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Two bizarre stats highlight Michigan Football's unlikely finish to 2024 season

Originally posted on Michigan Wolverines on SI
By Matt Lounsberry | Last updated Dec 31, 2024 4:41 PM ET

The 2024 season was well on its way to being one Michigan fans were going to want to forget, until the Wolverines found a way to make it memorable.

Sitting at 6-5 through 11 games, Michigan ground out upset victories over then-No. 2 Ohio State (13-10) as a 20.5-point underdog and No. 11 Alabama (19-13) as a 16.5-point underdog in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year's Eve. According to ESPN's Cole Cubelic, this is the first time the Wolverines have won back-to-back games as a double-digit underdog in at least the last 46 years.

.@UMichFootball has won back-to-back games as a double-digit underdog for the 1st time since the FBS/FCS split in 1978.
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) December 31, 2024

Michigan's upset wins over the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide are a testament to the job defensive coordinator Wink Martindale did down the stretch this season. The Wolverines held both of those opponents' total points below the expected point spread in each game, which is a mind-boggling fact in its own right.

Michigan was a combined 36pt underdog vs Alabama and Ohio State

They held them to 23 total points
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) December 31, 2024

When the dust settles, Michigan has a chance to be ranked in the final Associated Press poll once the 2024 season has been completed with the National Championship Game on Jan. 20.

The Wolverines finish the year with wins over the current No. 6 (Ohio State) and No. 11 (Alabama) teams in the country, alongside wins over Minnesota and USC, both of whom finished with a winning record. Meanwhile, four of Michigan's five losses came against currently ranked teams: No. 1 Oregon, No. 3 Texas, No. 8 Indiana, No. 20 Illinois and Washington.

An 8-5 final record is not what Michigan fans hoped for when the Wolverines entered teh 2024 season as a preseason Top 10 team, however Sherrone Moore and his staff are carrying a lot of momentum, the No. 1 overall prospect in quarterback Byrce Underwood and the No. 9-ranked recruiting class into 2025. There's plenty of reason for optimism for the future in Ann Arbor.

This article first appeared on Michigan Wolverines on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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