Is Michigan football close to a national title? Jim Harbaugh sounds pretty optimistic

Jim Harbaugh feels his Michigan Wolverines are on the cusp of winning a national title. Too bad close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Jim Harbaugh is defining close, but no cigar with the Michigan Wolverines.

Though Harbaugh has won the eighth-most games of any Power 5 team in the country since arriving at his alma mater in 2015, his team has yet to win the Big Ten East or reach the College Football Playoff in five seasons. While playing in the same division as the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions is tough, those rivals also have to play Michigan annually.

Last week on the TK Show podcast with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami, Harbaugh said his team is closing the perceived wide gap between them and the Power 5 elites. He must be off his rocker to think the Wolverines are about to start contending for national championships. How about beating Ohio State first? We know it bothers you because you told us it did.

“Always want to do better,” Harbaugh told Kawakami. “Striving to be the best. Right now, I think our team, we’re kind of on the cusp. We haven’t gotten over the top and into the playoffs and the championships, and that’s what drives us, what motivates us every day on the field. Every day working toward that goal.”

It’s not as hopelessly cliche-riddled as the Butch Jones era was with Tennessee football, but it’s in the same ballpark. While Harbaugh is better than Jones ever was in Knoxville, all we’re hearing is a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Beat Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State regularly then there will be validity to what you’re saying.

Is Michigan a top-15 team in the country? Yes, but that doesn’t mean you’re championship-caliber. It means you’re closer to being Mark Richt’s Georgia Bulldogs than you are ever approaching Ohio State, regardless of who’s leading the Buckeyes.

Here are 10 programs that are indisputably better than Michigan football right now.

• Alabama Crimson Tide
• Clemson Tigers
• Florida Gators
• Georgia Bulldogs
• LSU Tigers
• Ohio State Buckeyes
• Oklahoma Sooners
• Oregon Ducks
• Penn State Nittany Lions
• Wisconsin Badgers

After that, Michigan is in a group of five (not that Group of 5) with the likes of Auburn, Notre Dame, Utah and Washington. Programs like Texas, Texas A&M and USC are in the next wave after them.

If any of these 18 teams are playing in a New Year’s Six bowl, it wouldn’t be shocking, given their coaching staffs and how well they recruit historically. Harbaugh must accept where Michigan is.

Michigan may not ever be able to get into the fray of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia or Ohio State, but the Wolverines have the resources to be a top-10 team in the country. They can be better than Penn State and Wisconsin in the Big Ten. The Big 12 and Pac-12 aren’t Big Ten football, so they can eclipse Oklahoma and Oregon. If Michigan gets on Florida or LSU’s level, then we’re talking.

The best way forward for the Wolverines is to win two of these three division games every single year: Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State, and it can’t only be the rebuilding Spartans every fall. A division can have three great programs. Just look at the SEC West with Alabama, Auburn and LSU, but that perceived third team needs to win sometimes like Auburn does over its rivals.

Though the floor has been raised under Harbaugh, has he hit a ceiling in Ann Arbor?

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