Texas, USC and the 7 college football fan bases living in the past
By Nick Villano
3. Michigan football fans would love to stop talking about 1997.
The Michigan Wolverines fans expect greatness from their team. Every season they expect to go undefeated, despite the fact it’s been a while since that ever happened. The school spent huge money to bring Jim Harbaugh in after Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke flamed out. He was supposed to bring them back to greatness, after going decades without a National Championship.
Harbaugh has been a lot better than he’s been given credit for, with three ten-win seasons and five bowl berths. Still, when you get a coach that took a team to the Super Bowl, fans expect him to take them to at least a Big Ten Championship Game. They’ve lost every year to the hated Ohio State, and they continue to get close to contention towards the end of the season only to fall apart when it matters.
The current odds for the Wolverines to win the Big Ten sit at 16/1. Wolverines’ fans expect better odds to win the National Championship, yet just to win their conference they can get bettors $1600 for every $100 spent. Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin are all ahead of them, and they’re tied with Minnesota. That’s pretty bad for a team that has the legacy of Michigan, but it makes perfect sense for a team with the recent success of the Wolverines.