5 reasons Michigan makes the 2019 College Football Playoff

ANN ARBOR, MI - NOVEMBER 25: Michigan's Donovan Peoples-Jones returns a punt in the first quarter of Michigan's 31-20 loss to Ohio State during a college football game on November 25, 2017, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI. (Photo by Lon Horwedel/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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ANN ARBOR, MI – NOVEMBER 4: Michigan running backs Chris Evans, right, and Karan Hidden, left, get a congratulation from head coach Jim Harbaugh after Evans’ first of two touchdown runs during the second quarter of Michigan’s 33-10 win over Minnesota in a college football game, Saturday night, November 4, 2017 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. (Photo by Lon Horwedel/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

4. Believe in the Harbaugh

When the Wolverines made the decision to bring in Harbaugh as their next head coach, the expectations weren’t for him to accrue 11 combined losses over his first three seasons at the helm of the program. Put simply, you would have to label his performance to this point as nothing short of disappointing. Subsequently, there are people throughout the sport that are starting to doubt whether or not the polarizing figure is going to ever get the job done at his alma mater.

If you are among those that have lost faith, it’s hard to blame you. Not only has he not been truly in the College Football Playoff picture at any point in his tenure thus far, but the drop off to 8-5 last season after going 10-3 in both of the two previous campaigns is concerning as well — even with all of the injury woes he was forced to cope with.

Having said that, Harbaugh’s résumé is one that essentially states that everyone should maintain their faith in the head coach heading into this season. When you look back at what he did with Stanford, his team went 4-8 in his first season and steadily improved throughout his tenure. But it wasn’t until his fourth year with the Cardinal that they went 12-1 and finished as the fourth-best team in the country and with an Orange Bowl win.

There is going to be pressure on Harbaugh this year, without question. And it’s deserved pressure. However, the program has now had enough time to be shaped by the head coach through his stylistic choices and, of course, recruiting. Thus, we should start to see him finally realize the success that was expected of him when he was hired.

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