It's hard to overstate the progress Michigan football made this season, and it's just as easy to forget after its humbling loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl. The Wolverines won 12 games for just the third time in program history. They beat Ohio State for the first time in 10 years. They won the outright Big Ten title for the first time in nearly 20. They earned their first berth in the College Football Playoff. And they did all this despite beginning the year unranked.
"We climbed mountains this season that no one thought we could," said co-captain and Heisman finalist Aidan Hutchinson after Michigan reached the end of its road Friday in Miami. "We did some things that nobody expected this Michigan team to do. I think we set the standard for the future of Michigan football and helped this program tremendously for the future.
"All those young guys, they got this scar tissue now, being in the playoffs, losing, having to feel this. I know they’re going to bounce back next year and give ‘em hell."
Michigan went 2-4 last season. It was 11-10 dating back to 2018. It had plateaued under Jim Harbaugh, who was closer to being dismissed when this season began than he was to getting over the hump. Michigan cut his salary in half and paved the path for his departure if he failed to change the results. He changed them drastically, in part due to drastic changes to his coaching staff. The Wolverines got younger and livelier. By extension, so did Harbaugh.
Michigan is likely to finish among the top five teams in the AP Poll for the first time since 1999. It will certainly finish with its highest ranking under Harbaugh. The buzz is back.
"It was a great season," Harbaugh said. "To me, it’s one of the best seasons in Michigan football history. We were trying to make it greater tonight, but it was still a great season. This team won’t be fully together next year. It’s still a beginning for this team. This is when it began last year, and it will begin anew this year. Start of a new year. Proud of them, the way they kept fighting. Ton of resolve with this football team. To me, it feels like a start. It feels like a beginning."
The players had a significant hand in Michigan's turnaround before the season ever began. A group of them got together last offseason and decided enough was enough -- it was time to put the program back on the map. With a number of those players moving on, like Hutchinson, co-captain Josh Ross and alternate captain Hassan Haskins, the question is whether the returning players can sustain Michigan's momentum. Hutchinson has no concerns.
"They’re going to step up," he said. "Already started talking to a couple of them that I know are going to be leaders next year. Michigan football will be in good hands. They’ve learned this season what leadership is and how it’s supposed to be."
One of those returning players is junior tight end Erik All, one of Michigan's lone bright spots against Georgia. All said Friday's loss "just adds fuel to the tank. We're going to come out and work even harder next year."
The Wolverines will be hard-pressed to repeat this year's success. The roster is losing a lot of talent to graduation and the NFL. Then again, they're bringing in a top-10 recruiting class and they have a big-time quarterback ready to take over. They've also restored a sense of purpose in the program, purpose born of pride.
"We did accomplish great things this year," said Ross. "We can’t forget about that. Today we got outplayed and it wasn’t our best game, but as far as the season as a whole, we had so many great moments with our group. Such a great culture that we’ve built here. Like Coach Harbaugh says, it’s just beginning of what we are building and moving onto next year."
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