Big Ten Championship

Michigan, after 17 years, reached the mountain top of the Big Ten, and did it in dominant fashion beating Iowa 42-3.

All week, the talk was all about this being a let down game for Michigan. Beating Ohio State for the first time in a decade and all of the emotions that went into that game, the national media was asking if Michigan could come back down to earth and focus on beating Iowa in the Big Ten Title game - they got their answer.

Michigan put on a dominant performance on the scoreboard, winning the game 42-3. The best part, it wasn't even a complete performance. They made multiple, uncharacteristic mistakes, had dumb penalties, two turnovers, allowed the Iowa offense to move the ball well early on. At the end of the day though they found ways to stop Iowa and win big. It was such an odd performance that Aidan Hutchinson received MVP honors with a stat line of 4 tackles and 1 sack. Running back Hassan Haskins only averaged 3.3 yards per carry against the tough and disciplined Iowa front seven. Cade McNamara had one of his worst showings in the first half but finished with 169 yards passing, but the longest pass play came on a halfback pass from freshman running back Donovan Edwards, who threw an absolute dime to Roman Wilson for a 75 yard touchdown. Blake Corum had the longest run of the day, a 69 yard touchdown run and Michigan took those two big plays into half up 14-3. 

Iowa was trying to play the field position game that allowed them to come back and win against Penn State, Nebraska and Illinois - but Michigan's defense is on another level. The Hawkeyes were unable to get anything going consistently throughout the game. They finished with only 279 total yards, 175 passing and 104 yards rushing. They did manage to get into the red-zone three times but the Wolverines tightened up and held them to only three points. A quarterback switch in the second half led to no more success than they had in the first half as Iowa's offensive ineptitude was on full display for all to see. 

Iowa's game-plan revolved around not letting Michigan's two dominant edge rushers win the game for the Wolverines. All of their passing plays were quick three step drops which led to QBRs of 54.6 for Petras and 34.9 for Padilla. It was an out of character game for the Hawkeyes who couldn't keep the game close enough in the second half to try and make a late run. Michigan, meanwhile walked their way into the College Football playoffs for the first time, and won the Big Ten for the first time since 2004. 

Last year, I was watching the Big Ten title celebration after the Buckeyes had won their third straight. The confetti was dropping around the Ohio State coaches and players and head coach Ryan Day lifted up the Big Ten title trophy. I thought to myself in that moment "I want that feeling, I want to know what it feels like for it to be my team celebrating this way." In the quiet of my home, with only my fiance and dog to share it with, I got that feeling. And it was perfect. Team 142 of 2021 will go down as one of the best Michigan teams in my lifetime. A team coming off a 2-4 record during the covid shortened season, unranked in all of the preseason polls and weren't projected to win more than eight games all season finished 12-1 and Big Ten champions. 

This wasn't just a championship season, it was a season that restored my love of this game and this team. A wild roller coaster of ups and downs in multiple games, a loss to rival MSU after blowing a 16 point lead and a dominant win vs arch rival OSU. Watching the confetti drop this year I thought to myself "this is only the beginning."