When the Michigan Wolverines took the field on New Year’s Eve for the 2021 Orange Bowl, the moment felt surreal. How had Team 142 reached this point? This time the year prior, the sky was falling around the program and 95 percent of the fanbase wanted head coach Jim Harbaugh fired following a disastrous 2-4 season. Admittedly, I was one of them.
The program had no direction or hope six years into Harbaugh’s tenure and a turnaround at this point was unprecedented in college football. But week by week, Harbaugh swung the narrative and defied expectations.