Top ten Michigan football and men's basketball moments of 2021

The University of Michigan athletic department had no shortage of highlights and big moments in 2021. The year was headlined by the football and basketball programs winning conference championships and making postseason runs.

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Here we take a look at some of the top moments of the year. For the purposes of this list, we will keep it to football and men’s basketball.

1. Beating Ohio State

There was a championship to go win after this, but it is hard to top exorcising 10 years of demons. It was a party in Ann Arbor after the first win over OSU since 2011. Not many had year seven as Jim Harbaugh’s first win over the Buckeyes, but it created the signature moment we had all been waiting for. Michigan grabbed a 42-27 victory in a game that at times never felt that close.

Fans will remember Hassan Haskins’ five touchdown runs for years to come. The celebration on the field will play on program highlight reels for decades. Those in attendance saw one of the great scenes and atmospheres in college football’s recent memory.

2. A football trip to Indianapolis

The argument can be made that this should be No. 1, but this was more of a two-part coronation. Once Michigan beat OSU, it was assumed they would be able to take care of business in Indianapolis. The celebration continued with a 42-3 destruction of Iowa that clinched the program’s first trip to the College Football Playoff. Running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards had highlight plays to put Michigan up 14-3 in the first quarter and they never looked back.

3. Basketball wins the Big Ten Championship

Juwan Howard and the men’s basketball team were included in the championship fun this year, as well. The Wolverines captured Howard’s first Big Ten title with a 69-50 win over Michigan State at Crisler Center on March 4. There was some controversy with Illinois claiming it had won a higher percentage of its conference games, but the Wolverines raised a banner regardless. Michigan finished the season with a 23-5 record and Elite Eight appearance in Howard’s second season on the job.

4. Comeback win in Happy Valley

Michigan football lost its margin for error in the Big Ten East race when it lost to Michigan State on Oct. 30. That made it critical to go undefeated in November if a trip to Indianapolis was in play. One of those games was a road trip at Penn State, a place that had been a house of horrors in recent years.

Michigan needed someone to make a play down 17-14 with under five minutes to go. In stepped sophomore tight end Erick All, who grabbed a 47-yard touchdown from quarterback Cade McNamara to lead the Wolverines to a victory.

5. Time to ‘Jump Around’

Speaking of places Michigan had struggled to win in, the 38-17 win at Wisconsin was also euphoric for the team and fanbase. A lot of people point to this one as the point where the team truly “felt different.”

Michigan jumped out to an early lead in Madison, but the Badgers made a charge at the end of the first half to trim the deficit to 13-10. The Wolverines worked the Badgers in the second half and even stole the team’s famous “Jump Around” celebration between the third and fourth quarters. This was when the 2021 football team’s DNA was revealed.

6. Coming back from the COVID pause with a vengeance

Men’s basketball had its season paused for three weeks in late January due to COVID within the athletic department despite not having cases with the program. The first game back on Feb. 14 saw them trail 39-27 at halftime at Wisconsin. What followed was an incredibly impressive gut-check victory. The Wolverines outscored the Badgers 40-20 in the final 20 minutes of play to prove the COVID pause was not going to slow them down.

7. Hassan’s hurdle at Nebraska

There were plenty of signature moments for Michigan football this season, especially on the road. In another one of those “gotta have it” situations, fourth-year running back Hassan Haskins had a 50-yard run that included the above hurdle to spark a scoring drive. The Wolverines kicked a pair of field goals late and held off Nebraska for a 32-29 win on Oct. 9.

8. Beat Ohio State (in basketball)

Two wins over Ohio State take up two of the spots on the list this year. The Wolverines and Buckeyes met in one of the best college games of the season, a 92-87 victory in Columbus on Feb. 21. All-American center led the Wolverines with 21 points in the win, while Eli Brooks and Chaundee Brown Jr. chipped in with 17 and 15 points, respectively.

9. The Michigan Maize Out

Michigan football’s Sept. 11 win over Washington was an announcement to the country that the Wolverines were a formidable team. They debuted the all-blue uniform look and gashed the Huskies on the ground for 343 yards rushing in a 31-10 victory. The primetime, Maize Out crowd made for one of the most unique atmospheres of the season. It was a good way for Michigan to cap off a Saturday that began with an Ohio State loss to Oregon.

10. Dominant ranked win stretch for hoops

Michigan hoops started the 2020-21 season 8-0 but there were questions as to how legitimate they were. There was not much of a non-conference slate to speak of and there were things to prove heading into the New Year. What followed was a stretch of three-straight destructions of ranked teams to start 2021. Michigan beat No. 19 Northwestern (85-66), No. 16 Minnesota (82-57) and No. 9 Wisconsin (77-54) in games played from Jan. 3-12.

What were some of your favorite moments of the year? Discuss this post and more in The Fort.