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By The Numbers: A Road Win On Saturday Would Be Biggest Of The Harbaugh Era

The Michigan Wolverines’ football team has often been criticized for its inability to win what the media tabs as “big road games” under current head coach Jim Harbaugh (since 2015), with his overall road record at U-M often getting ignored by the tabloids.

Harbaugh's record in opposing teams' stadiums is actually quite good during his time in Ann Arbor, with the 55-year-old having posted a 12-7 mark in such affairs and a 12-5 tally in Big Ten play.

The reason those numbers often get overshadowed, however, is due to the fact that the former record drops to just 1-5 against Associated Press top-25 squads on the road.

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The Michigan Wolverines' football team picked up a 21-7 victory at No. 24 Michigan State on Oct. 20, 2018.
The Michigan Wolverines' football team picked up a 21-7 victory at No. 24 Michigan State on Oct. 20, 2018. (AP Images)

In fact, U-M had posted a 17-game losing streak on the road against ranked opponents that dated back to 2006 (a 47-21 win at No. 2 Notre Dame), before it was snapped with a 21-7 triumph at No. 24 Michigan State last October.

The losing stretch spanned four coaches (Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriguez, Brady Hoke and Harbaugh), and likely contributed (perhaps unfairly) to the perception that Harbaugh couldn't win consistently away from home.

Michigan's 19 Road Games Under Jim Harbaugh
Date Opponent Result

Sept. 3, 2015

at Utah

L, 24-17

Oct. 3, 2015

at Maryland

W, 28-0

Oct. 31, 2015

at Minnesota

W, 29-26

Nov. 14, 2015

at Indiana

W, 48-41

Nov. 21, 2015

at Penn State

W, 28-16

Oct. 8, 2016

at Rutgers

W, 78-0

Oct. 29, 2016

at Michigan State

W, 32-23

Nov. 12, 2016

at Iowa

L, 14-13

Nov. 26, 2016

at No. 2 Ohio State

L, 30-27

Sept. 23, 2017

at Purdue

W, 28-10

Oct. 14, 2017

at Indiana

W, 27-20

Oct. 21, 2017

at No. 2 Penn State

L, 42-13

Nov. 11, 2017

at Maryland

W, 35-10

Nov. 18, 2017

at No. 5 Wisconsin

L, 24-10

Sept. 1, 2018

at No. 12 Notre Dame

L, 24-17

Sept. 29, 2018

at Northwestern

W, 20-17

Oct. 20, 2018

at No. 24 Michigan State

W, 21-7

Nov. 10, 2018

at Rutgers

W, 42-7

Nov. 24, 2018

at No. 10 Ohio State

L, 62-39

Sept. 21, 2019

at No. 13 Wisconsin

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It needs to be noted that Michigan has consistently defeated the teams it should beat on the road under Harbaugh (or non-ranked foes, in other words).

In fact, the Maize and Blue have racked up an 11-2 record against such opponents away from home, with the two setbacks coming by one point in 2016 to an Iowa club that went 8-5 and to a Utah squad in 2015 — in Harbaugh's first game as the U-M head coach — that finished the year 10-3 and ranked No. 17 in the country.

Perhaps the most infamous road loss of the Harbaugh era, however, was the 2016 double-overtime setback in Columbus, which is often dubbed by U-M fans as the "J.T. Was Short" Game.

With U-M leading 27-24 in the second overtime, OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett appeared to be tackled short of the first-down marker on a fourth-and-one play, which would have ended the game.

The referees awarded him a new set of downs, however, and Ohio State scored on the next play to secure the 30-27 victory.

A win that day would have been (by far) the biggest road triumph of the Harbaugh era, and would have sent Michigan to the Big Ten Championship Game with a College Football Playoff spot likely on the line.

Harbaugh has another chance on Saturday to pick up his biggest road victory in Ann Arbor against the 13th-ranked Badgers, who stand 2-0 on the year and have yet to allow a single point.

In fact, a triumph in Madison would mark Michigan's first road win against a top-15 Big Ten squad since Oct. 1, 2005, when U-M went into East Lansing and took down No. 11 Michigan State 34-31 in overtime.

By The Numbers: Michigan at Wisconsin

No. 1 Is where Wisconsin ranks nationally in both scoring offense and total defense so far this season. The Badgers blanked both South Florida and Central Michigan in their first two games (before a bye last week), but what is staggering is how much better their total defense has been than everyone else's in college football — Wisconsin is allowing just 107.5 yards per game, while TCU’s defense is second-best nationally at 209.5.

4-0 Record for Harbaugh in Big Ten openers at Michigan, with the four triumphs coming by an average of 32.7 points — 28-0 at Maryland in 2015, 49-10 over eventual Big Ten champion Penn State in 2016, 28-10 at Purdue in 2017 and 56-10 versus Nebraska last season. In fact, U-M has won 12 of its last 13 conference openers, 35 of its last 37 and owns a 48-3 mark in league openers dating back to 1968.

21-7-1 All-time record for Michigan at Wisconsin, including a 19-7-1 mark in Camp Randall Stadium. Four of those seven losses in Madison have actually occurred since 2005 alone (2005, 2007, 2009 and 2017). Additionally, the Wolverines lead the overall series 51-15-1.

40 Percent chance of thunderstorms on Saturday in Madison according to weather.com, along with 15 mile-per-hour winds and a high of 74 degrees.

95 Rushing yards per game for freshman running back Zach Charbonnet, which are currently the fourth most in the Big Ten. When he carried 33 times in the Sept. 7 win over Army, Charbonnet joined Mike Hart in 2004 as the only two U-M freshman running backs to rush at least 33 times in a game since 1949 (which is how far back Michigan's statistical database goes).

2001 Was the last time the Maize and Blue won in Madison, by a final score of 20-17. The Wolverines have only played there four times since the 2001 victory, however — in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2017.

2,194 Rushing yards for Wisconsin junior running back Jonathan Taylor last season, which were the most in college football and earned him the Doak Walker Award (given to the nation's best running back). His 1,977 yards as a freshman in 2017 were the third most in the nation, while his 118.5 yards per game through two contests in 2019 currently sit at No. 12 in the land.

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