‘We are that team’: U-M wins 3rd straight vs. OSU
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When suspended Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh addressed his team Friday night, he recited Bo Schembechler’s famous line — “The team, the team, the team” — but personalized it to the men in the room.
“Coach said last night: ‘This is the ultimate team,'” said Sherrone Moore, Michigan’s offensive coordinator, who led the third-ranked Wolverines as acting head coach for the third consecutive week. “We’ve got each other’s back on the field, off the field, and we know that we’re always going to respond.
“The guys don’t flinch.”
Michigan continued to make its case Saturday as the nation’s most resilient team, if not its best, with a 30-24 win over No. 2 Ohio State, the Wolverines’ third straight in the rivalry. Despite Harbaugh’s suspension, the ongoing NCAA investigation into prohibited off-campus signal stealing and several key injuries, the Wolverines haven’t flinched or lost as they now advance to the Big Ten championship game with a chance to win three straight outright league titles for the first time in team history.
“The whole mantra: the team, the team, the team,” said quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who completed 16 of 20 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown. He said Harbaugh told them before the game: “We are that team.”
After jumping ahead 14-3, Michigan saw its lead vanish midway through the third quarter. But the offense responded by scoring on its final three possessions — six of its final seven before a kneel-down to end the game — and junior safety Rod Moore, a native of Clayton, Ohio, sealed the win by diving to intercept an underthrown Kyle McCord pass at Michigan’s 22-yard line with 25 seconds left.
The Wolverines have won three straight against Ohio State for the first time since 1995 to 1997, after dropping 15 of the teams’ previous 16 meetings.
“It was a dream come true, making the game-winning play on one of the biggest games, probably, in college football history,” Rod Moore said. “I was on the field, just looking like, ‘I just called game. I did that.'”
Harbaugh watched from his Ann Arbor home, serving the final game of a Big Ten-imposed suspension for Michigan’s program, stemming from the scouting operation led by former U-M staff member Connor Stalions, who resigned on Nov. 3. The Wolverines improved to 6-0 without Harbaugh, who missed the team’s first three games after Michigan self-imposed a suspension for the coach, due to an NCAA investigation for recruiting violations. Harbaugh will return to the sideline Dec. 2 against Iowa in Indianapolis.
“Whether [Harbaugh] is here, whether players are hurt, it doesn’t matter, the job has to get done and the job will get done,” said senior running back Blake Corum, who rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio State. “It’s been great, a little adversity, feeling like everyone’s against you, Michigan versus everybody. … Obviously, we wish [Harbaugh] was here, but he’s done a phenomenal job preparing us all week for Saturdays.”
Moore’s final pregame interaction with Harbaugh was twofold. Harbaugh told the 37-year-old that he loved him, and to be himself in calling plays for the biggest game of his career. Two weeks after Michigan ended its road win against Penn State with 32 consecutive run plays, Moore kept the pedal down.
The Wolverines went 3-for-3 on fourth downs and opened the fourth quarter with a halfback pass, as Donovan Edwards connected with tight end Colston Loveland for a 34-yard gain, setting up the second of James Turner‘s third field goals.
“It goes back to the kids, how they prepare, how they attack things and how they work,” said Moore, who improved to 4-0 as Michigan’s acting head coach. “I’d be doing them a disservice if I try to be conservative. When they’re going out there running 150’s In the summer, blood, sweat and tears, working their tails off in the weight room, doing everything they can, they put the trust in me as a play caller on offense to be aggressive in these games.
“That’s what they want, so that’s what we gave them.”
Michigan never trailed in a game where it lost All-Big Ten guard Zak Zinter to a gruesome lower-leg injury — the senior was carted off the field late in the third quarter and taken to a local hospital — and cornerback Will Johnson, who set up the Wolverines’ first touchdown with an interception deep in Ohio State territory.
Corum, playing in his final game at Michigan Stadium, broke Hassan Haskins’ single-season team record for rushing touchdowns with his 21st and 22nd scores. He did it against an Ohio State defense that had allowed only three rushing touchdowns all season before Saturday.
