It’s just another Florida bowl game, right? Not the College Football Playoff. Not the Rose Bowl. Not a top-10 matchup.
It’s a pair of 8-4 teams looking to wrap up an also-ran regular season, catch a few Florida rays and call it a wrap for another year.
Just don’t tell that to Jim Harbaugh.
He might not literally pop you in the nose if you suggested the Outback Bowl really doesn’t matter. But if looks could crumple cartilage, his glare would prompt a rapid retreat of any proboscis.
Harbaugh knows what he’s got coming back in 2018. He understands he’ll again field a team that could claw its way to the precipice of greatness, just like the 2016 squad did.
He knows with the right bounces, his team could enjoy a genuine breakthrough year. It’s not essential to launch into the offseason with a win in order to get that done. But it sure beats the alternative.
The Wolverines of 1996 stared down Alabama in an Outback Bowl showdown. Head coach Lloyd Carr’s second team, while talented, proved wildly inconsistent during the regular season.
They’d played themselves out of the Big Ten race by giving away a 17-16 game at Northwestern, then inserting defensive lineman Will Carr as a fullback at Purdue. His fumble at the goal line proved crucial in a 9-3 loss.
The Wolverines rose up to take down No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus, 13-9, and battled the Crimson Tide fiercely in Tampa. But with Michigan leading 6-3 and approaching the Alabama goal line, quarterback Brian Griese — who’d be immortalized with his teammates a year later — tossed an interception that Bama’s Dwayne Rudd returned 88 yards for a crucial touchdown.
Alabama went on to win, 17-14. That didn’t stop the Wolverines from winning it all the following year. But for the seniors of ’96, unavoidable emptiness remained.
Rod Payne served as an All-American captain on that ’96 squad. To this day, he feels the sting of almost, among the wealth of talent leading up to Michigan’s ’97 national title.
“When you miss a national championship, and your team was arguably more talented than the team that [won it]?” Payne mused. “Hell, yeah. We’re all competitors, man. Every one of us wanted to win the championship.
“Every single one of us wanted to have that ultimate No. 1. You’re talking about bragging rights and all that stuff. Most guys really were jealous. You want that every year.
“It was that time at Michigan where we really did have the talent. We saw what we were competing against. We saw our offensive line, our D-line, our skills guys, our backs. You get older and realize, hey, a lot of these things are elusive.”
Michigan’s seniors won’t win a national championship, or a Big Ten title, for that matter. They definitely don’t want to drop their only remaining game.
As for their teammates who will play on in the winged helmets past Tampa, they’re driven for a variety of reasons. Consider …
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Peters: Here’s a second-year player who works, waits his turn, gets a starting shot and a taste of success before getting hurt. Suddenly the QB some say was the best in his 2016 recruiting class winds up a Wolverine, and already national pundits are insisting it makes Michigan a national contender in 2018.
All of that without a mention of Peters. Think he has nothing to prove when he hits the field against South Carolina? He gets the final statement before a practice competition versus transfer Shea Patterson and true freshman Dylan McCaffrey commences. Guaranteed, Peters will be out to make a statement.
• Junior tailback Karan Higdon: A Florida native, Higdon spent two seasons as an also-ran back, eagerly awaiting his own breakthrough. He achieved it this year, and enters the bowl 71 yards removed from a 1,000-yard season.
He’s ready to get there and beyond, helping Michigan reach 29-10 under Harbaugh and in position to do more. Higdon’s line has much to prove as well, with a battle for jobs looming.
• Michigan’s defense: As many as nine of U-M’s 11 starters return, from a crew that proved nationally elite (No. 3 in overall defense). It played well enough to beat Michigan State and Wisconsin, and — with a little more offense — could have won a game in the 20s against Ohio State.
This bunch grew up immensely during the year and has its own reminder to deliver for the offseason.
They all dream of championships as well, not near misses. Nailing this game down doesn’t make all the difference. But there’s no better time than the present to start a winning streak and stoke some winter fires.
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