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.

