[ot-caption title=”Coach Harbaugh’s got his Wolverines playing some darn good football, via Google Filtered images, Rick Osentoski )”]

The score was 38-0. Michigan was trouncing 13^th ranked Northwestern. There were only two minutes left on the clock in the Big House. And the Wolverine defensive starters remained in the game. It’s the Jim Harbaugh way. Back when he was at Stanford, Harbaugh elected to go for two after taking a 48-21 lead late in the fourth quarter against USC. At the time, USC coach Pete Carroll mouthed the words, “What’s your deal?” to Harbaugh. Harbaugh looked right at him and replied, “What’s your deal?” Harbaugh’s deal is winning.

After six games last year, Michigan was below .500 with two wins and four losses, allowing 137 points in those six contests. Fast-forward to today, and the maize and blue has won five of six and have lost just twice on the year: to 4th ranked Utah and 7th ranked Michigan State. The team has allowed a grand total of 65 points on the year and posted three consecutive shutouts against BYU, Maryland, and Northwestern.  It’s been an almost surreal transition, and the answer is as easy as it seems: Jim Harbaugh. The man knows how to win, and the man knows how to play defense as well. He’s led top ten scoring defenses at every stop since 2010. Not bad for a guy who played quarterback in college.

His old-school style can be seen in literally everything he does, from his sporting of the old-fashioned thin Michigan “M” to his smash-mouth style of football. As a player, Harbaugh idolized his coach, Bo Schembechler, who famously told his players that the most important thing to them had to be “The Team, The Team, The Team.” Now, the coach in the crew neck and khakis has his guys idolizing him. Let me make this very clear: Michigan has been arguably the best team in the Big Ten thus far, and it’s possible they’re one of the best in the entire country. Sure, this is an impressive turnaround, but it should not be considered a surprising one.

These days, all anybody in Ann Arbor can think about is the tragedy that happened this past Saturday, in which the Wolverines watched arch-rival Michigan State celebrate on their home field in one of the most improbable finishes of this generation.  But make no mistake.  Despite the loss, Michigan is relevant again.  And with a highly anticipated clash against Ohio State later this year, the Wolverines’ season is far from finished. To win against the very best, the offense will have to make some plays as well: one more play than they made this past weekend.  Fort Lauderdale’s own Jake Ruddock will need to prove that he can stress the opposition at quarterback if defenses over commit to defending the stale, power-run game.

Regardless, Jim Harbaugh did manage to ride option-specialist Colin Kaepernick to Super Bowl XLVII. How’s Kaep looking now?  Not good.  Not good at all.  It’s not difficult to imagine Jake Ruddock leading Michigan to the College Football Playoff Championship in the next year or two. Don’t say that to Coach Harbaugh though; right now he’s got one thing on his mind: Minnesota on Halloween Night.