Jim Harbaugh's Best Win, Worst Loss During His First 5 Years At Michigan

The first five years of the Jim Harbaugh era are now in the books, with the first half decade of his tenure as the Michigan Wolverines' football coach receiving mixed reviews from the fan base.

There have been several big wins (five different victories over ranked opponents by at least 31 points) with him at the helm, but a number of discouraging setbacks as well.

With that in mind, we've examined the single biggest triumph of Harbaugh's tenure so far in Ann Arbor, while also discussing the most deflating loss.

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This was a tough call, but we ultimately settled on this past season's 45-14 annihilation of the Irish thanks to the fashion in which it occurred. Michigan dominated a very good Notre Dame club in every facet of the game, outgaining it in total yardage 437-180, while holding a 303-47 edge on the ground.

The blowout stood as U-M's fourth largest margin of victory ever against an Associated Press top 10 opponent (the AP Poll was introduced in 1936), trailing only a 49-0 beatdown of No. 8 USC in the 1948 Rose Bowl, a 41-3 annihilation of No. 5 Texas A&M in 1977 and a 34-0 blanking of No. 8 Minnesota in 1954.

It was also Michigan's third largest margin of victory ever against the Irish, behind 38-0 blowouts in both 2003 and 2007. The performance the Maize and Blue put on on Oct. 26 signified everything fans had hoped to see from their beloved Wolverines when Harbaugh was hired — a dominant and bruising rushing attack, mistake-free offensive efficiency (U-M did not turn the ball over) and a stifling defensive effort.

Michigan came out of the gates hot in what was a driving rainstorm in Ann Arbor, holding a 10-0 lead just one minute into the second quarter and a 17-0 advantage at halftime.

Two Wolverine offensive players stepped up and enjoyed the best games of their collegiate tenures, with then-redshirt freshman running back Hassan Haskins rushing for a career best 149 yards, and then-freshman wideout Mike Sainristil hauling in a career high 73 yards and a touchdown.

Fans also caught a glimpse of the old Harbaugh late in the game when he kept his foot on the gas (to a degree, at least), with then-redshirt sophomore quarterback Dylan McCaffrey tossing a 26-yard touchdown pass to Sainristil with only 4:23 remaining, stretching Michigan's lead to 45-7 at the time and serving as the exclamation point on a satisfying victory.

What makes this Harbaugh's best win during his time in Ann Arbor (and not a 41-7 destruction of No. 19 Florida in 2015 or a 42-7 obliteration of No. 14 Penn State in 2018, for example) is how good Notre Dame was in 2019.

The Irish finished the year 11-2 (their only other loss was at No. 3 Georgia, 23-17), and came out on top by at least 15 points in nine of their 11 victories.

There isn't necessarily much shame in losing at a 10-1 club's home building, but it was the way Michigan lost that made this game so disturbing. The Wolverines had everything to play for coming in, entering the game with a 10-1 record and not only a trip to the Big Ten championship at stake, but also a potential eventual berth in the College Football Playoff.

The Maize and Blue came into the contest as slight favorites against what had been an underachieving Buckeye team (despite its 10-1 record, more on that later) but instead came out of the gates as flat as could be, finding themselves down 21-6 late in the second quarter and eventually 41-19 at the end of the third quarter.

A Wolverine defense that had been lights out all year (finished the season ranked second nationally in yards allowed per game) gave up 567 total yards to the Buckeyes, 396 of which came through the air.

Many viewed Michigan as the better team entering the contest in what was supposed to finally be Harbaugh's breakthrough game against OSU, before it eventually turned into the rivalry's second blowout in four years.

Despite its impressive 10-1 record, the 2018 Ohio State team was not a vintage Urban Meyer club, having been annihilated 49-20 at Purdue on Oct. 20 and having squeaked by bad Nebraska and Maryland squads by a combined six points.

The Buckeyes put aside their underachieving ways (to a degree, at least) and seemingly flipped a switch that day against Michigan, once again possessing the mental edge in the rivalry that Harbaugh's clubs haven't been able to obtain yet.

A close loss in 2018 in Columbus would have been one thing, but to get blown out in embarrassing fashion in a monstrous rivalry showdown with everything at stake was something Michigan fans never thought they'd witness when Harbaugh was hired.

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