Jim Harbaugh has become a dual-legend at Michigan.

Following the No. 3-ranked Wolverines’ 45-23 win over the No. 2-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Harbaugh should now be mentioned among the likes of Bo Schembechler, who went 5-4-1 against OSU during the 10-Year War from 1969-1978.

Sure, Harbaugh has just 2 wins against the Buckeyes, but his consecutive wins rank among the best in program history — 42-27 in 2021 and 45-23 in 2022 speak volumes for Michigan, which snagged its first back-to-back wins over Ohio State since 1999-2000. Harbaugh’s coaching vs. the Buckeyes has come around, and he was 3-1 as a player.

No one else in Michigan history has 3 wins as a player and  2 as coach vs. the Buckeyes. In the age of advanced stats, that might mean something. In the world of normal numbers, it means that Harbaugh is in a class by himself and deserves recognition for his accomplishments. No other player/coach in the UM vs. OSU rivalry can lay claim to Harbaugh’s resume.

Not one.

Love him or hate him, Harbaugh has done something no other coach/player has done in any other rivalry series.

He is the first coach in Michigan history to qualify for back-to-back Big Ten Championship Game berths and he’ll be the first UM coach to land his team in the College Football Playoff 2 years in a row.

Since the beginning of 2021, Harbaugh’s teams have gone 23-2, showing few signs of regressing into their malaise from the hardship years prior to Harbaugh’s signing in 2015 or the ugliness of 2020’s 2-4 Covid season. Michigan has re-solidified itself into a top-5 program.

In 1999, Michigan won 24-17 in Ann Arbor. In 2000, Michigan won 38-26 in Columbus. That 19-point cushion over 2 years was the largest since 1990-91, when UM won 16-13 and 31-3 over the Buckeyes. The past 2 years, Michigan has poured it on the Buckeyes, winning by 15 and 22 points.

The Wolverines now have a chance to do something no other UM has done, and that’s compete for a national championship in consecutive seasons. Michigan’s record the past 2 seasons speaks for itself; it’s the best record in the Big Ten during the past 2 seasons.

Two years ago, Ryan Day, the Buckeyes coach, said he wanted to “hang 100” on the Wolverines. Since then, Day’s teams have been outscored 86-50, which also is the biggest 2-year scoring deficit in the series.

Teams are judged on their biggest opponents, and the Wolverines absolutely outran everyone in that category, beating Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State by 22.7 points per game — easily the best run of its kind in the modern UM football era.

Simply put: Harbaugh has done, and continues to do, things that no other coach has done in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines are entering new territory under Harbaugh, no longer judged solely by history and fond memories, but on recent dominance.

A national championship would top off Harbaugh’s march to the top of the coaching pyramid. But even if he falls short of that this season, he still deserves attention for what he’s done these past 2 years.