According to a recent report from College Football News, Michigan football is tied for last in the nation with zero elite wins in the past five years.
It’s been a while since Michigan was relevant in the college football landscape. The Wolverines have been good, but not great, for a number of the past 10 years, but can never get over that hump.
Rich Rodriguez was hired following Lloyd Carr but was quickly run out of town after trying to change the style of play that didn’t quite assimilate to the Big Ten.
Next was Brady Hoke who was a good guy, but just wasn’t cut out to be the head coach of a major college football program. He led the Wolverines to the Sugar Bowl, but it was all downhill from there.
Since 2015, it’s been all Jim Harbaugh. Michigan’s quirky head coach has garnered plenty of hype, but the results are mixed with two 10-win seasons and an eight-win campaign in 2017. He has finished no higher than third place in the Big Ten East in his three seasons with the program, even being dubbed by some “a failure” for not living up to the hype.
It’s fair to say he has not won the “big game” just yet. And college football experts would agree.
According to a report by College Football News, the Wolverines do not have a single “elite win” in the past five years. Surprising? Maybe, but when you think about the lack of titles and big-time bowls in that span, it’s not all that shocking.
What qualifies as an “elite win”?
"In the CFN Five-Year Program Analysis, an Elite Win is a victory over an FBS team that finished with two losses or fewer, or on the road or in a bowl game against a team that lost three games. An extra 0.5 is added on to the Elite Win score when a team comes up with a road victory over a team that finished with two losses or fewer."
Meanwhile, Michigan’s rivals Michigan State and Ohio State are top-five in the country in elite wins with eight and 12, respectively, in that span.
Moreover, here’s a list of some programs with more elite wins in that time frame than the Wolverines:
- Syracuse
- Connecticut
- Temple
- Northwestern
- Indiana
- Iowa State
- Western Kentucky
- Marshall
- Army
- Central Michigan
- Northern Illinois
- Western Michigan
- Bowling Green
- Utah State
- Air Force
- Hawaii
- Colorado State
- San Jose State
- Fresno State
- Missouri
- Appalachian State (save your jokes until the end, please)
Yup, Michigan has been a bit of an underachiever since 2013, and this report just goes to prove that.
The Wolverines will have plenty of chances to break the goose egg in 2018 with matchups against Notre Dame, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern (potentially) and Penn State.