Top 10 Plays From Michigan's National Championship Season

The Michigan Wolverines won the national championship yesterday. I keep saying that repeatedly, and I just can’t believe it’s true. I will probably be spending the next hundred years of my life, if I’m lucky enough to live that long, recapping every great moment from this iconic season. It was hard to narrow it down to just 10. This year was a roller coaster filled with so many fun moments, but these were the ten that stood out the most to me. I’m sure other people have their own lists, and that’s fine. If I left one off, I’m sure people in the comments will be willing to let me know. Let’s roll.

10- Mike Sainristil's pick six vs Michigan State

I'm putting this on the list solely for selfish reasons. I could've gone with Blake Corum's game-sealing touchdown against Penn State, but man, I enjoyed just beating a snot out of Michigan State this year. This was not one of those 10-point Michigan wins where MSU fights until the end. They sucked out their soul. They played a dominant first half, and with this Sainristil interception, showed that they weren't content with just playing a good 30 minutes.

9- Cornelius Johnson's tip-drill touchdown against Bowling Green

The Bowling Green game was probably one of Michigan's more forgettable and baffling games this season. It was J.J. McCarthy's worst game by far. But it did feature this spectacular display of concentration by Cornelius Johnson. I love Blake Corum, but that guy never did a good job of selling the flea flicker. J.J. put it up there, and CoJo came up with a phenomenal grab.

8- J.J. McCarthy improvises to find Colston Loveland for a long touchdown against Indiana

This play was the ultimate JJ McCarthy moment. No Michigan quarterback in history has been better outside the pocket than him. The Indiana game was a weird one. Michigan sleptwalked through the first quarter of this game and trailed 7-0 before turning it on in the second quarter. This unbelievable display improvisation by J.J. finding stud tight end Colston Loveland for a long touchdown was one of those moments J.J. can look forward to putting on his highlight reel when he inevitably goes to the NFL—a true playmaker at quarterback. 

7- Mike Sainristil's pick six vs Rutgers

Spoiler alert: Mike Sainristil appears a lot on this list. Rutgers played Michigan relatively tough for the first 2 1/2 quarters this season. And they were driving on this fourth down play when Sainristil snuffed out this screen. Mikey still has some of the best instincts of any Michigan football player ever. The ball always seemed to find him. He also showed off his speed as a former wide receiver when he took this thing to the house. If Rutgers would've found a way to score here, this game could've gotten interesting. Sainristil made sure that it didn't.

6- Roman Wilson's game-saving catch vs Alabama

Roman Wilson made every single play he needed to make this year, but none were more important than this catch against Alabama. If this ball is just a few feet higher, this is an interception going the other way, and we're not talking about this being the greatest Michigan season of all time. I give extra points for the setting. This is going to become one of those iconic Michigan football shots. This was a gutsy team, and that was on full display when Wilson made this miraculous catch to put Michigan in position to tie the game. 

5- Roman Wilson's touchdown catch vs Nebraska 

If we're ranking plays in terms of degree of difficulty, this could probably be number one. This went viral the second it happened. Roman Wilson was J.J.'s favorite target from day one this season, and plays like this show off why. Michigan took care of business in the first four games, but this was the game where they started to look like a team that could win the entire thing.

4- Blake Corum scores a touchdown one play after Zack Zinter's injury

This was a tight-knit group. They were as together as it gets. Seeing All-American Zack Zinter go down with a brutal-looking injury could've been one of those moments that rattled Michigan. As was the case with this team, throughout the year, adversity only galvanized them. Corum scoring on the first play after that awful injury felt like something out of a movie. Then again, there were many moments this year that felt like something out of a movie.

3- Rod Moore's calls game against Ohio State

Man, Michigan really was damn close to losing to Ohio State this year. It was getting pretty scary there on that last drive. Ohio State was moving the ball, and with Marvin Harrison Jr. in the game, you felt like they were one big play away from potentially taking the lead on a deep ball to him. That's exactly what Kyle McCord tried to do when he forced in a throw that sailed over Harrison's head and into the arms of Rod Moore. This will go down as one of the biggest moments in the history of the rivalry and one of the loudest moments in the history of The Big House. Again, it was this iconic defense saving the day.

2- "The Stop"

I'm not going to act like Washington didn't give Michigan something of a run yesterday, but in hindsight, this was the moment Michigan won the National Championship. Michigan's playoff run is similar to the 1980 Miracle on Ice hockey team. Yes, they had to show up for that final Gold Medal match, but it was the semi-finals where the championship was really won. Every moment where it seemed like Michigan was about to die, they found a way to rise from the ashes. This play will be remembered as quite possibly the defining moment for a Jesse Minter-led defense that rarely ever wavered.

1- Mike Sainristil puts the Natty on ice

Yeah, this one's kind of predictable, but it belongs here. Michigan wasn't in danger of losing this game at this point, but it seemed like Washington was on the verge of fighting back. It was only fitting that this generational defense put the National Championship on ice with this Mikey Sainristil interception. He nearly brought it back for his third pick six of the season, though I'm sure he was happy to make way for Blake Corum to score one last touchdown. You couldn't have asked for a more fitting conclusion to this masterful season.