The Big House has received another upgrade ahead of the 2024 season: Michigan football has installed a plaque commemorating the Wolverines' 2023 national championship.
Located on the west side of the Big House concourse, the plaque features the 2023 Michigan team photo surrounded by stills of Jim Harbaugh, Mike Sainristil, Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy:
brand new addition to Michigan Stadium: pic.twitter.com/9YowRokbBt
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) August 31, 2024
Michigan Stadium also added banners on each scoreboard commemorating the title, the 12th claimed by the winningest program in college football:
beautiful day for a football game 〽️ pic.twitter.com/bN04dsnezI
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) August 31, 2024
Michigan went 15-0 in 2023, beating Ohio State to clinch the Big Ten East, Iowa to win the Big Ten Championship Game, Alabama to claim the Rose Bowl and Washington to achieve glory in the CFP National Championship Game.
In the days following the title, the Wolverines hosted a national championship parade, which ended with this speech from Jim Harbaugh:
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This entire day has been incredible. The parade, this event: Incredible. I want to talk to the stalwarts of Team 144: Players, coaches and staff. A bunch of great guys. Greatest football players and people in Michigan football history.
Great guys who work together and win together. On the field: Champions. In the community, in the classroom and on the gridiron: Nothing fancy, just good, old-fashioned hard work and teamwork.
You are real football players. No greater compliment can be given. Football is as real as it gets because it is so challenging physically. The fiercely competitive nature of the game. It is physically combative and violent. It is a game played in the elements with risk of bodily harm. Football is real as it gets because it is so challenging mentally because it constantly tests individuals.
Who will take the easy way out? Who will fold under pressure of training, practice or games? Who will not allow the team to be divided? Who has the fortitude to be accountable? Who will make excuses? Who can persevere when being maligned? Intense, public and organizational scrutiny: It will come. Who will not flinch?
And it is the ultimate team sport. Who will fight and be loyal to the mission? You did. And you passed with flying colors.
Fielding H. Yost said: 'No man can be a football player who does not love the game. Halfheartedness or lack of earnestness will eliminate any man from a football team. The love of the game must be genuine. It is not a devotion to a fad that makes men play football. It is because they enjoy their struggle.'
Through it all, you men walked tall, strong and innocent. You love the Lord, are disciplined and family driven. You did right, and when you stumbled, you made it right. The 2023 Michigan Wolverines: Your love for the game is genuine.
The proof is in the pudding. You defied gravity. You loved to work. You had pulled back rather than talked into — and had fun doing it. You paid the price with perseverance, accountability, integrity, discipline, refused to be divided — rather chose to be galvanized. Mighty men who chose to be unselfish and played together as a team. You attacked each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind!
You bowed to no man. You bowed to no program. You had focus. That's finding our calling and using scripture. Well done, good and faithful stalwarts.
Bo Schembechler said 'The Team, The Team, The Team.' Team 144, you are THE team.
Victors valiant, team superior. You had each other's back. Treated others as you wanted to be treated. And cared about other people's problems, not just your own. You are Michigan football legends, beloved sons of Michigan. Mighty men. And now known simply as national champions. No one has it better.
The St. Crispin's Day Speech in Shakespeare's play Henry V Is flooded with wisdom, insight and the essence of being on a team. We noticed the similarities in football: The mission, the football battles we fight in, and the brotherhood of our 2023 Michigan Wolverine football team.
The following excerpt of the speech speaks truly loudly and for itself:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall out-live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.' Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day: then shall our names. Familiar in his mouth as household words:
J.J. McCarthy: The MVP. Corum and Sainristil. Keegan and Zinter. Jenkins and Barrett.
in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it will be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Team 144: We salute you: A band of brothers. Thank you.
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The Wolverines begin their 2024campaign at 7:34 p.m. on Saturday night against Fresno State.
