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Back when Michigan football hired Jim Harbaugh as their next head coach in 2014, fans were excited with the possibility of him bringing Michigan back to what it was as a football program. Winning. While Harbaugh has won games as the head coach, he hasn’t won the big ones that everyone wants.
He hasn’t beaten Ohio State, hasn’t won let alone appear in a Big Ten Championship game, and hasn’t won and again appear in a College Football Playoff game.
Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan isn’t going exactly how things have planned, but things aren’t horrible, he’s 47-17 in the five years he’s been in Ann Arbor. The sky isn’t falling and Michigan is still relevant in the college football world. Harbaugh brought them out of the darkness and now they are a threat to other teams, just not as big of a threat that they’d like to be.
Harbaugh was supposed to be the Nick Saban of Michigan. He was supposed to be beating Ohio State and turning the tide on the rivalry that Michigan has been on the losing end of since 2001 as they’ve only beaten the Buckeyes twice since 2001. He was supposed to be winning conference championships, yet he hasn’t even taken his team to Indianapolis. He was supposed to be appearing and winning the College Football Playoffs, yet his team hasn’t qualified for them yet.
We were supposed to see Jim Harbaugh vs Nick Saban in the College Football Championship game as Harbaugh brought the school he played for there, while Saban and his Alabama players would defend their title. Instead, we get the battle on New Year’s Day in the Citrus Bowl as Alabama is 10-2 and Michigan is 9-3, not like everyone predicted.
While Alabama has been winning since 2014, Michigan has been quickly rebuilding and becoming a threat, this year though, both failed at reaching their goals.
Alabama had issues with LSU, who is now the number one team in the country and playing in the playoffs today, and Auburn, their big rival and it was without their starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. For the first time since the playoffs were created, Alabama is sitting on the outside.
Michigan’s issues were a new offense that took half a season to develop, getting demolished by Wisconsin and a dropped touchdown away from going to overtime and having a chance at upsetting Penn State. Along with another embarrassing loss to Ohio State, losing 56-27 in Ann Arbor. Michigan was predicted to win the conference for the first time since Harbaugh arrived and they fell short of that goal.
Now while this matchup between Michigan and Alabama isn’t in the playoffs, it still means something. Alabama will want to win to prove to the voters that they made a mistake in leaving them out, while Michigan will want to win to prove they can hang with the big elite teams and win. A win over Alabama would be the biggest win Harbaugh has had at Michigan.
It would impress recruits, NFL draft scouts, and everyone else that Harbaugh defeated Saban. If he can beat Saban, why not Ohio State? That will probably be the biggest talking point if Michigan can beat the Crimson Tide. So while this game isn’t for a National Championship or the chance to play in that game, it still has a lot of meaning behind it.
Win or lose Alabama will still be a powerhouse in the college football world. A loss would put Alabama at 10-3 and Saban’s worst record at the school since 2010 when they went 10-3 and won the Capital One Bowl against Michigan State 49-7. It wouldn’t hurt them much, and it would only make Saban work harder at getting back into one of the top four spots in 2020. A win would be a message to the playoff committee that Alabama deserved to be in it as they finish 11-2.
If Michigan wins this game, it would be a huge vote of confidence for the players heading towards the NFL, and the ones returning to the program in 2020. Harbaugh would be praised and shown that he is the right fit for the job as he has his fourth 10 win season at Michigan, finishing 10-3.
If Michigan loses it would put them at 9-4 and depending on how much they lose by, would question when can Michigan win a big game? When will they be able to defeat the likes of Alabama and Ohio State? When will they take that next step in being an elite college football program instead of a good college football program?
This game has a lot of meaning to it, and while it isn’t under the bright lights and taking center stage like everyone wanted it to, that still doesn’t change the matchup it is in itself. Michigan vs. Alabama. Harbaugh vs. Saban. The all-time record between the two programs is 2-2, who wins and gets the lead in the all-time series and finishes their 2019 season with a great win over a historic program?
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