INDIANAPOLIS – The Michigan Wolverines ignored the preseason predictions, the early poll snub and especially the critics who thought their football program’s best days were long gone.
Instead they set out to prove everybody wrong. On Saturday, they did.
Hassan Haskins ran for two scores and broke a longtime school record while leading No. 2 Michigan past No. 15 Iowa 42-3 in the Big Ten championship game, winning the program’s first conference title in 17 years and likely clinching the first College Football Playoff berth in school history.
“We defied all expectations,” record-setting Wolverines end Aidan Hutchinson – who extended his single-season program record for sacks with his 14th – said after becoming the first defensive player to be selected MVP of the Big Ten title game. “Nobody ever thought we could do this, especially this season, and we did it – in dominant fashion.”
Earning the title they’ve been craving – and moving into position for their first national championship since 1997 – sure didn’t come easily. The Wolverines (12-1) had to overcome a midseason loss to Michigan State and end the futility against border rival Ohio State for a chance to end their conference title drought.
And then during championship week, the whole state was shocked by the shooting tragedy that took the lives of four high school students in Oxford, Michigan, including Tate Myre, a football player and wrestler. Michigan honored the victims of the school about an hour away from its Ann Arbor campus by wearing a patch on their right shoulder with Myre’s jersey No. 42 and four hearts – one for each student who died – inside the school’s traditional block “O” logo.
Myre’s family also joined the Wolverines captains at midfield for the pregame coin toss and, perhaps fittingly, the Wolverines’ final score gave them 42 points.
“It was Aidan who came to me and wanted to dedicate this game to Tate Myre and, ‘Yes, let’s do that,’ that was huge,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Tate was a warrior … Best athlete in the school, could have easily made it out of that school and been the first one out, but you just know while people were running away from that fire, he was running into it. He’s a hero. I’m glad our players got sold on it.”
Resurgent Michigan has won five straight games, and if it makes the playoff as expected, one more victory would send it back to Indianapolis for an even bigger championship game in January.
The Hawkeyes (10-3) lost their second straight title game appearance, preventing coach Kirk Ferentz from capturing his first conference crown since 2004. Iowa lost to Michigan State in the 2015 Big Ten showdown, and this one came on a night both Hawkeyes quarterbacks, Alex Padilla and Spencer Petras, struggled. They were a combined 19-of-37 passing for 175 yards with one interception.
“One thing just leads to another sometimes, there are games like that unfortunately,” Ferentz said. “They’re not much fun. I’m not sure the score is totally representative of the two teams.”
This one got away quickly.
Blake Corum made two cuts to the right and sprinted 67 yards – the longest of his Michigan career – for the game’s first points. On the Wolverines’ next offensive play, Cade McNamara lateraled to Donovan Edwards, and the freshman running back threw a perfect 75-yard pass – the first of his career – to a wide-open Roman Wilson for a 14-0 lead.
Iowa finally answered with a 22-yard field goal, but the Hawkeyes’ offense couldn’t stay on the field.
Hawkins finally broke open the game with a 4-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, then sealed the victory with a 1-yard run that gave him 20 rushing touchdowns in a single season, one more than Ron Johnson had in his record-setting 1968 season.
Corum had five carries for 74 yards, Haskins rushed 17 times for 56 yards and McNamara was 16-of-24 for 169 yards, one touchdown and one interception.