Michigan last season made the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh has identified a return to the playoff as one of four goals for his team heading into the 2022 campaign.
During Tuesday’s portion of this week’s Big Ten media days, Harbaugh revealed to reporters his goals for Michigan going into this season.
“Our goals would be to beat Ohio State and Michigan State in the same year, win the Big Ten championship and the national championship,” Harbaugh said. “Those would be our four goals.”
Jim Harbaugh: "Our goals would be to beat Ohio State and Michigan State in the same year, win the Big Ten championship and the national championship. Those would be our four goals."
— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) July 26, 2022
Completing all four objectives will not be an easy task. While the Wolverines managed to beat the Buckeyes last season, they have not beaten Ohio State in back-to-back meetings since the 1999-2000 seasons. Michigan lost to Michigan State 37-33 last October as well.
Michigan handily beat Iowa in the Big Ten Championship 42-3 but was blown out by the eventual national champion Georgia Bulldogs in last year’s College Football Playoff semifinals. According to an iteration of ESPN’s FPI rankings and the All State Playoff Predictor from earlier this offseason, six other teams have a better shot at making the playoff than Michigan this season.
With Michigan State set to visit Ann Arbor on October 29, Harbaugh’s four goals could take a major hit well before “The Game” or any postseason play takes place.
