The Wolverines ended the season 15–0 despite multiple Jim Harbaugh suspensions.
Michigan’s national championship victory on Monday night came years in the making, as the Wolverines ended a 26-year title drought. The win comes as the program deals with significant controversy this year regarding the investigation into the program’s alleged sign-stealing operation, which resulted in coach Jim Harbaugh missing three games to end the regular season.
While some people believe this title is tainted, Warde Manuel is not one of them. Michigan’s athletic director staunchly defended his team when asked whether he thought this title deserved an asterisk.
“Hell nah. Why? I don’t know why. They proved it on the field,” Manuel said, via Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. “Why would somebody wanna say now that there’s some asterisk? Ridiculous. This team has proven they’re a champion. Period. End of story.”
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Manuel explained that the players felt the criticism all season long, and being able to finish the season with a championship shows that they earned the title themselves.
“We lived it for three months of intense scrutiny on our program and these kids,” he said, via Dellenger. “To me, it hurt because I knew how these kids were. While we have things we have to deal with and we’ll deal with them, this is proof they have all the character that anybody would want.”
Harbaugh maintains Michigan’s innocence regarding the sign-stealing investigation, and Manuel also appears to believe that the football team earned their title this year. Michigan ends the season at 15–0, joining Georgia in 2022, LSU in 2019 and Clemson in 2018 as champions with a 15–0 record in the College Football Playoff era.
