michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
CHAMPIONS
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan 42
42 Iowa 3
3
Wolverines capture elusive Big Ten
Championship in win over Iowa
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IN DEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 61
©2021 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2
A RTS..........................5
MIC...........................7
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SPORTS....................11
STATEMENT.......INSERT
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INDIANAPOLIS — Nobody took Jim
Harbaugh and Aidan Hutchinson
seriously
back in July. Yet there they were,
sitting
behind a podium at
Lucas
Oil Stadium during
Big
Ten Media Days,
insisting
the
Michigan
football
team
was
ready
to
take
the
next
step.
Asked
about
beating
Ohio State and
reaching the Big
Ten Championship
Game, Harbaugh said
the Wolverines would
“get there or die trying.”
Hutchinson,
too,
affirmed
his willingness to die for it. Given
Michigan’s dismal 2-4 season in 2020, it
was easy to scoff at claims of culture change
and national contention. But on Saturday
night, their July words came to life.
The second-ranked Wolverines (12-1 overall,
9-1 Big Ten) defeated No. 13 Iowa (10-3, 7-3), 42-3,
capturing the program’s first Big Ten title since
2004. When the clock ticked down to double-
zeros, maize and blue confetti rained down on the
same field where everyone wrote off Harbaugh and
Hutchinson in July.
“We defied all expectations,” Hutchinson said.
“Nobody thought we could do this. Nobody thought we
could ever do this, especially not this season. And, man, we
did it. And we did it in a very dominant fashion.”
Standing outside the postgame locker room, shouts
of “6-6” and “two percent” reverberated through the
tunnel — references to the Wolverines’ projected
6-6 record and the 2% chance ESPN’s preseason
algorithm gave Michigan to win the Big Ten
East. ESPN’s calculations also estimated the
Wolverines had a 0.7% chance to win the Big
Ten Championship and a 0.0% chance to make
the College Football Playoff.
“There’s always that little external
motivation,” sixth-year offensive lineman
Andrew Vastardis said. “… Sometimes, just
some of the stuff that’s out there, you just take
it and ride with it and (add) fuel to the fire. So
that’s where that was from.”
That fuel was apparent on Saturday night.
From an identity standpoint, Michigan and the Hawkeyes
appeared to be mirror images entering this week. Both programs
pride themselves on physical, run-first football.
When they stepped foot on the field, however, it quickly
became apparent that wasn’t the case.
Iowa hadn’t allowed a run of 30-plus yards all season, but it
didn’t take long for Blake Corum to change that. The sophomore
running back took an inside handoff 67 yards for a touchdown on
the Wolverines’ second possession.
On their next offensive play from scrimmage, junior
quarterback Cade McNamara threw a lateral to running back
Donovan Edwards in the flat. But instead of turning the corner,
the freshman reared off his back foot and threw a deep ball to
junior receiver Roman Wilson, who ran streaking behind the
defense all alone. The double-pass went for a 75-yard touchdown,
giving Michigan a quick two-score lead.
“(That play) has been ready for prime time about seven weeks,”
Harbaugh said. “… We had it planned early. As soon as we got into
the left hash after the fourth play, we were going to run that. And
(Edwards) has never missed on that throw. Sometimes he throws
it off his left, his right foot. He’s always on the move running when
he throws it. And every time, it’s a dime.”
On the other side of the ball, that was more than the they needed.
After allowing a field goal late in the first quarter, Michigan’s
defense gave up just 160 more yards. The Wolverines held Iowa to
a 5-for-18 mark on third down and didn’t surrender a single point
following the first frame. Hutchinson recorded four tackles, a sack
and two quarterback hurries en route to Big Ten Championship
Game MVP honors. He’s the first defensive player to ever win the
award, but his teammates believe he belongs in the conversation
for a bigger one.
“It’s pretty self-explanatory. He deserves to be the Heisman
Trophy winner,” Vastardis said. “He showed out every week,
been a game-changer.”
Senior running back Hassan Haskins padded the Wolverines’
lead with a pair of second-half rushing touchdowns, becoming
the first player in program history to tally 20 in a single-season.
Michigan’s 42 points were the most the Hawkeyes’ vaunted defense
had allowed since the 2015 Rose Bowl, sealing their worst postseason
losing margin in program history.
Saturday’s victory cements the Wolverines’ first-ever College
Football Playoff berth, helping Harbaugh restore his alma
mater’s place in the upper echelon of college football. Prior to
2021, Michigan’s seventh-year coach had yet to beat Ohio State,
claim a conference title or lead his team to the College Football
Playoff. The fact that he checked all three of those boxes during
the past week solidifies this season as an inflection point for the
program.
Most players on the Wolverines’ roster hadn’t even started
elementary school the last time Michigan won a Big Ten title.
Now, that drought is over. And it ended in the very stadium where
nobody thought it was possible in July.
That is, except for Harbaugh, Hutchinson and the rest of the
Wolverines.