So, maybe Jim Harbaugh really is a magician in $8 pants. And maybe there really is something to the rumor that the Colts are going to dump Chuck Pagano at the end of the season and money-whip the Wizard of WalMart into moving 4 1/2 hours south to take Andrew Luck under his wing.
(OK, so that's ridiculous. Jim Harbaugh is not going anywhere. I just said that because I'm mean and like to see people who insist on calling the color yellow "maize" turn ... well, maize around the gills).
Anyway, back to the Wizard.
Back to Ann Arbor, where Harbaugh's Wolverines ball-peened No. 13 and previously unbeaten Northwestern 38-0 yesterday. It was Michigan's fifth straight victory and third straight shutout. The last time Michigan posted three straight shutouts, it was 1980 and Bo You-Know-Who was still prowling the home sideline in the Big House.
The Wildcats came in leading the nation in points given up per game (7.0), and the Wolverines got that in the first 13 seconds. It was 21-0 after a quarter, 28-0 at halftime and 31-0 after three quarters.
Suddenly it's not insane to think undefeated and No. 4 Michigan State might be in deep trouble next week, when the Spartans -- who futzed around and finally beat Rutgers 31-24 yesterday -- visit Ann Arbor. And it's equally not insane to think Urban Meyer's Ohio State legions, who haven't exactly impressed anyone since their opening win over Virginia Tech, could be an entrée in waiting when they come to the Big House at the end of the season.
A Michigan State win next week would of course derail all of that, but even if you think Harbaugh is a bit strange (and kind of a jerk at times), it's astounding what he's doing at UM right now. He's basically taken a bunch of sad sacks who couldn't get out of their own way last fall and turned them into a razor.
Their only loss was in Week 1 at Utah, which is unbeaten and ranked fifth and the best team in the Pac-12 right now. Since then, the Wolverines have outscored five opponents 160-14.
And suddenly, Ann Arbor is back to being a place you don't want to spend your Saturdays. Yes, that fast.
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