Michigan football vs. Alabama a reminder of how much college football is changing

The Wolverines have a football game in four days. It’s kind of a big game, against the biggest brand in college football.

In a normal year, Michigan vs. Alabama would dominate the local news. But then this isn’t a normal year. The Detroit Lions just won their division for the first time in three decades. Meanwhile, the Pistons are making history, too. The wrong kind, sure, but still history.

It’s not that Jim Harbaugh vs. Nick Saban is an afterthought, obviously. There is much at stake when the coaches lead their teams onto the field at the Rose Bowl on Monday afternoon (more for Harbaugh than for Saban, but that’s another matter).

Yet this titanic clash feels a bit overshadowed lately. Blame Dan Campbell and Tom Gores.

That should change here in the next few days as the teams are now in southern California, practicing and holding interviews, producing headlines such as “Harbaugh says J.J. McCarthy NFL ready” and “Alabama told players to change film habits to prep against sign-stealing.”

That ought to get the adrenaline flowing. So, too, should the chance to play for the national title. That’s what’s happening here, right?

And it’s happening in what feels like the end of an era, though these days, that argument could be made at the end of every season.

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Speaking of eras ending, Harbaugh might not be back in Ann Arbor next season. There is uncertainty. There is an ongoing investigation. There are reports linking his name to more NFL teams.

Maybe he’s back and U-M keeps rolling and the noise surrounding the program this season falls away. Even if that’s so, change remains afoot.

All you have to do is look at the Wolverines’ 2024 schedule: USC arrives in Ann Arbor next September. Oregon arrives six weeks later. In between, they travel to Washington.

Penn State isn’t on the schedule. Nor is Maryland or Rutgers. The division the Wolverines have dominated the last three seasons will soon no longer exist.

Ohio State and Michigan State remain protected rivalries. That’ll look familiar. Not much else will. The Big Ten is about to become an 18-team behemoth.

That’s half an NFL league. Add another 14 teams — is it really that ridiculous at this point? — and the conference will be the NFL.

Yeah, yeah, the SEC would like a word, as that conference remains the undisputed home of future pros ... and title teams, though it has only 16 teams. Still, this isn’t your daddy’s college football, or even your older brother’s.

Next season, a 12-team playoff arrives. That’s good news for Missouri and Mississippi — each would’ve made the playoff under the new format — but dilutes the accomplishment of making the four-team playoff. Then again, Florida State will be happy to never see the current format again.

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Whatever else you think about conference realignment and expansion, whatever else you think about the 12-team playoff, one thing is certain: college football is changing rapidly and is likely to keep doing so.

So, savor the Wolverines’ accomplishment. Savor their three-year run of making the final four, and of winning the Big Ten before it went west. And while it might get easier to secure a playoff berth, it’s about to get harder to win the conference.

It’s fitting that U-M gets the Rose Bowl. That was the goal for so long for this program. And while it doesn’t mean what it used to mean, it’s still the Rose Bowl: sunny and warm and surrounded by mountains.

This isn’t a nostalgia trip, though. This is Harbaugh’s most complete roster (his words), his most athletic roster (my words; just watch them, especially on defense), and his best quarterback (everyone’s words) trying to take down the sport’s royalty.

Sorry, Georgia, but Alabama is still Alabama. And Alabama is still in the SEC. And the SEC is still the nemesis — at least its upper echelon — of Michigan.

In the last week, analysts and commentators have wondered if the Wolverines will be fast enough and athletic enough to hang with the Crimson Tide. It’s the age-old question this time of year:

Can the North hang with the South?

Or even the West? (Hey, the Washington Huskies run pretty well, too).

This is the stereotype football folks have. Heck, Saban leaned into it a bit when he was interviewed right after his team made the playoffs. Asked what he thought about Michigan, he said:

“Physical.”

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Which is a euphemism for slow, and unathletic, and not particularly skilled. Now, he may not have meant it that way, but physical is a loaded word when a college coach from the SEC is talking about a college team from the Midwest.

Michigan is fighting that perception, as well. Not that the Wolverines care much about perception. They just want to win. Win and they’ll take care of the perception. Win and they’ll take care of the perception around the country of why they are in the playoffs in the first place.

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Harbaugh, meanwhile, described Alabama as you would expect he would: as fast and nimble and powerful. He’s right, Alabama’s players are.

“They're really good; so good,” he said earlier this week. “I mean they could clear us right out of the stadium. But we're good, too. We've got the ability to do the same to them.”

If he believes that, and his team believes that, then this is all that ultimately matters. They’ve just got to show they belong on the field.

It’s been a while since they have outside the Big Ten. And it might be a while before they get another chance, before they get this chance.

College football is changing. Enjoy it before it does.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan vs. Alabama reminder of how much college football changing