The list of those who reached out was too long to recite. “A lot of people,” Jim Harbaugh said Sunday afternoon, barely 24 hours removed from Michigan’s magical upset of Ohio State.
Harbaugh spoke to the normal suspects. His brother, John; his wife, Sarah; his parents and kids. Notable alums and and former players, too.
But a text message from a certain former Hall-of-Fame coach and broadcaster stood out among the rest.
“John Madden said it was as good an offensive line performance as he’s ever seen in a football game,” Harbaugh raved. He said he forwarded the message to Michigan offensive line coach Sherrone Moore.
“I texted that to Sherrone and said, ‘Keep that on your phone forever.’”
Madden, 85, is a family friend of the Harbaughs. He appeared on Jim and Jack’s dormant podcast in 2018 and his grandson, Jesse, is on the team. But it was Michigan’s big day on the ground that spurred the text, as the Wolverines piled up 297 yards and six rushing touchdowns in a 42-27 win over Ohio State.
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The fallout since then has been grand, with Michigan jumping to No. 2 in the AP Top-25 poll this week — and expected to leapfrog into the top 4 of the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night.
“That was quite a text from John Madden,” Harbaugh later added. “As he said in the text, ‘as a former offensive lineman, I really appreciate offensive line play.’ And the performance in that game was as good as he’s ever seen.”
Hassan Haskins led the game with a game-high 159 yards and five touchdowns, matching a school record for most touchdowns scored in a game.
While Haskins (28 carries) carried a bulk of the load, sophomore Blake Corum came up big when he was called on — turning six carries into 87 yards, highlighted by a 55-yard pickup of his own.
After the game, starting tackle Andrew Stueber said the effort was a culmination of a season-long buildup that began shortly after the 2020 season.
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“We took it upon ourselves to kind of start identifying this offensive line and building an identity that we wanted to be,” Stueber said. “It started in spring, it started in training camp, just building that intensity — that ability to move people off the ball and become nasty.”
Harbaugh has been front and center since Michigan’s big win over the Buckeyes. The victory not only snapped a personal 0-5 losing skid to Ohio State, and the school’s eight-game losing streak, but for the first time launched the Wolverines into the Big Ten championship game. They’ll get ready to play Iowa Saturday in Indianapolis (8 p.m., FOX), but on Sunday Harbaugh was still basking in the glow of the victory.
Asked about his on-field embrace with Michigan men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard, captured by spectators and posted to social media minutes afterward, Harbaugh called it “just so cool.” While the rest of Ann Arbor celebrated, Harbaugh had his own version at home with his wife, kids and parents, who recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
“They like our team. I think they like how hard our players play,” Harbaugh said. “That’s kind of been the theme that’s come through the TV set. They see a bunch of guys who like playing the game — and playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
