The Wolverines followed up a season-defining win over Ohio State with an easy victory over Iowa to win the conference championship.
The Michigan Wolverines needed an affirming victory after clearing their defining hurdle of the season with a commanding win over Ohio State. And late Saturday night, in a chilly Lucas Oil Stadium in front of the largest crowd in the history of the Big Ten championship game, Michigan followed through with a 42-3 rout over Iowa for the conference title, cementing a spot for the Wolverines in their first College Football Playoff. The Big Ten championship game was the finale of one of the most consequential days of the college football season, with teams battling for one of four semifinal spots in the playoff. The selections, made by the consensus of a committee, will be announced on Sunday. No.5 Oklahoma State fell to Baylor in the Big 12 championship, effectively rendering its claim void. Alabama, ranked third by the committee going into the Southeastern Conference championship game, handed No.1 Georgia a humbling loss in what might have been a playoff preview. No.4 Cincinnati easily beat Houston for the American Athletic Conference title. That left No.2 Michigan, a program mired in a yearslong cycle of getting far, but not far enough, yet energized by its win over the Buckeyes and its chances for a national title. The Wolverines (12-1) thwarted every Hawkeyes attempt at reaching the end zone Saturday with a bend-but-don’t-break approach on defense, and Iowa (10-3) finished with a thud. The Hawkeyes lost two straight games to Purdue and Wisconsin at the end of October but went undefeated in November to earn their first conference championship appearance since 2015 (in 2004, Iowa shared the conference title crown with Michigan). But an anemic offense and missed opportunities proved their undoing against the Wolverines. Under Coach Jim Harbaugh, Michigan had grown accustomed to underachieving disguised by an ability to mow through its nonconference schedule and to beat up on lesser Big Ten opponents.
