Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh played in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown at Iowa in 1985. He guaranteed a victory before the showdown at Ohio State with the Rose Bowl on the line in 1986.
Those were two of the most talked about Big Ten games of the 1980s. Harbaugh the Michigan quarterback was fun. Harbaugh the Michigan coach is a million times more fun, especially as he gears up to head back to those places over the next three weeks.
The road trips to Iowa and Ohio State — there’s a home game against Indiana between — are the last roadblocks to the Wolverines’ hopes for their first undefeated regular season since 1997, a year that resulted in the AP national championship.
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That much became clear after watching Michigan blow through another Big Ten opponent — this time it happened to be Maryland under former Michigan defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin — in 59-3 blowout at Michigan Stadium on Saturday. No. 2 Michigan is 9-0 and barreling into their last three games, and a boatload of Harbaugh hype will follow.
What’s striking is how the Wolverines dominate the first half of football games. They’ve outscored opponents 112-28 in the first quarter and 152-10 in the second quarter. They average 29.3 points and allow 4.3 points per game in the first half. Michigan is real, and the Harbaugh effect is real.
Harbaugh casts a Steve Spurrier-like aura across the Big Ten in just his second season. He wears quirky glasses. He dishes out quirky one-liners and tweets out a few more. He runs quirky formations. And the Wolverines are not-so-quietly kicking ass the whole time. When the hype and the hate run at about the same temperature, this is what you get. That’s Harbaugh.
Michigan’s is outscoring opponents 432-96 with an old-school attack. Look at the Big Ten scores: 49-10. 14-7. 78-0. 41-8. 32-23. 59-3. It’s ruthless. They are bigger, better and bolder blowouts then Bo Schembechler and Harbaugh teamed up for in 1985-86.
Iowa is up next, and this is a bigger test than you might think. That’s going to evoke memories of Chuck Long vs. Harbaugh in that No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in 1985, a loss that kept the Wolverines out of the Rose Bowl. This one’s in primetime at Iowa City, a place where Michigan has lost four of its last five trips.
It’s not on the level of the No. 1 vs. No. 2, but if the Hawkeyes pull the upset here it’s arguably Kirk Ferentz’s biggest Big Ten victory. Iowa is 4-9 against top-five teams under Ferentz, and those wins were against Penn State (2008-09) and Michigan State (2010). The Nittany Lions were the highest-ranked team at No. 3 in 2008.
But this Harbaugh. He’s back. This is much, much bigger.
Michigan can’t look past Indiana, a team that took the Wolverines to double-overtime in Bloomington last season. But we can take a glance at what that regular-season finale at Ohio State might be look on Nov. 26.
Madhouse. That’s the first thought that comes to mind. Ohio State destroyed Michigan 42-13 at the Big House last year, and it didn’t slow down the phenomenon one bit. Urban Meyer has an understated Spurrier-like quality, too, and he hasn’t lost to the Wolverines yet. In fact, Michigan hasn’t won at Ohio Stadium since 2000. That was 14 years after Harbaugh made the guarantee and delivered a 26-24 victory that sent the Wolverines to Pasadena, Calif.
The College Football Playoff makes the stage bigger, badder and bolder for both. The Big Ten East will be on the line, a playoff berth could be on the line and Harbaugh will be greeted to the biggest round of boos at The Shoe since when? 1986? The “Ten-Year War”? Ever?
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What’s at stake with Michigan the next three weeks? Iowa could be one of the most talked about Big Ten games ever. Indiana would be one of the biggest Big Ten upsets ever. Ohio State trumps all of that, and that’s because Meyer raised the stakes in the Big Ten by leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2014. That — as much as anything — prompted Harbaugh’s return to the Big Ten. It’s produced some of the most-compelling football the conference has seen in a long time as a result, especially in the Big Ten.
Madhouse. Crazy. It’s lit, as the kids tweet. That’s the Harbaugh effect, and that’s what happens every time he’ll walk in the Big House or another house.
It’s bigger, better and bolder. It took two years for Harbaugh the coach to dwarf Harbaugh the player. The next three weeks will prove that again, again and again.
Don’t worry. As long as he’s at Michigan, there’s no end in sight.
