Michigan 50, Northwestern 6: Nice things
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The first eight days of 2024 were about as good as it gets for Michigan football fans. Day 1 featured Michigan beating Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide in a CFP Semifinal Game at the Rose Bowl of all places — a walk-off overtime victory at college football’s most historic and picturesque of settings, with mountains and fireworks in the backdrop as a sea of players wearing blue flooded the field to celebrate a National Championship Game berth.
A week later, the end-of-game drama may not have been as high as it was in Pasadena, but the prize was even greater as the Wolverines capped off a storybook ending to a 15-0 season and won the school’s first National Title in a quarter century. The goal that seemed so unattainable through the Rich Rod, Hoke and even the majority of the Harbaugh Eras was suddenly no longer a pipe dream — it was a reality, and Michigan fans from all over got to experience the jubilation of winning it all.
The days that immediately followed the championship win were a blast, too. There was a parade in Ann Arbor where shirtless linemen celebrated college football’s top prize in frigid temperatures and members of the team gathered for one last time to give fans in the Mitten State who didn’t travel to Texas for the title game a chance to experience their own championship moment. And the bragging rights that were unlocked from the early January title made interactions with rival fans in the days and weeks that followed really fun — like showing up to a slap fight armed with a fully loaded array of weapons, just because you could.
But then bad things started to happen. And then they kept happening. And kept happening. And kept happening. And … well, you get the point.
Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL. The vast majority of the key players for the championship team — and most of the stars of Harbaugh’s coaching staff — followed suit. Replacements for J.J. McCarthy were never identified. Replacements for newly vacated assistant coaching spots were largely underwhelming, unwanted elsewhere or unable to remain employed because of off-field mishaps. The NCAA’s investigation into the football program continued. And there wasn’t much help coming elsewhere around the athletic department, either: the Michigan basketball team finished dead last in the Big Ten for the first time in more than 50 years.
It seemed like any opportunity for something to pop up and shift the momentum in the favor of Michigan fans never ended up bearing fruit.
Once football season rolled around and it was time for a title defense, it was more of the same when it came to the negative momentum.
Michigan’s streak of winning 29 consecutive regular-season games, 23 straight home games and a national-best 16 games came to an abrupt end in Week 2 when Michigan lost to Texas, 31-12, in a game that was far more lopsided than than 19-point margin indicates on paper. A one-loss September was followed by a two-loss October, with both defeats coming to teams (Washington and Illinois) that a team with competent quarterback play would have won quite comfortably, and a program like Michigan in 2021-2023 wouldn’t have dreamed of getting tripped up against. And the two-loss October soon had company with a two-loss November just nine days into that month after defeats at the hands of Oregon and Indiana.
By mid-November, Sherrone Moore’s first Michigan football team had already clinched the program’s highest regular season loss total since the Brady Hoke era. With multiple games still left to be played.
The question surrounding Michigan was no longer in the ilk of the “can this team win it all?” inquiries it received the previous three seasons and instead shifted to “can this team qualify for a bowl game?”
The newly anointed king of college football had gone from delivering knockout punches to being a punchline in a matter of months.
Yes, it became increasingly clear that 2024 — outside of the first few weeks of perfection — had become a year where Michigan fans were no longer allowed to have nice things.
But then came this past week. And a seismic shift took place.
Spoiler alert: Nice things are back in play. And it feels like it’s for the long haul.
Let’s dive into it below the paywall jump. 👇
