Michigan Football has a problem with top-10 teams

If Michigan football is ever going to win championships and make the College Football Playoff, it has to start beating top-10 teams.

Ever since the loss to Ohio State last Saturday, there has been a firestorm of criticism surrounding Jim Harbaugh and the direction of the Michigan football program.

It’s one thing to lose but the way the Wolverines were demolished by Ohio State made lots of people forget about the great season Michigan put together, a season that included a 10-game winning streak. Some now have it in their heads that the Wolverines will never catch Ohio State or win a Big Ten championship. Some even think Harbaugh needs to go.

And while it’s understandable, it’s a little rash to think that way. Michigan football just completed an 8-1 season in the Big Ten, which was its best mark in conference play in 12 years. That was the last time UM lost only one game. The Buckeyes ruined it that year too, winning the 1-2 game in Columbus.

The truth is, winning big games has been an issue for Michigan football long before Harbaugh came on board. He has been the coach since 2015. However, UM hasn’t beaten a top-10 team on the road since 2006. Heck, before Harbaugh and the Wolverines beat Michigan State this season, Michigan hadn’t beaten a ranked team on the road since that same 2006 win over Notre Dame.

But really, over the last 15 seasons, Michigan football has won just five games against top-10 teams. The Wolverines won one in 2005, one in 2006, two in 2007 and one in 2016. That’s it. One top-10 win since Lloyd Carr retired. It’s unbelievable but true.

Harbaugh is 1-8 against top-10 teams, with his lone win coming over eighth-ranked Wisconsin back in 2016. Overall, he has a respectable record against ranked teams, going 8-9. So he has beaten good teams and won big games, he just hasn’t beaten the elite teams required to win championships.

After Carr retired, Rich Rodriguez drove Michigan football into the ground. Brady Hoke tried to fix it but just wasn’t capable of competing against Urban Meyer, James Franklin and Mark Dantonio.

Harbaugh has now spent the last four seasons trying to get Michigan back to where it needs to be. There is still work that needs to be done, but progress is being made. Three 10-win seasons is nothing to scoff at and an 11-win year, with a major bowl victory would be a progress, regardless of what anyone says.

Yet, unless the Wolverines start beating top-10 caliber teams, they will be stuck in the same rut, the rut that has left them without a consensus conference championship since 2003 and just two major bowl victories in the last 20 years.

That’s why no matter who Michigan football plays during its bowl game or where it goes, I hope they get matched up against a top-10 team, a legit team like an LSU. The Wolverines need the confidence to know they can beat the elite programs in college football, especially after what the Buckeyes did to them.

The only way that confidence will come is by doing. That is why the bowl game matters this year, at least in my eyes. Winning a couple of major bowl games helped Clemson get over the big-game hurdle and who knows, it could do the same for Michigan football too.