Leaning on past successes is a Michigan football tradition as strong as the colors maize and blue, and that sentiment was only emboldened when Tom Brady secured a seventh Super Bowl ring in his 21st season in the NFL.
The former Wolverines quarterback led Tampa Bay to a convincing 31-9 victory over the favored Kansas City Chiefs and wunderkind signal-caller Patrick Mahomes on Sunday night.
Brady didn't necessarily have to out-duel Mahomes in a matchup in which the Buccaneers defense overwhelmed an undermanned offensive line, but he was on point while completing 21-of-29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns against no interceptions.
The Michigan alum put a premature exclamation point on an extraordinary professional career that hasn't ended just yet. Brady has suited up for an NFL team every year since the turn of the century, and since then he's enjoyed remarkable success on the field.
The university he left over two decades ago can't say the same.
The Wolverines have won just one outright Big Ten title since Brady's departure to go along with two shared titles. Only once in those three instances did they cap those seasons with a bowl victory, and none of those seasons happened within the last 16 years.
It's certainly been tough sledding for our dearest rivals to the north, but looking back, it hasn't been all bad. Here are Michigan's top five moments since Brady's departure.
5. Bringing the Blessed, Milk-Swollen Son Home
Over the last two decades, several wrenches have been thrown into the mix to derail college football's winningest team. From recruiting to schematic deficiencies, the Wolverines just haven't been able to keep up with the other blue blood programs around the country.
Arguably the biggest reason for that was the lack of an elite Michigan Man running the program. After seven long years of lukewarm mediocrity, that changed when Jim Harbaugh came home to coach his alma mater.
Finally, at long last, the Wolverines had the man they needed to go toe-to-toe with Ohio State.
4. Beating an Urban Meyer-Coached Team
From 2012-18, Michigan fans desperately wanted (but never experienced) a win over an Urban Meyer coached team. Two head coaches collectively went 0-7 against the Buckeyes during that stretch, but at the very least, the Wolverine faithful could at least remember a time their team was victorious over Meyer.
In the 2008 Capital One Bowl, Lloyd Carr took the sideline as Michigan's coach for the final time, and on the other side of the field was Meyer and his Florida Gators.
The Wolverines were underdogs to the reigning national champions in large part because they were going up against Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow and an offense that spread defenses out and scored frequently (something that Michigan had struggled with that year, if you recall).
But the Wolverines punched back that afternoon and beat the Gators at their own game, winning a 41-35 shootout to send Carr off with one final victory.
This opened the door to the Rich Rodriguez era at Michigan, a dumpster fire so grand that it still warms the hearts of Buckeye fans to this day.
3. Beating Ohio State in 2003
At this point, Jim Tressel's two-game winning streak over Michigan felt like a blip on the radar. The Wolverines had dominated the Buckeyes so completely coming into the Aughts, going 10-3-1 in the 14 years leading to the turn of the century.
2003 was a return to normalcy. No. 4 Ohio State traveled to No. 5 Michigan, but the Wolverines prevailed 35-21 to secure their lone solo Big Ten title since Brady's departure.
Michigan went on to lose the Rose Bowl, falling to USC 28-14.
2. Beating Ohio State for the first time since 2003
2003, as it turned out, didn't signify that Ohio State's dominance was a blip on the radar. Tressel went on to win seven consecutive games over Michigan, giving him an impressive 9-1 tally over the Wolverines during his time in Columbus.
The untimely end of Tressel's tenure sent Ohio State into disarray. Without their head coach and Luke Fickell stepping into an interim role ahead of fall camp, the Buckeyes slogged their way through the worst season in over half a century.
Michigan, meanwhile, was experiencing a revival under new head coach Brady Hoke. The Wolverines entered the final week of the regular season 9-2, while the Buckeyes limped in with a 6-5 record.
These facts would suggest a Wolverines blowout, but Michigan was an overshot bomb to DeVier Posey away from losing to Ohio State for the eighth consecutive time.
But hey, beggars can't be choosers.
1. Avoiding Ohio State in 2020
Without question, the greatest moment of Michigan football since 2000 was when it didn't have to play Ohio State last November.
Now obviously, the situation that caused the cancelation of this year's game is no laughing matter, and quite frankly tragic for more reasons than one. With the COVID-19 outbreak in the Wolverines program, the game couldn't safely be played and was rightfully canceled.
From a football perspective, Harbaugh and Michigan were likely spared a bit of embarrassment.
There was some offseason drama when it came out that Ryan Day had aspirations of "hanging 100" points on Michigan, and after seeing them post an unremarkable 2-4 record in their six games, that possibility seemed more and more feasible.
But a scary stroke of bad luck prevented Michigan from traveling to Columbus for its reckoning.
