ANN ARBOR, Mich. — “Michigan vs. Everybody” knit hats, ballcaps, sweatshirts and T-shirts were flying off the racks and plucked off a table near the University of Michigan campus on a sun-splashed Sunday.
Michelle Guy, who graduated from the school in 1974, drove nearly an hour from her home in suburban Detroit hoping to buy a long-sleeved blue shirt with the phrase printed in maize. Alas, it was already sold out.
“I feel like the team isn’t getting credit for how good it is,” she said. “And even if we cheated, I don’t think Jim Harbaugh knew.”
Amid a sign-stealing saga that led to the Big Ten suspending Michigan head coach Harbaugh for three games, Michigan is fighting back on the field and social media, in court and with merchandise that puts some money in players’ pockets.
The second-ranked Wolverines headed into a fateful week preparing to play at Maryland on Saturday, a day after a hearing in a legal battle to free Harbaugh, and a defiant swagger built on their growing belief that it’s them against the world.