College Football

Michigan erases all doubt who rules the Big Ten: 'We proved ourselves right'

Updated Nov. 27, 2023 1:45 p.m. ET

College Football and College Basketball Writer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As the final seconds of another triumph over Ohio State launched the Michigan Stadium crowd into delirium, a handful of Wolverines proffered sarcastic waves to their counterparts on the opposite sideline, where the gutting reality of a rivalry rewritten had sucked the life from another Buckeyes’ season.

They waved goodbye to a collection of Ohio State players who, for the second time in as many years, swore to anyone who’d listen that the toughness they lacked during a snow-swept upset in 2021 was finally incubated through an offseason regimen designed to atone for said atrocity. They waved goodbye to a defensive coordinator who, after being hired away from Oklahoma State before the 2022 season, spent months reworking his scheme to guard against the cataclysmic breakdowns in losses to Michigan and Georgia last year. They waved goodbye to a head coach who, in the wake of a sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed the Wolverines for weeks, used a portion of his pregame news conference to suggest his only two losses to Michigan deserved a Connor Stalions-shaped asterisk.

And then the clock struck zero. The fans breached the field. The scoreboards — which read Michigan 30, Ohio State 24 — seemed to indicate that very little is questionable about the Big Ten's tectonic shift toward Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines. The team without its coach had accomplished something unseen since Nov. 22, 1997, defeating the Buckeyes for a third consecutive season.

"We proved ourselves right," said quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who arrived at his postgame news conference sporting a shirt with the slogan Michigan vs. Everybody splashed across the chest. "We know who we are as a team. We know all the work that we put in. And we just wanted to go out there and display it for the world to see."

Given all that’s happened at Michigan this calendar year, the world was certainly watching. From the unexpected firing of co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, whose termination gave way to an ongoing FBI probe, to the announcement of Harbaugh’s first three-game suspension stemming from recruiting violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the unearthing of the ex-analyst Stalions as a manifesto-writing, sign-stealing rogue, to the fallout from everything he's accused of doing: the legal battle between the Big Ten and one of its flagship members; an additional three-game suspension for Harbaugh handed down by first-year commissioner Tony Petitti; the dismissal of newly hired linebackers coach Chris Partridge for allegedly tampering with the NCAA’s investigation.

Toss in a simmering subplot between Harbaugh and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, both of whom dodged questions about whether they respected each other in news conferences earlier this week, and this felt like the most emotionally charged setting the rivalry had ever seen. It was a game Michigan needed to win after being branded as college football's chief villain despite Harbaugh dubbing his alma mater America's team.

"We came in The Game battle-tested," running back Blake Corum said. "We’ve been going through things all year, so we know how to stick together and just play for each other, always have our brothers’ backs."

No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Michigan highlights

Michigan readied itself with an emotional evening of speeches from Harbaugh and each of his assistant coaches, just as they did before facing Ohio State last season. Every monologue was more powerful than the last, according to wide receiver Roman Wilson, who punctuated Saturday’s win with a backflip during the final kneel-down from McCarthy, and Harbaugh reminded everyone in the room of the mantra they’ve embodied all season: The Team, The Team, The Team. It’s a nod to the players’ willingness to make personal sacrifices for the betterment of the Wolverines.

Barred from being at Michigan Stadium while serving the third and final game of a league-imposed suspension, Harbaugh ceded control of his team to offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, the acting coach in four of Michigan’s six Harbaugh-less Saturdays this season. Moore told the players that his approach against Ohio State would be to call "the most aggressive game he’s ever called," according to McCarthy, that he was "not calling this game scared," as Corum described it, because he knew the Wolverines would deliver.

Postgame presser: J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum & Rod Moore

And they did. They delivered all three times Moore trusted Michigan’s offense to convert on fourth down, including the 1-yard touchdown plunge from Corum for the game’s first score. And again when Moore inserted reserve quarterback Alex Orji for a critical zone-read play that gained 20 yards while appearing to catch the Buckeyes by surprise. And again when Moore dialed up a halfback pass from Donovan Edwards to Colston Loveland during a drive that extended the Wolverines' lead to double digits early in the fourth quarter.

"We always talk about never flinching," Moore said, repeating one of Harbaugh's most commonly used phrases. "And our guys don’t flinch regardless of the situation."

They certainly didn’t flinch when right guard Zak Zinter, once described by former offensive coordinator Josh Gattis as the team’s best offensive player regardless of position, screamed in pain near midfield after suffering a gruesome leg injury that everyone knew would end his season. Right tackle Karsen Barnhart held Zinter’s limp foot until medical personnel arrived, and the trainers immediately signaled for a cart to be driven onto the field. When play resumed a few minutes later — after Zinter signaled thumbs up to the crowd — Corum ripped off a 22-yard touchdown on the next snap to give the Wolverines a 24-17 lead.

Nor did they flinch when cornerback Will Johnson, a former five-star recruit and potential first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, exited in the second half with an undisclosed leg injury. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter responded by shifting Mike Sainristil from nickelback to perimeter corner and trusting the inexperienced Ja’Den McBurrows to man the slot. Michigan still limited Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord to 115 passing yards and a 54.6% completion rate during a second half in which they forced as many interceptions (one) as touchdown passes allowed (one).

'We love each other' – Michigan's J.J. McCarthy

And nobody in maize and blue panicked when star wideout Marvin Harrison Jr., who finished with five catches for 118 yards and a score, raced away from Michigan’s defense to pull the Buckeyes within a field goal midway through the fourth quarter. Moore leaned on a retooled offensive line that shifted Barnhart to right guard and inserted Trente Jones at right tackle to put together a 13-play, 56-yard field goal march that drained seven minutes off the clock. Eleven of those plays gained 6 yards or fewer as the Wolverines bullied Ohio State when it mattered most by dominating the line of scrimmage — just as they did the last two seasons.

"Definitely not," Wilson said when asked if the Buckeyes played with more physicality on Saturday than they did in 2022. "I told the receivers this whole week, like, you’ve got guys back there [on Ohio State’s defense] who want to put on the Louis V, the $1,000 outfit and you want to act hard. But when we’re out there, you’re not hard. I see the film. You’re not tough."

Wilson's comment was a final twist of the knife from the sport's most polarizing team. Something else for Ohio State to ponder long after the Wolverines had waved goodbye.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.

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