The Game, November 26, Columbus. Michigan 45, Ohio State 23. J.J. McCarthy started; Donovan Edwards ran for 216; the Wolverines won in Ohio Stadium for the first time since 2000. The back-to-back win that rewrote the rivalry's narrative-arc.
2022 — Back-to-Back Big Ten, Back-to-Back CFP
Michigan went 13-1, beat Ohio State 45-23 in Columbus, won the Big Ten, and reached the CFP semifinal — the program's second consecutive CFP bid and the season that preceded the 2023 title.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- J.J. McCarthyQB2,719 passing yards
- Blake CorumRB1,463 rushing yards
- Donovan EdwardsRB991 rushing yards
- C.J. StokesRB273 rushing yards
- Ronnie BellWR889 receiving yards
- Cornelius JohnsonWR499 receiving yards
- Luke SchoonmakerTE418 receiving yards
- Junior ColsonLB80 tackles
- Michael BarrettLB58 tackles
- Mike SainristilDB48 tackles
- Mike MorrisLB7 sacks
- Jaylen HarrellDE3.5 sacks
- Eyabi AnomaDL3 sacks
Season leaders, 2022.
Big Ten Championship, December 3. Michigan 43, Purdue 22. The second straight conference title; the program's roster depth had pulled away from the rest of the league.
CFP Semifinal, Fiesta Bowl, December 31. TCU 51, Michigan 45. Max Duggan outplayed McCarthy; the Horned Frogs' defense forced two red-zone turnovers. The loss did not collapse the program; it became the template for 2023's defensive identity rebuild.
"TCU read our hand. That's the lesson."
2022 is the chapter that set 2023 up. A 13-1 season with a marquee road win at Ohio State and a CFP bid the program had not achieved in back-to-back years since the 1970s. The TCU loss is the inflection point: the defensive scheme was rebuilt in the offseason, Sherrone Moore took a larger offensive-coordinator role, and the 2023 roster added Blake Corum's return decision. Without 2022's semifinal loss, there is no 2023 title — not in the specific form it took. The chapter reads as the bridge chapter between the Harbaugh-era restoration and the Harbaugh-era crown.