Michigan Football: Top 5 wins for Jim Harbaugh as Wolverines head coach

Michigan football notched a huge win over Notre Dame last Saturday and it makes you wonder is that the best win of the Jim Harbaugh era? So here is a list.

Jim Harbaugh came to Michigan football with a reputation as a big-game coach.

He earned that reputation both at Stanford and in the NFL, where he coached the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl and three consecutive NFC championship game appearances despite never winning it all.

At Stanford, the Cardinal didn’t win any Pac-12 championships and an Orange Bowl victory is one of the top achievements, but there are also some big wins there, like a couple over USC that come to mind.

The bottom line is that no matter how much he’s criticized, Harbaugh is a good coach and Michigan football is fortunate to have him. There is no debating that he’s been a vast improvement over Brady Hoke and Rich Rod.

He has restored Michigan football to where it was during the Lloyd Carr era and that means being ranked in the top-25 every season and is one of the better programs in the Big Ten. Carr won a national title and a slew of Big Ten titles too, however, some of those were co-championships, something coaches don’t have the luxury of claiming anymore.

Michigan fans want more from Harbaugh and that includes winning titles and beating Ohio State, which has been the impediment to the Big Ten championship. UM was on the doorstep in 2016 and 2018 and each time, OSU won The Game and the Big Ten.

This season, a championship seems out of the question, but after blowing out Notre Dame last Saturday, running the table may not be.

It’s amazing how one big win changed the narrative about this Michigan football program and it got me thinking, was the 45-14 win over Notre Dame the biggest win Harbaugh’s had at Michigan.

It’s hard to argue but just to be thorough, I decided to list the five best wins for Jim in Ann Arbor.