Eighteen months ago, in the leadup to his worst season of his coaching tenure, Jim Harbaugh claimed the Michigan football Wolverines had been “about as close as you can possibly be” to winning it all.
At the time, it was an absurd assertion given that Michigan had never lost fewer than three games, won a division title or placed higher than sixth in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
But as Harbaugh’s team heads to Indianapolis to compete for the school’s first Big Ten title since 2004, a national championship has surfaced as a realistic possibility during a season that has defied expectations.