After a much-maligned first six years in Ann Arbor, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh finally struck gold — or maize if you will – beating Ohio State for the first time and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff. If some guys standing on 3rd base think they just hit a triple, Harbaugh finally closed his eyes and hit a line drive after striking out multiple times at the plate.
Give Michigan credit for building something last year and finding a way to bully Ohio State in “The Game” last November, but one year does not a tenure make. And even with that, the Wolverines finished the season in embarrassing fashion when Georgia humbled and declawed the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl.
But now, apparently, a little success has gotten to the head of Harbaugh and the program. Despite losing a lot of guys on defense that helped bring khakis back in style in Ann Arbor, Harbaugh is bullish about what his team can do in 2022, even claiming that the ultimate prize is definitely in the cards this fall.
“Yeah, we could win college football’s greatest trophy, we could win the national championship, Harbaugh said at a media opportunity during spring practice. “And that’s plenty good.”
But prior to and in the middle of such a lofty goal being thrown out there despite getting exposed against the Bulldogs, the man that finally broke through and got the OSU monkey off his back seemed to hedge his bets, claiming that sometimes things just don’t work out when talking about what he’s most excited about.
“Just the whole state of the program,” Harbaugh said. “There’s people that want to keep different stories going, love to hate us or hate to love us, but we’re having a blast. The word tumultuous was used in the offseason. If guys are bringing the energy and having fun and the momentum that the program has, whatever word you want to put on that, that’s what we’re having. And that’s scary good, because you know something’s gonna happen at some point. That’s the place you — the law of averages will catch up to you at some point — but it’s the place you want to be.”
"I’m completely focused on winning the National Championship."
Jim Harbaugh happy to be at Michigan, excited for a ‘scary good’ program #GoBlue https://t.co/wTfiRPuldA pic.twitter.com/116OYG9flJ
— TheWolverine.com (@TheWolverineOn3) March 8, 2022
OK. The “law of averages will catch up to you at some point?” That’s an interesting take on confidence about where Michigan is. It’s almost as though he’s giving himself an out in the event that things don’t go as well as he’s clearly hoping. Ohio State has weapons galore returning and the game is in Columbus. Something tells me Harbaugh sees the writing on the wall.
Maybe Michigan finds a way to keep that momentum going and somehow pulls things out on the banks of the Olentangy next fall. Or, maybe, just maybe, the universe returns to normal.
We say Harbaugh finally beating Ohio State is more the law of averages catching up on the rivarly. I mean, the Buckeyes can’t win every game, right?
Even the law of averages can’t wait for November 26 to get here.
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