The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Carroll's Trojans, who were on their way to an 11-2 season and second consecutive Rose Bowl victory. The Trojans were kings of the col- lege football world, having won the 2004 national championship and missing out on a second via a three-point loss to Texas in Pasadena the following year. They were the next best thing to invincible, and a 41-point favorite over the belea- guered Cardinal and its first-year head coach. Harbaugh didn't care, recalled Chris Marinelli, a five-year offensive lineman for Stanford. It didn't matter what the coach had said about USC the summer before. It didn't matter that Pritchard had logged one ca- reer passing attempt heading into the 2007 season. "We bow to no man," Harbaugh declared. "We bow to no program at Stanford University." The new head coach had a way of making people believe those were more than just words, Mari- nelli insisted. "We had an incredibly loose feel- ing around the program," Marinelli recalled. "We had nothing to lose. Regardless of the point spread or anything else, it was much more personal than that. It was us against them. "It meant a lot to us. We were go- ing out to prove to them that we be- longed, and we could beat them. We thought we could beat them with our backup quarterback and who- ever else." And they did. USC's 35-game home winning streak came crashing down in Stan- ford's 24-23 victory. Pritchard fired a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining, capping the greatest upset (in terms of pregame point spread) in college football history. Harbaugh refused to act shocked afterwards. That's the sort of con- fidence and preparation coming back to Michigan Stadium, Mari- nelli assured. "They're getting second to none, as far as success and dedication to winning," Marinelli said. "You're not going to get anyone better than Jim and the people he surrounds himself with, the people he brings in. That's what he does. That's what he's done at every level. He's going to win. "That's a surefire thing. That pro- gram will have tremendous success in the very near future. I'd bet on that." CONTAGIOUS COMPETITIVENESS Prior to Harbaugh's arrival, the Cardinal had experienced five straight losing seasons and just two winning campaigns in 10. Marinelli played on a 1-11 squad before the new coach arrived and, although the re- sults weren't instantaneous (Stanford wound up 4-8 in 2007), the difference proved marked. It began with a burning desire to win. "His competitive nature is really to an eerie level," Marinelli said. "It's like nothing I've ever seen. He al- ways wanted to be involved in locker