to come in, grind and just stay focused. "The easiest way to get complacent is to reach a goal and then you kind of forget about the rest of them." Even those who stamped winning the Big Ten championship as a solid goal achieved made sure to not leave it at that. Harbaugh didn't, when he listed Michigan's goals before the season — Quarterback J.J. McCarthy went 11-for-17 passing for 161 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in the Big Ten Championship game. The U-M offensive line gave him time and room to operate while not allowing a single sack by Purdue. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER