The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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8 THE WOLVERINE FEBRUARY 2023 M ichigan football just enjoyed its best two seasons, back-to- back, since bookend national championship years in 1947 and '48. Neither recent campaign produced the ultimate prize, in a college football world in which winning a title is tougher than it's ever been. But 25 wins, two Big Ten championships, two resounding victories over Beelzebub's Buckeyes and two College Football Playoff ap- pearances have the Wolverines lingering near the top of the mountain. Yes, the loss in the Fiesta Bowl to a beatable TCU team (ask Georgia) proved disappointing. Yes, Michigan needs to take steps forward in its finishing game, not to mention its NIL effectiveness. Yes, sophomore quarterback J.J. Mc- Carthy would like to be on the field celebrating with his team afterwards, rather than silently staring at oppo- nents back-slapping and bellowing. Those playoff losses aside, Michigan fans soaked up plenty of victory glow during the past two years. And there's no reason the Wolverines shouldn't be able to keep it going in the foreseeable future. McCarthy's back, having learned in- valuable lessons at this level and fiercely motivated by a premature end to it all. Key pieces of his offensive line return, along with the best tandem of running backs in college football. Buckeye-slaying senior wideout Cornelius Johnson comes back, ready to reprise the sweet nutcracker. While Michigan loses plenty on defense (like last year), it's ready to reload like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday with young talent. So, what could have derailed the happy mission Jim Harbaugh's been leading? Easy. The removal of the ele- ments crucial to success. We're not talking about players here. As iconic as Aidan Hutchinson is for his role in Michigan's 2021 breakthrough, the Wolverines used a host of players to continue terrorizing quarterbacks in 2022. As much credit as Cade McNamara drew for helping lead the 2021 charge, he'll be quarterbacking Iowa in 2023 while McCarthy builds on this year's success. No, it's next man up when it comes to players. To a certain extent, it's the same with assistant coaches. Michigan loses defensive coordinator Mike Macdon- ald back to the Baltimore Ravens after the one-year Revive Michigan Loaner Program, and plugs in Jesse Minter to resounding (pre-TCU) success. Defensive line coach Shaun Nua heads west, and former Wolverine Mike Elston escapes South Bend to once again become one of the Champions of the West. But the secret sauce for this crew — to beat Ohio State, wear down and crush other Eastern Division foes and domi- nate the West in Indianapolis — came right from Harbaugh. He found his full footing back in Ann Arbor the past two years, and nobody loving the Maize and Blue wants to see it all disappear. Hence all the angst regarding Har- baugh's NFL interest, and the jubilation upon Harbaugh's confirmation that the fun is just beginning. The U-M faithful — up to and in- cluding university president Santa Ono — understand the Wolverines just got their dominance back, to this degree. It couldn't go away again so soon. Nobody wanted a different kind of Oh, no. That's why Harbaugh's return — con- firmed by both the head coach and the university president — made national news and set Wolverine nation ablaze with anticipation. Sources had Michigan and Harbaugh close to a deal to make him one of col- lege football's highest-paid coaches, with a large buyout further firming up his Ann Arbor footing. Whatever the numbers, Michigan stands ready to roll, in a big way. Michigan radio play-by-play man Doug Karsch noted after the Fiesta Bowl that the pieces are all there for 2023 — for now. "The potential is there to bring back the best team in the country next year, in my opinion," Karsch said. "We'll see what the offseason brings, but the po- tential is there to be exceptionally good next year." The loss to TCU didn't dampen that notion, he stressed. "In what I would consider a bit of a toss-up matchup, TCU got the win," he said. "I know some people think this is a real blown opportunity, and I suppose it is, but I don't think those people were giving TCU enough respect going into the game. I think the Michigan people did. They took the game seriously, I can tell you that. "A lot of people were pointing to next year already, going into the sea- son. The build-up year was better than expected." The follow-up can be. With the chief architect on hand, the Wolverines sense that Bo Schembechler's dictum — "Those Who Stay Will Be Champions" — rings truer than ever. ❏ WOLVERINE WATCH JOHN BORTON Continuity Is King In Staying On A Roll In the last two seasons, head coach Jim Harbaugh has led U-M to 25 wins, two Big Ten championships, two resounding vic- tories over Ohio State and two College Football Playoff appearances. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @JB_Wolverine.