Michigan football was happy just to be in the CFP a season ago. Now, the Fiesta Bowl against No. 3 TCU is the next step in a season-long mission.
For Michigan football wide receiver Ronnie Bell, perhaps the greatest moment of celebration following the 43-22 Big Ten championship victory came when he found the AirPods he thought he’d lost.
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s favorite moment came when Donovan Edwards gave his MVP speech in the middle of Lucas Oil Stadium field, confetti raining down upon the recently crowned back-to-back league champions.
McCarthy said he kept the rest of the celebrating to a minimum Saturday night — instead, he stayed in with “the lady.”
While a conference title is a crowned jewel for most teams, for the Wolverines it’s just the next benchmark on the way to the final destination. They’ll fully appreciate it someday, they said, but for now it’s full steam ahead.
Sitting together in one of the ballrooms at the Downtown Marriott in Indianapolis, No. 2 Michigan found out its next roadblock will be No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, at 4 p.m. Dec. 31.
“In 2021 we wanted to beat our rivals, win the Big Ten championship,” McCarthy said. “That was all we cared about. Now, it’s the national championship.”
SEIDEL: 20 reasons why Michigan football is defying gravity ahead of College Football Playoff
Michigan has kept the celebrating to a minimum all year, the primary focus on stacking 1-0 weeks to get back to the College Football Playoff.
That’s not to say the players and coaches haven’t celebrated along the way. Blake Corum had a quip about “Tuck running” after beating rival MSU and Mike Sainristil spiked a flag in the middle of the field at Ohio Stadium following the Wolverines’ first win in Columbus since 2000.
But all the while, Michigan has kept its focus on the ultimate goal, getting back to the CFP to avenge last year’s 34-11 loss in the national semifinal to Georgia. It’s a day Bell has looked forward to, in particular, after he had to watch from the sideline a season ago.
