J.J. McCarthy stood on the field and watched TCU celebrate after Michigan lost in the College Football Playoff semifinal last season for the second year in a row. He soaked it in from the other side Monday night after the Wolverines finally got over the hump.
And what better way to do it, and what better place, than in overtime against Alabama at the Rose Bowl.
"The team was just not going to be denied," Jim Harbaugh said after an instant classic in Pasadena. "J.J. said it when he walked off this same podium last year in the semifinal game. He said, 'We’re going to be back.' What he told me was not only are we going to be back, we’re going to win. And there he did."
McCarthy wasn't perfect against the Tide, but he was made for the moment. He engineered three long touchdown drives at critical times, capping off each with his arm. The first was a needed response to Alabama's early momentum, the second gave Michigan the lead at the half, and the last, and the most impressive, was an eight-play, 75-yard crusade with the season on the line in the fourth quarter.
"Having the month that we had to prepare, I just wanted to leave no stone unturned," McCarthy said. "Going back to 2017, '18, '19, all the way up to the present moment, just making sure that I was locked in on all cylinders in every situation, fourth quarter, overtime, fourth down, and that big completion to Blake. Everything about it was just making sure I was the most prepared guy on the field so I could go out there and help my teammates as best I can."
That big completion to Blake would be Blake Corum, of course, Michigan's star running back who slipped free on fourth and 2 when a stop might have sent Alabama to the national championship, caught a pass from McCarthy and turned upfield for a 27-yard gain. The Wolverines could have punted from their own 40, with three timeouts and more than three minutes to go, but did they come all this way to leave like that? To give up the ball with the game in their grasp?
Corum went a step further than McCarthy after last season and said that not only would Michigan be back, but he would be back to win the national championship. He could have gone to the NFL, but he couldn't leave without the one thing he wanted most. Corum ended last season on crutches, stuck on the sidelines with a knee injury as the Wolverines went down in flames to TCU. He ended their only overtime drive Monday night with a plowing 17-yard run to the end zone. The defense, terrific all night, took care of the rest.
"Everything that I see out of Blake on a daily basis and everything that Blake is, when everyone is tired, when it’s overtime, he’s going to be the guy that shows out, just like he does in sprints when we run them in the offseason," said McCarthy. "It was nothing new for me. It was just amazing the world got to see it."
Corum arrived at Michigan for the team's worst season under Harbaugh, whose future at his alma mater wasn't so clear amid the mess of that 2-4 COVID campaign. His future's murky now because he might be destined for the NFL. McCarthy arrived a year later after memorably quelling panic in the Michigan fanbase during the 2020 season by asking everyone to "take three deep breaths and have faith." He was still just a five-star quarterback at IMG Academy, but already a leader.
"Faith that every single coach, player, employee in that building is doing everything they possibly can to be great," McCarthy tweeted at the time.
The team has never been tighter than it is now. Harbaugh calls players like McCarthy and Corum "the glue," bonding agents who helped hold the program together. Everything could have come undone in 2020. Instead, the players and coaches came together, turning 2-4 into 12-2, then 13-1 and now 14-0 and the precipice of Michigan's first national title since 1997. It's there for the taking next Monday in Houston.
How fitting that McCarthy and Corum led the way in Pasadena, behind the Wolverines' typically dominant offensive line. McCarthy threw for 221 yards, three touchdowns and no picks -- after nearly being picked on the very first play of the game -- and was only sacked once by a defense that terrorized quarterbacks all year long. Corum put up 118 total yards and two touchdowns, and averaged 4.4 yards per carry against a defense that yielded well under 4.0 for the season.
"The offense doesn’t go unless those big boys go," said McCarthy. "Coach Harbaugh mentioned it: This game was going to be won in the trenches. ... That’s the heartbeat of our team. Blake would stand up here and say the same thing. Those big boys, we owe it all to them."
Michigan owed plenty Monday night to its defense, which was relentless. The Wolverines swarmed Alabama's vulnerable offensive line to pile up six sacks and 10 tackles for loss. They sealed the game by stuffing quarterback Jalen Milroe on fourth and goal. And then the players stormed the field, their arms above their heads and their feet barely touching the ground, finally over the hump in the San Gabriel Mountains, the climb almost complete.
"Means everything," said McCarthy. "Just think about how far we’ve come."