Ohio State 24, Michigan 30 (November 25, Ann Arbor). The third straight win in The Game, the sign-stealing-scandal-season context notwithstanding — Michigan's defense held the Buckeyes to fewer than 25 and J.J. McCarthy played the fourth quarter like the program's winningest QB.
2023 — Title #12 — The Year The Total Moved
Michigan went 15-0, beat Ohio State for the third straight year, won the Big Ten, and took the national championship over Washington — the program's first national title since 1997.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- J.J. McCarthyQB2,991 passing yards
- Blake CorumRB1,245 rushing yards
- Donovan EdwardsRB497 rushing yards
- Kalel MullingsRB222 rushing yards
- Roman WilsonWR789 receiving yards
- Colston LovelandTE649 receiving yards
- Cornelius JohnsonWR604 receiving yards
- Junior ColsonLB89 tackles
- Michael BarrettLB61 tackles
- Ernest HausmannLB44 tackles
- Jaylen HarrellDE7.5 sacks
- Josaiah StewartDE5.5 sacks
- Derrick MooreEDGE5 sacks
Season leaders, 2023.
Rose Bowl, January 1, 2024. Michigan 27, Alabama 20 in overtime. Blake Corum ended the game with the overtime touchdown; Alabama's last possession stalled when the Wolverines' defensive line took over. The Saban era's final game.
National Championship, January 8, 2024. Michigan 34, Washington 13. Corum's two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter; the program's 12th claimed title; the first in twenty-six years. The Harbaugh era's closing sentence.
"The Team. The Team. The Team."
2023 is the chapter where Michigan stopped arguing about being the winningest program and proved it inside the CFP era. A 15-0 season with a win over Alabama and a title-game rout of Washington is not a 'restoration' chapter — it is the chapter that resolved the question the program had spent three decades asking. The sign-stealing investigation is part of the record and the program does not pretend it is not; the fanbase's answer is the scoreboard. Harbaugh left for the Chargers shortly after; the chapter closes with a crown and a coach transition inside the same calendar year. 'The Team, The Team, The Team' read different after this January.