No Distractions For Michigan In Lead-Up To Rose Bowl

It's easy to get caught up in the pageantry of playing in the Rose Bowl, but Wolverines remain focused on the Crimson Tide.

It's certainly not that hard to become distracted by all of the pageantry surrounding the Rose Bowl, particularly when it's part of the College Football Playoff. Add in two blue blood programs like Michigan and Alabama, and it becomes nearly impossible to ignore the magnitude of the matchup between the Wolverines and the Crimson Tide. 

For Michigan, the mantra of maintaining a "one-track mind" has been something that the team has adopted during a season full of distractions. Two separate suspensions for head coach Jim Harbaugh, an NCAA investigation, non-stop news coverage surrounding the sign-stealing scandal, and yet the Wolverines never flinched. With a perfect 13-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the CFP, Michigan's one-track mind of focusing on the task at hand has served the Wolverines well. 

Meeting with the media in Pasadena on Saturday, Harbaugh reiterated the teams singular focus. 

"Yeah, just the choices that our guys have made, coaches have made it just be about this game. A one-track mind," Harbaugh said. "Wake up and do everything in your power to dominate that day. Go to bed at night, wake up the next day, see if you can't dominate that day.

"That's really worked for us. That mindset of a one-track mind is in a lot of ways what has gotten us here."

Even as the media asked about the potential departure of several key players, and even the possibility that Harbaugh could bolt for the NFL after this season, the head football coach stuck firmly to the mindset that has worked repeatedly for the Wolverines all season long.

"Right now it is -- it is a one-track mind of using every minute, every hour, every day to get ready to play in this game."

It remains to be seen whether or not that mindset will carry the Wolverines to victory on January 1 in the Rose Bowl, but it's clear that Michigan's process has worked to perfection so far this season. If that one-track mindset can lead to victory in Pasadena, it will place the Wolverines on the doorstep of winning their first national championship since 1997.