Harbaugh removes thorns from postseason struggles as Michigan football wins OT Rose Bowl thriller

PASADENA, Calif. – Jim Harbaugh has removed the thorns from his postseason struggles as the Michigan Wolverines took down Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide in an overtime thriller inside Rose Bowl Stadium.

Harbaugh, prior to Monday’s (Jan. 1) triumphant victory at the Rose Bowl, was 1-6 in bowl games and 0-2 in the College Football Playoff, but he and team 144 overcame yet another obstacle as they’re now one win away from being called national champions.

“This was a great way to start the New Year off,” said Harbaugh. “Glorious, that was glorious. That was a tremendous football game, but I want to congratulate Alabama on a terrific game. They are great players, and they have a great coaching staff and great fans.”

Harbaugh continued:

“That was an epic football game, but glorious is how I feel, as that was a tremendous win.”

Many have been calling for Harbaugh’s job due to the sign-stealing scandal brought on by former staff member Connor Stalions, which led to a three-game suspension by the Big Ten Conference.

Harbaugh served a self-imposed three-game suspension at the beginning of the season while also looking for a contract extension with the program as his name continues to circulate in the NFL world.

The world of college football came out in droves after the overtime thriller in Pasadena. They were calling the Wolverines’ victory was a form of retribution as they improved to 14-0 on the season for the first time in school history.

“These players and who we are as a team is unanimous support for each and every guy,” Harbaugh said. “It’s almost been an unfair advantage surrounding all of the things the team has gone through, but we don’t care what people say. We don’t care about anything that comes up as we just know we’re going to overcome it as it has been unanimous support from each and every guy on the team.”

The men in maize, through all of the outside noise, have quieted most of the naysayers who gave them tongue-in-cheek nicknames, but Michigan controlled what they could control and let their feet be where they were through 14 weeks.

But through all of the adversity, Harbaugh and his Wolverines are one game away from reaching their seasonal goal, and as the late great Kobe Bryant once said, “The job’s not finished.”

“For the players to be champions, to their parents to have their sons be champions, for their brothers and sister’s to see them as champions, for our coaches and for my kids to have a dad be a champion and my parents to get a feeling of what that’s like,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh continued:

“My ecstatic joy for our players and our coaches and our fans and our families get to enjoy that feeling of being a champion.”

The Wolverines are one step closer to being able to call themselves champions as they are 4.5-point favorites against the Washington Huskies at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

They are 8-5 all-time vs. Washington, with their last meeting in 2021 when Michigan won 31-10, but the 2023 matchup, besides being for all the marbles, will be the third game in college football history to have both team’s matchup at 14-0.

Still, with a victory on Monday (Jan. 8), Harbaugh could be the fifth head coach to win a national title at his alma mater.

Do you think Harbaugh finally got the monkey off of his back? How formidable do you think the Huskies are in the matchup?