Michigan football doesn't care about critics. But 'the noise' fueled run to title game

PASADENA, Calif. — The word “cheaters” was trending on social media late Monday night. Just don’t tell Jim Harbaugh, or his Michigan Wolverines. Or maybe do. They don’t care.

They said as much after they knocked off big, bad Alabama in the Rose Bowl, 27-20 in overtime, to earn a berth in the national title game. In fact, the criticism, or “noise,” as the U-M coach might say, has galvanized the Wolverines.

Cliché?

Absolutely. Every coach lauds their team when they win after perceived adversity. Harbaugh took it further Monday night.

“It's almost been an unfair advantage, all the things that the team has gone through. We don't care anymore. Don't care what people say. Don't care about anything that comes up,” he said. “We just know we're going to overcome it because it's unanimous support from every single guy on the team.”

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Well, of course he cares, and of course his players care. The entire country thinks his program cheated its way to success this season. No one wants to hear that. Besides, Harbaugh brought up the “unfair advantage” and the outside noise unsolicited. He wasn’t asked about it. Which tells us it has been on his mind.

And if it has been on his mind, then he cares. And he should. Because he’s a human being, and so are his players. Players such as linebacker Michael Barrett, who told reporters after the game that critics had nothing more to say and it was time to pass out respect.

His father went further when he joined the discussion on social media:

“Everyone that wants to go ahead and apologize to our coaches and players for stealing signs when all we stole was souls ... I have receipts and not scared to use them.”

A protective father? Of course, who wouldn’t be?

But his post offers a window into what his son’s been thinking the last couple of months, who referenced the critics, too, numerous times. So, again, it’s not that U-M doesn’t care, it’s that they care and figured out how to use it.

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Harbaugh believes his team used it so well it was almost “an unfair advantage.” Consider another part of that same quote:

“We don’t care anymore.”

Anymore is the key word here. It means he did care at some point, and that his team did, too, and that when accusations of illicit sign stealing went public, and when he got suspended by the Big Ten because an employee in his program appeared to steal the signs in a way that broke the rules, his team might have suffered.

It didn’t. In fact, it thrived.

Not every team would have. Only teams with foundational chemistry can handle such things. And while it may be cliché to talk about the intangible qualities of title-contending teams, coaches talk about them for a reason, because they matter.

Again, here is Harbaugh after the win:

“It's a togetherness. We're so together, so connected. We were going to overcome anything that was inside this stadium.”

Some seasons, you might roll your eyes. But you couldn’t Monday night, not after watching what that looked like on the field, late in the fourth quarter, when the Wolverines trailed by seven and got the ball with one last chance to keep the season alive.

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They got the ball after failing to score a point in the second half, after managing just 44 yards of offense in almost two quarters, after having their running attack shut down, which made it easier to tee off on J.J. McCarthy.

Yet here’s what happened when U-M got the ball back with the season on the line and 4:41 left in the game:

Blake Corum for 4 yards. Corum again for 4 yards. McCarthy incomplete to Colston Loveland. Fourth down.

At that point, 3:19 remained on the clock. Harbaugh had to go for it. McCarthy dropped back, found Corum in the flat, and he tore off toward the sideline, getting the corner, and then turned upfield for another 20 yards.

From there, McCarthy ran for 16 on a designed play. Then he threw it to Roman Wilson for 29 more, with a ball that was tipped before it got to Wilson, sending it high and wide. He leaped and stretched to snag it with his fingertips.

Alabama called a timeout to preserve clock with 1:45 left. Corum ran for a yard. Alabama called for another timeout.

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Finally, from 4 yards out, McCarthy tossed it to Wilson in the left flat and he slipped into the end zone easily. Eight plays to save the season. On each one, someone had to make a play to make the play. Corum started it, after not seeing much room in the second half.

Then he scored the winning touchdown in overtime on a brilliant 17-yard run, darting and spinning and cutting his way like he has for so long.

It was, said McCarthy, “everything that I see out of Blake on a day-to-day basis and everything that Blake is. When everyone is tired, when it's overtime, he's going to be the guy that shows out just like he does in sprints when we run them in the offseason. It was nothing new for me. It was just amazing the world got to see it.”

Corum surely wasn’t thinking about all that unfolded this fall in Ann Arbor, about the spotlight on the program, about the accusations and whispers, about the signs that surrounded the Rose Bowl courtesy of Alabama fans, who were happy to add to the narrative.

A sign read: “Harbaugh stole my sign, so I have to wear this button.”

Playful, perhaps, and even a bit clever, but the message was clear, and it has been the theme of this most unusual season. Seven weeks ago, Harbaugh stepped off a plane in State College, Pennsylvania, only to learn he couldn’t coach his team the next day against Penn State.

Monday night, he stood on the sideline of the most famous stadium in college football, the San Gabriel Mountains in the backdrop, and watched his team beat the game’s royalty. His players sprinted to the middle of the field when it was done.

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All he could do was smile. And who could blame him?

Whatever else you think of Harbaugh and this season, his team backed up his claim that it learned to get past the critics and naysayers. Teams don’t drive the length of the field with everything at stake unless they are tightly connected.

Unfair advantage?

Probably not. Yet these Wolverines turned adversity into fuel like no other team Harbaugh’s had in Ann Arbor, precisely because he — and they — care about what they’ve been hearing.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football uses 'noise' from critics to fuel run to title game