INDIANAPOLIS — You could see it coming all night, and if you looked closely, all season. The Wolverines knew what they wanted to do and stuck to it. They stuck to the run and stuck to the plan. They stuck it to opposing quarterbacks with ruthless impunity.
And in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday night, they stuck it to Iowa with punishing authority. Michigan won its first conference title since 2004 by smashing the Hawkeyes 42-3, and in the end, you certainly could say Jim Harbaugh and his team stuck it to the critics.
This was a culmination and a validation, and then finally, a wild celebration. The Wolverines (12-1) began the season unranked and downgraded and now churn into the four-team playoff for the first time, facing Georgia on New Year's Eve in the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens. Harbaugh spent the year putting his program back together, and before a Big Ten-record crowd of 67,183 in Lucas Oil Stadium, this was the most impressive type of domination — doing what you do when the other team knows it's coming and can't stop it.
A playoff semifinal against an SEC power will be much tougher than dismissing the outmanned Hawkeyes. Michigan remained No. 2 when the rankings came out Sunday, and Georgia dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 after getting hammered by Alabama 41-24 Saturday.
The Wolverines' final points, after leading Iowa only 14-3 at the half, might have come with a purpose, to convince the playoff committee it deserved No. 1. But as most predicted, Alabama leapt over them and will face unbeaten Cincinnati. My guess is, Michigan is fine with the verdict, after all it's been through.
As the final seconds ticked off Saturday night, Harbaugh and star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson hugged and screamed joyfully into each other's faces. Then came one bucket of Gatorade, and another, and Harbaugh barely moved from the splash, his smile frozen in place.
"It feels great, an incredible moment," Harbaugh said on the field. "Players played great. Hassan Haskins, Cade McNamara, Aidan Hutchinson, couldn't be more proud of these guys. We wouldn't be here without them. What these men were able to do, when nobody said they could do it, they didn't listen to it. They just worked and found a way."
Watch: Highlights from Michigan vs. Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game
They talked all season about being different, about ending multiple droughts, but until they showed it, it was hard to fathom. Nobody knew what to expect after the 2-4 pandemic season, and the Wolverines were picked to win maybe seven games and finish fourth in the Big Ten East. Then they started rolling, and after a loss to Michigan State, blew past Ohio State for the first time in 10 years.
The difference was the defense and the determination. Iowa's offense was anemic regardless, but it was helpless against the Wolverines. Iowa's defense was tough, ranked ninth in the country, but eventually was shredded.
Afterward, through the closed locker room door, players could be heard exulting with occasional shouts of "they said we'd be 6-6!"
"I read a couple of those (preseason) predictions," Hutchinson said, smiling slyly. "Man, we defied all expectations. Nobody thought we could ever do that, especially this season. And we did it in a very dominant fashion. It was a consistent belief from week one, we knew we had something special."
Harbaugh spent six seasons finding his way here, juggling staffs, searching for the right leaders and the right mix of toughness and explosiveness. He found it in Hutchinson, who added another sack to his school record and spent much of the night in the lap of Iowa quarterbacks Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla. Hutchinson was named the game's MVP and adamantly cemented his status as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
They stuck with McNamara, who was fearless and clutch when it mattered, completing 16 of 24 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. They stuck with Haskins, who came to Michigan as an overlooked linebacker and became an underrated bruising back. He scored twice and set the program's single-season record with 20 rushing touchdowns.
When some wondered if Michigan's offense was too stodgy to win a championship, Harbaugh and his overhauled staff stuck to the plan, while gradually easing in freshman quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said repeatedly it wasn't that they couldn't throw, it was that they chose instead to build an identity on a pounding run game.
All the while, the Wolverines simmered and stirred, and even enjoyed being told last week they'd been given a 2% percent chance of winning the Big Ten before the season. I can't vouch for the accuracy of those odds, but I can vouch for the depth of the motivation. McNamara walked into the interview room toting the huge Big Ten trophy, set it on the table and could hardly stop looking at it.
"Guys on this team, we've gone under some scrutiny and we battled through it," McNamara said. "One of the first things I thought of after we won was coach Harbaugh. After last season, it was so tough, not just for us players, but for coach Harbaugh too. And we know there's not one person who cares more about Michigan than him. We want to win for coach Harbaugh, and we were just so happy we could give him that joy because he deserved it."
How different is this team? Well, Michigan hasn't won a national title since 1997, and this group possesses a lot of those ingredients. McNamara looks like Brian Griese, and the defense has grown into something fiercer than imagined.
All the blank spots on Harbaugh's record disappeared, as Michigan won big games and road games and even a Buckeye game. The no-one-believed-in-us refrain is common when a team wins a title, but it certainly fits here more than at, say, Alabama.
"There's always that little extra motivation" center Andrew Vastardis said. "Sometimes some of the stuff out there, you take it and ride with it. Fuel to the fire."
There was emotional fuel too, as the Wolverines wore jersey patches honoring the four Oxford High students horrifically killed by a classmate last week. One of the victims was Tate Myre, who played on the football team and wore No. 42, and his number was on the patch.
At the end of the game, his number also was on the scoreboard.
"Goosebumps," Hutchinson said, shaking his head. "God works in mysterious ways."
They pulled together from all directions with all emotions, and on the football field, there was nothing mysterious about what happened. Iowa came out exactly as advertised — good and bad. The Hawkeyes' defense was tough and aggressive, but the Wolverines jumped them for two big plays.
First, there was the basic burst, as Blake Corum raced 67 yards for a touchdown, weaving behind precision blocking. Yes, that was the quarterback McCarthy guiding him all the way down the field, shielding Iowa defenders.
Then came the well-timed trickiness. Running back Donovan Edwards took a pitch from McNamara and fired a beautiful strike to Roman Wilson for a 75-yard touchdown. Barely 10 minutes into the game, Michigan led 14-0 and the Hawkeyes' offense, ranked 123rd in the country, was doomed.
This is why the Wolverines were 11-point favorites. It was similar to what they did against Ohio Sate. On their first drive of the second half, they moved 82 yards effortlessly, highlighted by McNamara's pinpoint 27-yard pass to tight end Luke Schoonmaker. On the next play, Haskins raced around right end for a 4-yard touchdown and the Michigan crowd erupted. It was 21-3, and the way Michigan was smothering Iowa running back Tyler Goodson and attacking the quarterbacks, order was restored.
Iowa's offense was as flawed as expected and Michigan's defense was as dominant as expected. When you've seen it all season, you expect to see it now.
"I love the identity we've created on offense," McNamara said. "Whether traveling through the air or on the ground doesn't matter, as long as we're scoring touchdowns. The physicality of this offense is the greatest attribute. Just playing Michigan football. Honestly, it's a feeling we can't be stopped, we just need the opportunities."
More opportunities lie ahead, bigger than the program has ever seen. From where the Wolverines came, to where they are now, to where they'd headed, it'll take something special to stop them now.