The Wolverines became the first Big Ten team to win 30 consecutive regular-season games, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The team’s recent surge, though, has come under greater scrutiny because of the NCAA investigation. Moore said he would like to weigh in on the perception of Michigan’s success, while adding that the Wolverines have proven they’re as good as any team in the country.
“The thing that I just think of is, we only care about us, we only care about what we’re doing and how we feel and that fulfillment internally,” said McCarthy, who could end his college career 3-0 in The Game. “Everyone else can have their opinions, and we’ll just keep doing us.”
Michigan continued to tighten its grip on both the Big Ten and the Buckeyes, who will have their longest drought without a conference title in a decade. Asked if Ohio State’s emphasis on increased physical toughness showed up, Wolverines wide receiver Roman Wilson replied, “Definitely not.”
“You want to put on the Louie V, the $1,000 outfit, like, you want to act hard, but when they’re out there, they’re not hard,” said Wilson, who had a 22-yard touchdown catch. “I see the film. You’re not tough. I don’t think I’m the toughest guy in the world, but I’m out there, I’m getting physical.
“I don’t think they wanted it like how I wanted it.”
Michigan’s next want is another Big Ten championship, with Harbaugh back on the sideline, and a return to the College Football Playoff.
“When you say something, you have to stand on it,” Corum said. “I put it out there before the season that we’re going to do all these things. I knew I was going to have to back it up. My team came together and we all backed it up.
“But it’s like Kobe Bryant said: The job’s not finished, man. We have a lot of work to do.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge has denied NASCAR’s motions to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed against the stock car series.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina also denied NASCAR’s request that two teams — 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports — be ordered to post a bond to cover fees they would not be legally owed if they lose the case.
23XI Racing, a team co-owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports, which is owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, are suing NASCAR to compete with charter recognition throughout the 2025 season.
NASCAR and the teams that compete in the top Cup Series operate with a franchise system that was implemented in 2016 in which 36 cars have “charters” that guarantee them a spot in the field at every race and financial incentives. There are four “open” spots earmarked for the field each week.
The teams banded together in negotiations on an improved charter system in an often-contentious battle with NASCAR for nearly two years. In September, NASCAR finally had enough and presented the teams with a take-it-or-leave-it offer that had to be signed the same day – just 48 hours before the start of the playoffs.
23XI and Front Row were the only two teams out of 15 who refused to sign the new charter agreement. They then teamed together to sue NASCAR and chairman Jim France, arguing as the only stock car entity in the United States, NASCAR has a monopoly and the teams are not getting their fair share of the pie.
Both organizations maintained they would still compete as open cars, but convinced Bell last month to give them chartered status by arguing they would suffer irreparable harm as open cars. Among the claims was that 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, last year’s regular-season champion, would contractually become an immediate free agent if the team did not have him in a guaranteed chartered car.
NASCAR argued Wednesday that it needs that money earmarked because it would be redistributed to the chartered teams if 23XI and Front Row lose.
Jeffrey Kessler, considered the top antitrust lawyer in the country, argued that NASCAR has made no such promise to redistribute the funds to other teams. Kessler said NASCAR told teams it was up to NASCAR’s discretion how it would use the money and didn’t rule out spending some on its own legal fees.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
For years, teammates have asked Devin Williams to teach them his changeup, a pitch so unusual and dominant it has its own nickname. Williams always helps. They just never get “The Airbender” right.
“I haven’t seen anyone replicate it,” Williams said.
Powered by The Airbender, Williams has established himself as one of the premier relievers in baseball since breaking into the majors in 2019. He has been so good that the Milwaukee Brewers, keeping with their frugal roster-building tactics, traded Williams to the New York Yankees last month for left-hander Nestor Cortes and prospect Caleb Durbin before he inevitably would become too expensive in free agency next winter.
So, for one season, at least, Williams will follow in the footsteps of another Yankees closer who perplexed hitters with one pitch: Mariano Rivera.
