Harbaugh did the job, but did he finish it?

Michigan's return to a championship sets up the next questions.

J.J> McCarthy , Jim Harbaugh

Two years before Jim Harbaugh came home, Michigan played in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. They lost it. The year before Harbaugh came home, Michigan lost to Rutgers. The Wolverines were in the process of losing eight of nine games to Michigan State, and losing eight times consecutively to Ohio State (with Harbaugh losing five).

Tradition isn’t helpful when you’re unable to continue it. Michigan was the personification of the Big Ten cliche, with heavy thighs and primitive playbooks. A few poor administrative decisions came home to roost, most notably the tone-deaf hiring of Rich Rodriguez to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr. After three years of that, Michigan hired Brady Hoke. By his third year, you could hear Harbaugh’s footsteps thundering all the way from San Francisco.

So Michigan had its Messiah in mind, the guy who went 21-3-1 in his final two years as Bo Schembechler’s quarterback. Only Harbaugh could fix it. Except it would take him a lot longer than three days. 

What happened in Houston Monday night was the end of Michigan’s slow culmination, and there was nothing inevitable about it. Now the Wolverines have not only beaten Ohio State three times in a row, they have throttled Washington, 34-13, to win the final 4-team College Football Playoff before the riffraff invades next season.

It was the final game of Pac-12 football, and it squared the circle from the first of these ten CFP Finals. On that night, Ohio State blasted Oregon, 42-20, as Zeke Elliott ran for 246 yards and four touchdowns. The Buckeyes were so outrageously talented that they won with third-string QB Cardale Jones, and they introduced misery into the life of Marcus Mariota, Oregon’s Heisman Trophy winner. Here, Michigan laid down the rules of engagement by averaging 12 yards per rush in the first half, and they held Washington, 37-point averagers during the season, to one second-half field goal, as they never quit hassling, perplexing and throwing funhouse mirrors in front of Michael Penix Jr., this year’s Heisman runnerup.

The Huskies now join the Big Ten and will play at Michigan in October. Will Harbaugh be there to greet them? Several NFL jobs, promising on the surface, will be available, including those belonging to the Chargers, Falcons, Commanders, and maybe even the Patriots. It would be far easier for Harbaugh to hang at Michigan and try to stack titles, especially since two-loss teams will have chances to get into the new, bloated playoff, but now Harbaugh can join Pete Carroll, Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson as coaches who have won college titles and Super Bowls. He is within one play, in the Har-Bowl between his 49ers and brother John’s Ravens, from already getting there.

“Someday when they throw dirt over me, if somebody is eulogizing me, if they were to say, ‘He was a Michigan man,’ that would mean everything to me,” Harbaugh said. “What this means is, I get to sit at the big person’s table in my family. They won’t have to keep me at the little kids’ table anymore.”

It took nearly 48 minutes for Penix to complete a pass that exceeded 20 yards. That was a 32-yarder to Rome Odunze, when the Huskies only trailed 20-13. That also isn’t an official play, since the officials claimed they spotted a hold on the part of guard Roger Rosengarten. It was 27-13 when Penix and Odunze finally clicked on a 44-yarder that held up, but then Mike Sainristil picked off Penix and returned it 81 yards, closing the case.

Washington had 89 of those 20-or-more plays in its first 14 games. It had only that one Monday. Penix had a golden fourth-down chance to hit Odunze in the first half but threw behind him, and was generally off his feed throughout. It didn’t help that Dillon Johnson had no business trying to play through his foot injury, which removed Washington’s running threat and allowed Michigan to continue to play three-deep coverages. Washington’s offensive line, which had received the Joe Moore Award for national supremacy after Michigan had won it the previous two years, was mauled by Michigan’s front four, and Penix was always throwing with uncertain feet. In the end he was holding his side and limping.

The Huskies never had a short field, but Michigan started three drives inside Washington territory. Blake Corum, as always, was seemingly drawn into the end zone like iron filings toward a magnet, and he had two touchdowns and 134 yards in 21 carries. Donovan  Edwards also ran for two scores and traversed 104 yards in six carries.

There is mounting evidence that basketball-on-grass is no longer the way to win, if it ever was. Georgia won the past two national championships by knocking bodies around, and Michigan’s blockers cleared the room with alarming ease until the Huskies readjusted their seat belts in the second quarter. Those who say tackling is a lost art should look for it in Ann Arbor.

But Harbaugh couldn’t resurrect Michigan on yesterday’s principles alone. He had to find a trustworthy quarterback. J.J. McCarthy, an ebullient kid from the Chicago suburbs, was content to let Corum, Edwards and the others have their fun, until he saw a crossroads ahead. When Michigan only led 20-13, McCarthy dashed 22 yards to escape a field position hole. Michigan still led 20-13 when McCarthy found Colston Loveland, his tight end, for 41 yards, flipping the field again and leading to Corum’s first touchdown.

Players from Maui, Anaheim, Haiti, Baltimore and Gooding, Idaho all chimed in. Michigan always had a national profile. Now it is a national program, and USC and UCLA will find its stadiums peppered with Maize and Blue when the Wolverines come to town. They will also learn the depth of Michigan’s recruiting footprint. Whether that can be deepened without Harbaugh is another question.

Harbaugh begged questioners to let him enjoy the moment that he had visualized since he took the job in 2014. He also pointed out that the ‘M’ was the Roman numeral for 1,000, and that no high school, college or pro team ever had won that many games before this season. That sounded a bit like a mission accomplished, provided Harbaugh chooses to accept the next one.