Michigan football to channel wolfpack energy ahead of national championship game

HOUSTON — On the eve of the College Football Playoff championship game, and the Wolverines are still preparing for the football fight of their collective lives.

Those were coach Jim Harbaugh's words Sunday morning in Liberty Hall, a banquet room adjacent to the JW Marriott in downtown Houston, where he and the Huskies' head man, Kalen DeBoer, gave their final remarks before Michigan football and Washington square off Monday night at NRG Stadium.

All season long, on the night before U-M's games, Harbaugh has had his team watch videos and documentaries on different predatory animals hoping to "get the red blood pumping."

It's a tradition he planned to continue Sunday evening.

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"Tigers, cheetah, lions, really great stuff," Harbaugh said. "Seemed to resonate with the guys … when it gets to how the world wants to turn you into something, we allow ourselves to devolve into a pack of wolves.

"That's what we want to channel, probably nature’s greatest fighting unit."

For the second day in a row, Harbaugh, 60, was asked about his future but wouldn't take the bait. Instead, he discussed the importance of living in the moment and how his group has been able to stay united and together as one throughout a season of turmoil as outside forces tried to pull it apart.

It's the same mentality he wants his team to continue to channel when it's on the field, a mentality he sees in one of the animals featured most in this pre-game rituals.

"The perfect fighting unit to me is a pack of wolves," Harbaugh said. "You see them gathered together before the fight. You see them together going to the fight. You see them together in the fight. You see them celebrating after the fight.

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"The active word there is 'together' so that’s the picture I have, we’re together. That’s the night before the game, we’re together. And a lot of it is fight. That resonates with me because it’s a football fight. These games you play, it’s a football fight."

Ahead of the final fight of the season, each coach was complimentary of his opponent, knowing they're capable of landing a knockout blow in an instant. That's one reason why it was a morning of clichés.

Harbaugh said a lot of the same things last week ahead of U-M's matchup with Alabama in the Rose Bowl: How the "sleep before the sleep" is actually the rest the team plays on and anything they're able to get the night before the game "is just a bonus."

But that not just talk; it's part of the reason why the Wolverines handled their travel the way they did, trying to get on a normal schedule as quickly as possible. Michigan opted not to spend the night in Pasadena, California, after its Rose Bowl, but instead flew home immediately.

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"Felt like it would save us some hours, getting back to Ann Arbor and get some rest in our own beds," Harbaugh explained. "Allow our guys to sleep in each day then allow our guys to travel here Friday.

"We tried to duplicate an in-season week as far as what we do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Had been about a month since we’d done it that way."

DeBoer said getting back to a routine was important but explained the Huskies did it the opposite way (since their game was later and they got the time back flying west) and chose to spend the night in New Orleans.

Harbaugh talked about how the matchup has often been boiled down to Washington's wide receivers against Michigan's secondary but emphasized the game will be won or lost in all three phases.

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"It's a thorough team," Harbaugh said. "They are really good in the offensive line. Defense is physical and tough. A secondary that's active, productive. The takeaways that they've generated — and a lot of them come from the linebackers as well. Really good running game. A quarterback that is special, has the "it" factor in every way.

"Two teams in a lot of ways are mirror images in that regard, in my opinion. I think of ourselves as a thorough football team as well."

Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football 'together' like wolves ahead of national title game