Michigan is college football’s national champion and I hope it’s an omen of what we might expect in another high-stakes competition much later in 2024.
Allow me to explain.
Michigan’s season coalesced into a crusade epitomized by the rallying cry “Michigan Vs. Everybody.”
It appeared on clothing, signs, and was a centerpiece of interviews. It was the most striking slogan since Make America Great Again.
For those of you not attuned to college football, Michigan had some rules problems that resulted in not one, but two three-game suspensions for coach Jim Harbaugh this season.
The first, served at season’s beginning, was for recruiting violations (technical stuff at worst). Later in the season, Harbaugh had to sit three games because a member of his extended staff did some alleged sign stealing in advance scouting.
Harbaugh said he had no knowledge of this, but still he had to sit another three games. Most notably, even as the NCAA investigated, Harbaugh got the word from the Big Ten that he was suspended without due process while on the way to a late-season showdown game with Penn State.
It was if the Big Ten had it in for Harbaugh and Michigan, sort of like Republican leadership didn’t really want Donald Trump as its 2016 nominee, but then he went on to win the presidency. Fast-forward to 2024 and Trump still gets little love from his own Republican Party leaders.
Harbaugh’s season-end suspension also had a stench similar to Democrats trying to tie up Trump with a series of suspicious legal actions, hoping they would hamstring his campaigning in 2024.
Michigan, despite the Big Ten Friday surprise, dominated Penn State physically, went on to beat up traditional rival Ohio State, and sleepwalked through the Big Ten title game.
But the challenge was only beginning, The folks who run the college football playoffs thought they could sideline Michigan by slipping long-time playoff stalwart Alabama into the final mix, and opposite Michigan in one semifinal.
Michigan won that Rose Bowl game, in overtime, and Monday night crushed Washington, 34-13, in a game not as close as the final would suggest.
It was a physical domination, kept close only because of some curious strategy at times from Michigan.
Neither quarterback was stellar in this championship game. There were plenty of penalties on both sides and other missteps such as dropped passes.
It was a metaphor for a political campaign, with ebbs and flows and, in the end, a result that makes some very unhappy.
Harbaugh likely really rubbed salt in the wounds of his enemies when he characterized the season as a “spiritual journey” and mentioned God as a reason for his strength through it all.
I can only hope that Trump Vs. Everybody succeeds as did Michigan’s effort. Maybe the cherry on top of a Trump win could be a triumph in swing state Michigan, where Trump has a three-point lead over Clueless Joe Biden in a Jan. 4, 2024, Zogby poll.
We can dream, right?
Sam Ross Jr's site 