18 THE WOLVERINE
FEBRUARY 2023
BY CHRIS BALAS
T
he 2022 Michigan football sea-
son will be remembered fondly
as a great success, no "ifs" or
"ands" … but one big "but."
The Wolverines finished No. 3 nation-
ally in the Associated Press rankings for
the second consecutive year, the first time
since the 1947-48 national championship
teams the program was top-3 in back-to-
back years. They went through the Big
Ten season undefeated, crushed Ohio
State for the second consecutive year —
minus a banged-up Blake Corum, and in
Columbus, no less — and won the confer-
ence a second year in a row to earn the No.
2 seed in the College Football Playoff …
And then came the "but."
Jim Harbaugh's eighth Michigan team
drew one-loss TCU in the semifinal and
entered the game a 7.5-point favorite.
They were on a roll behind sophomore
quarterback J.J. McCarthy and sopho-
more running back Donovan Edwards,
MISSED
OPPORTUNITY
Michigan Falls Again In College Football Playoff Semifinal
And Finishes Third Nationally
