College Football

Brotherly ties, Ravens connection laid foundation for Michigan's championship defense

Updated Jan. 9, 2024 12:37 p.m. ET

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Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

HOUSTON — The private plane carrying two of Michigan football's most ardent supporters was waging an unexpected battle with a stormy Texas sky as kickoff for Monday night's national championship game neared. 

It had taken off from Baltimore a few hours earlier but encountered rotten weather on the approach into Houston, where many of the local airports were closed amid a lingering tornado warning. Air-traffic control diverted the flight toward Austin instead, instructing the pilot to bob and weave around three separate storm cells.

But after circling for about an hour, the pilot had another idea. "We're making a run for it!" he told his passengers. "We're heading for Sugar Land," a southwest suburb of Houston roughly 16 miles from NRG Stadium. His tactic worked. The plane landed safely with a car service ready and waiting to whisk its passengers from the Baltimore Ravens toward an eventual Wolverines' triumph in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. 

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was eager to see his younger brother, Jim Harbaugh, capture the program's first outright title since 1948. And defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was keen to watch his successor and close friend, Jesse Minter, perfect the system he'd installed in Ann Arbor two years prior, during Michigan's first trip to the College Football Playoff. 

They arrived partway through the first half, with the elder Harbaugh surprising the other for an impromptu in-game hug. 

"It was a timeout," John Harbaugh would later say. "It didn't look like he was doing anything, you know? He had a minute. Gave him a hug. Why not?"

Beyond the familial ties that will forever bind these footballing brothers — especially after John beat Jim in Super Bowl XLVII when the latter was leading the San Francisco 49ers — their embrace along the sideline offered an important reminder of how inseparable the Ravens are from this incredible Michigan run, a three-year march toward the zenith that was completed Monday night. 

It was a fateful phone call between the Harbaughs three years ago that set in motion the defensive revolution that rocketed the Wolverines into the upper echelon of college football, a reinvention-turned-revitalization that culminated with a 34-13 straight-jacketing of Washington and the nation's No. 1 passing offense Monday. Of the myriad changes Harbaugh made following a desultory 2020 campaign that called his job security into question, raiding the Ravens' cupboard for two of the brightest young minds in the sport should be viewed as his shrewdest move thus far.

A request from Jim to John set the pipeline in motion after veteran coordinator Don Brown was axed, his unit finishing 95th in scoring during a putrid final season. One thumping after another from archrival Ohio State had exposed some of the flaws in Brown's scheme, an antiquated system that relied far too heavily on porous and predictable man-to-man coverage. 

Harbaugh knew he needed something more modern, more malleable, more menacing if he wanted to combat the offensive juggernaut Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day had assembled. So he appealed to his older brother and asked how to bring the Ravens defense to Michigan. 

The two names John Harbaugh gave him were Macdonald and Minter, a pair of like-minded 30-somethings who'd spent the preceding few seasons incubating in Baltimore's system. They'd learned from the likes of Dean Pees, Wink Martindale and Greg Roman — some of the most aggressive, well-respected coaches in the league. They'd been indoctrinated with a philosophy that believed the best formula for playing defense was to be anything but defensive. 

Harbaugh hired Macdonald on Jan. 17, 2021, after interviewing both of his brother's recommendations. He hired Minter a year later after Macdonald performed so well that the Ravens brought him back as their outright defensive coordinator. 

"Smartest man in America, you know what I mean?" inside linebacker Michael Barrett said of Harbaugh's decisions to pursue Macdonald and Minter. "To kind of come in and bring a defense that was built for these situations, these kinds of offenses, you know what I mean? He knew that something had to give, something had to change. And he made those changes, man. He brought in guys who brought in a great game plan. Coach Minter, Coach Macdonald, they kind of just brought the whole system over, man. It's amazing."

The same "genius" and "mad scientist" monikers that players ascribed to Macdonald in 2021 were quickly repurposed for Minter, who came to Michigan after one season as Vanderbilt's defensive coordinator. He inherited a defense without a marquee pass rusher following the departures of Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo — both of whom were drafted among the first 45 picks — and found a way to increase the productivity. He replaced a first-round pick at the all-important nickel position with a converted wide receiver in Mike Sainristil and improved the passing defense from 27th to 20th in the national rankings. He matched Macdonald by finding a way to beat Ohio State and follow through on the plan he laid out for Harbaugh during their initial conversation. All of which led to a flattering interview with the Philadelphia Eagles last winter.

Still, there were underlying concerns about just how good Michigan's defense really was following a second consecutive loss in the College Football Playoff, the humbling implosion against TCU prompting Minter and his staff to overhaul their defensive pillars entering 2023. Subsequent maulings of Penn State quarterback Drew Allar (10-for-22 for 70 yards, 1 TD) and Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord (18-for-30 for 271 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) prompted questions about whether the Wolverines were merely feasting on an offensively challenged league. Marvin Harrison Jr. was the only high-end receiver they faced all season.

And so the buildup to Michigan's semifinal showdown with Alabama focused more on dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe and his hulking offensive line than everything Minter's defense accomplished while leading the nation in yards per game (243.1) and points per game (10.2) this season. Even after the Wolverines sacked Milroe six times and harassed him into the lowest passing output of the season, the prevailing narrative was that Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and his elite trio of receivers might slice Michigan to pieces en route to a national championship. 

"We've never feared anybody," Minter said. "We respect everybody, but we never feared anybody. And the mindset that our guys have, their ability to execute some different things in every game plan that we've put together, it's all about the players and their ability to do it."

Where do Jim Harbaugh, Michigan and Washington go from here?

They did it in the first quarter when Sainristil made a twisting and turning tackle on wide receiver Jalen McMillan to force a critical punt after Michigan built a 14-3 lead. They did it in the second quarter when nose tackle Kenneth Grant flattened offensive lineman Nate Kalepo for a pancake-turned-sack that thwarted another Washington drive. They did it in the third quarter when cornerback Will Johnson made a balletic and big-time interception following a deflection on Penix's first throw of the half. They did it again in the fourth quarter when Sainristil snared an overcooked pass for an 81-yard return that set up the title-clinching score. 

It was Minter who sprinted down the sideline to greet his All-American defensive back a few feet shy of the goal line. And it was Minter who landed at the center of a celebratory photo featuring all of Michigan's defensive players a few seconds later. It was Minter who shared an emotional embrace with Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore as the final few seconds elapsed. And it was Minter who walked hand-in-hand with his son across the confetti-strewn turf, stopping briefly for a conversation at midfield. 

That's where Macdonald and John Harbaugh were waiting. 

"I'm just proud of these guys," Macdonald told FOX Sports. "They went and did it. They had their minds set up that they were going to go do it together. I'm proud we played a small part of it."

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.

More on the College Football Playoff National Championship

• Now that Harbaugh has reached the peak, what comes next?
• Can Michigan stay on top? A too-early look at the 2024 Top 25
• Michigan powers way to first championship since 1997
• Ranking the 10 champions of the four-team CFP era
• Will Johnson is just getting started at Michigan

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Michael Cohen