The Wolverine

December 2016

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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24 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2016 BY CHRIS BALAS W hen Jim Harbaugh ac- cepted the head-coaching job at Michigan, the nar- rative changed literally overnight. What was once "no way Harbaugh spurns the NFL to return to college coaching" became "it's going to take him a while to get things going at Michigan." Those on board with such talk were wrong on both counts. Harbaugh's Wolverines won 10 games in his first season against three losses, including an improbable loss to Michigan State on the last play of the game when punter Blake O'Neill's dropped snap was returned for a touchdown. The coach did it with many of the same kids who were supposedly too fragile to win, having been fractured emotionally by back-to-back sub- par seasons — a 7-6 campaign and a bowl-less, 5-7 year that got Brady Hoke replaced. His first team pitched three con- secutive shutouts for the first time since 1980 and improved steadily on offense behind Jake Rudock, Iowa's grad transfer who had been demoted in Iowa City, and an offensive line that had set a record for most tackles for loss allowed the previous year but started to come together. U-M finished with double-digit wins for the first time since 2011 af- ter a 41-7 thrashing of Florida in the Citrus Bowl. The performance left no doubt that Michigan was on the rise, and that Harbaugh was every bit as good as most of America thought. The Harbaugh train slowed a bit af- ter a 14-13 upset loss at Iowa in which the Wolverines were three-touchdown favorites to spoil the perfect start in 2016. Still, they controlled their own Big Ten and Playoff destiny with a 9-1 record and No. 4 national rank- ing heading into a Nov. 19 weekend tilt with Indiana. Michigan's depth could be about to undergo its most major test yet, however, after red- shirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight suffered an injury in the Iowa game. Harbaugh would only say in the lead up to the ensuing contest that his signal-caller could be a game-time decision. "We came here in January of 2015, it was certainly like, 'Wow … we've got to fix some things here," secondary coach Mike Zordich recalled. "As last year went along you could see the talent start to come out. Go- ing into the summer we were all very excited, and you've got to give the kids a lot of credit. They worked ex- tremely hard through spring, summer and fall. "Now they can see they have some opportunities ahead of them." EMERGING FROM DARKNESS They might not have believed it pos- sible two seasons ago. The Wolverines were in the midst of losing to Rutgers on the road and Maryland at home, and not only was Hoke on the hot seat, but director of athletics David Brandon was, as well. Hoke's handling of quarterback AHEAD OF SCHEDULE Jim Harbaugh Has Michigan In National Contention In Only His Second Season

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