“Those are big shoes to fill,” Williams said of Rivera, whose signature cutter helped him become the first player voted unanimously to the Hall of Fame. “I feel he kind of ruined it for everybody else. I mean, after him, it’s hard to live up to those expectations. But at the end of the day, I can only be me.”
Being himself has been more than good enough for the 30-year-old Williams. The right-hander won the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year Award with a 0.33 ERA in 22 games as the Brewers’ primary setup man during the COVID-shortened campaign. He was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023, his first full season as a closer.
Last season, after missing the first four months with stress fractures in his back, he posted a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves in 15 opportunities across 22 appearances. His 40.8% strikeout rate since 2020 ranks second in the majors among relievers. His 1.70 ERA is also second. His .144 batting average against ranks first.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best in the league, if not the best,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said.
For Williams, it all starts with The Airbender. Williams grips it like a changeup and its 84-mph average velocity plays off his fastball like a changeup. But it’s a changeup with an exceptionally high spin rate that breaks to his arm side — opposite from the typical changeup — making it resemble a screwball or a left-hander’s sweeping slider. It is without precedent.
“It’s not anything to do with the grip,” Williams said. “The grip is nothing special. That’s why I think it’s funny when people are like, ‘Oh, don’t give it away.’ This is the most basic changeup grip they teach you when you’re 8 years old.”
Williams said his changeup is so different for two reasons: His elite extension, which ranked in the 98th percentile in 2024, and a singular ability to pronate his wrist.
“It’s the way my wrist works, the way I’m able to manipulate the ball is something unique, uniquely me,” Williams said. “It allows me to throw my changeup the way I throw it. I’m a really good pronator, not supinator. That’s why my slider sucked. You need to get on the other side of the ball. I’m not good at that. I’m good at turning it over.”
Williams did, however, modify his changeup grip to unearth the weapon. Entering 2019, Williams was a struggling minor league starter with a solid changeup, two years removed from Tommy John surgery. He was one year from reaching free agency, from perhaps seeing his career come to an end and going to college to play soccer.
That spring, seeking more movement, he altered his changeup grip from a two-seam to a four-seam, circle change grip. He first threw it during a live batting practice session to Trent Grisham, then a Brewers prospect. Grisham, now with the Yankees, told Williams the spin difference was noticeable. Williams stuck with it.
A starter through spring training, Williams was sent to Double-A as a reliever to begin the season. The demotion sparked desperation, and Williams decided to throw harder than ever, reaching back to lift his fastball into the high 90s. He was in the majors by August. But it wasn’t until the COVID shutdown in 2020 — when he realized spinning the ball more and dropping the velocity from high-80s to mid-80s created more movement — that his changeup reached another level.
“I took that into the season and at summer camp I’m facing my own teammates,” Williams said. “And Jedd Gyorko, I threw him one, and he swung and missed and he was just like, What is that? I’ve never seen [anything] like that. That gave me confidence and we just ran with it. And I literally started throwing it all the time.”
Coincidentally, Williams said the closest changeup he’s seen to his belongs to Luke Weaver, whose emergence as a shutdown reliever in 2024 was crucial in the Yankees reaching the World Series. Williams happened to be in New York when the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers played in the Fall Classic. He was on his annual autumn vacation after the Brewers were eliminated from the postseason. Past trips have taken him all over Europe: London, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Munich, Dortmund, with a soccer game invariably on his itinerary.
This time, he was in New York. He explored the city for 10 days. Instead of soccer, he watched the World Series from a bar. He shopped. He ate good food. He absorbed the city’s energy.
“I’m a city guy,” Williams said. “I love to explore cities. I like to immerse myself in the culture. I want to be like a normal, everyday person. You guys like bacon, egg and cheese? All right, I’m getting a bacon, egg and cheese.”
Less than two months later, as part of a series of moves executed in their pivot from Juan Soto‘s decision to sign with the crosstown Mets, the Yankees added Williams. On Thursday, Williams settled for $8.6 million to avoid arbitration.
He’ll partner with Weaver to create one of the best bullpen back ends in baseball — in hopes of helping the Yankees win their first championship since Rivera was dominating hitters with his cutter.
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