Don't get it twisted: Michigan, Jim Harbaugh needed this
If Michigan had lost this game, Harbaugh, the Wolverines and the Big Ten would've been hammered over the head with the same narratives they've been fighting for years. Not this year! For the first time in three tries, Michigan won a College Football Playoff game, and it did so by beating the most dominant program of the CFP (and BCS) era in Nick Saban's Alabama.
A loss wouldn't have made inevitable statements about Michigan being overrated -- or only being good because it cheated -- credible, but it would have led to Michigan wondering whether it would ever break through. Considering Harbaugh flirts with the NFL every offseason -- including this one -- perhaps a third straight playoff loss would've been the final straw to him making the jump. Perhaps he still will. It's Harbaugh; none of us know what he's thinking at any moment in time.
What we do know is that this win proved beyond a doubt that Michigan belongs among the elite. It doesn't guarantee the Wolverines will win their national championship since 1997 this year, but if a team can beat the Crimson Tide and dominate them along the lines of scrimmage -- as Michigan did Monday night -- there's no denying that team is legitimate and not just Big Ten bullies.