{"id":31722,"date":"2024-01-16T12:27:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=31722"},"modified":"2024-01-16T12:27:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:27:32","slug":"how-faith-fueled-the-university-of-michigan-wolverines-during-their-championship-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/01\/how-faith-fueled-the-university-of-michigan-wolverines-during-their-championship-season.html","title":{"rendered":"How Faith Fueled the University of Michigan Wolverines During Their Championship Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_31728\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31728\" style=\"width: 842px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/01\/michigan-natl-championship-credit-espn-youtube.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31728\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/01\/michigan-natl-championship-credit-espn-youtube.png\" alt=\"jim harbaugh\" width=\"842\" height=\"518\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31728\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ESPN\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s players and coach said their faith in God fueled them during a historic football season that saw the Wolverines finish undefeated and claim their first national championship in 26 years. The Wolverines defeated Washington 34-13 in the College Football Playoff Championship behind Blake Corum\u2019s 134 rushing yards and two touchdowns and Will Johnson\u2019s key third-quarter interception.<\/p>\n<p>Corum, a running back, was the game\u2019s offensive player, while Johnson, a defensive back, was the game\u2019s defensive player. Michigan ended the season 15-0, its first undefeated season since 1997, when it won a split national title with Nebraska. Its last undisputed national title was in 1948. Corum finished the year with 27 touchdowns and 1,245 rushing yards, one year after a late-season injury sidelined him for the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff, where the Wolverines lost in the semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what gave him the faith that Michigan could win a title this year, Corum said, \u201cGod. God gave me the faith. Last year I wasn\u2019t here. We came back as a team. We came back as brothers. This is what we came back for. We came back to get a natty. We came back to win for Michigan. And we did it. I\u2019m just so blessed.\u201d Johnson also credited faith. When he was asked how the team was able to avoid off-the-field distractions throughout the season, he said, \u201cJust faith in God. We just thank God for where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sTdH8j7enBo?si=icaH-68GAjuS0Hdm\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Johnson continued, \u201cHe had our back all year. We had faith in Him all year through all the ups and downs. And that\u2019s what got us here today.\u201d Both players often discuss faith on their social media profiles. Johnson\u2019s profile lists\u00a0Psalms 121\u00a0in his bio. After his semifinal win, Corum\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/blake_corum\/status\/1742300633758392551\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cAll praise to God.\u201d\u00a0It was the third straight College Football Playoff appearance and third straight Big 10 title for the Wolverines, who have experienced a wave of success under head coach Jim Harbaugh since he took the job in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>The year before he arrived, Michigan finished 5-7. The Wolverines have won at least 10 games in six of his nine seasons. \u00a0Harbaugh labeled the team \u201cspectacular\u201d and said God guided him during the season.\u00a0He said, \u201cIt was a journey, a spiritual journey &#8212; just took counsel from God, the Holy Spirit, this team. Everybody [had] unanimous support for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan\u2019s players and coach said their faith in God fueled them during a historic football season that saw the Wolverines finish undefeated and claim their first national championship in 26 years. The Wolverines defeated Washington 34-13 in the College Football Playoff Championship behind Blake Corum\u2019s 134 rushing yards and two touchdowns and Will Johnson\u2019s key&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":31728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3630,7,3388,3294,10],"tags":[3555,6126,6123],"class_list":["post-31722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes","category-entertainment","category-faith-based","category-football","category-sports","tag-faith-and-football","tag-jim-harbaugh","tag-university-of-michigan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Faith Fueled the University of Michigan Wolverines During Their Championship Season<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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