LOS ANGELES — This has become a season for Michigan football in which the stakes started out high and have been raised not just with each game but with each story that trickles out about the program.
It is not just a third straight College Football Playoff appearance following two straight losses, or that the playoff and Big Ten alike are expanding next year, creating a tougher path to a championship.
It is not just the fact that a number of stars including quarterback J.J. McCarthy and running back Blake Corum face NFL decisions after the season.
It is that coach Jim Harbaugh’s negotiations with the university for a mega-extension have reportedly hit a roadblock because the school asked that he not entertain NFL offers — and, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Harbaugh hired agent Don Yee to represent him ahead of Monday’s Rose Bowl against Alabama.
It is that even if Harbaugh stays, the program could face any number of sanctions for the cheating scandal that already saw the head coach suspended for the final three games of the regular season, with recruiting staffer Connor Stalions spearheading a sign-stealing scheme that became the biggest story in the sport.
“I think for the outside, it’s the biggest game in Michigan history,” McCarthy told reporters this week. “One of the biggest games in college football history.”
The overlooked thing about a program that saw its 1,000th all-time victory this season and counts itself as a leader amongst the sport’s blue bloods: Michigan has won just a single national title since 1948.
This season is not just the best chance it has had to rectify that, but looks like the best chance it will have for some time.
So no, McCarthy may not be wrong.
“It has been a spiritual journey,” Harbaugh said. “It’s been a mission. It’s daily, weekly, monthly. It’s a year now. One year with this team that they’ve been on this mission.”
Completing it will require beating a resurgent Alabama, which snuck its way into the playoff over an undefeated Florida State thanks to beating season-long No. 1 Georgia in the SEC title game.
Easy enough.
There is some irony that, as the Wolverines ready to play college football’s version of the Death Star, they do so as the villains.
That is different for a program whose emergence as a national power came with some likeability, until Stalions became a household name.
“Obviously it’s been a challenge, there’s no doubt about that,” left guard Trevor Keegan said. “People can make all the allegations they want, but like even a player who’s been here — the players are the ones who changed the program and the coaches.”
The tone out of Ann Arbor since the program’s antics came to light have not been embracing villainy so much as defiance and disbelief at what Michigan sees as a witch hunt without due process.
“We found out coach Harbaugh got suspended three games, it was literally when we landed in Happy Valley against Penn State,” Keegan said. “Really? Like, you couldn’t have done this before? It’s kind of like a little shot in the back, but I think it pays tribute to the leadership we have on this team.”
When the Wolverines first made the playoff and were blown out by Georgia in 2021, they were happy to be there.
When they fumbled what looked like an easy path to the title game against TCU a year ago, there was frustration, but also the knowledge that the infrastructure was in place to get to the promised land.
“I feel like last year I got caught up in the noise and all the emotions of it,” said McCarthy, whose pair of interceptions helped make the difference in the 51-45 Fiesta Bowl loss a year ago. “[This year] I’m just trying to stay simple, trying to focus on dominating meetings, dominating practice and just being around my guys and enjoying every moment because this only comes around once for us.”
That might be more true than he realizes.
Maybe Michigan can navigate its way through the landmines and get back here on New Year’s Day 2025.
Maybe not.
What happens next year, though, becomes an afterthought if it is preceded by a parade through the streets of Ann Arbor.
“Your dreams can come true, your goals can come true. Our team was very definite on this is where they wanted to be,” Harbaugh said. “This was one of their goals, the goal. It’s what we hoped for, what we worked for and exactly where we want to be, and now we’re just ready to have at it.”