DNC is owning this thread.
Michigan has a fine program that is noted, in particular, for coughing up hairballs in big games. Let's review the record of their greatest coach and christ figure, Bo Schembechler --
1969: Michigan wins the Big 10 but then loses the Rose Bowl to USC 10-3
1970: Michigan is 9-0 heading into Ohio State but comes up short 20-9
1971: Michigan is 11-0 and facing heavy underdog Stanford in the Rose Bowl: 13-12 Stanford
1972: 10-0 heading into OSU: 14-11 Buckeyes
1973: 10-0 and Michigan has Ohio State at home: 10-10 tie and the conference athletic directors vote to send the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl
1974: 10-0 heading into Columbus: 12-10 Buckeyes
1975: 8-0-2 and have OSU at home: 21-14 OSU. But good news, the Big 10 now allows other Big 10 teams to go to a bowl. 14-6 Oklahoma over Michigan in the Orange Bowl
1976: Inexplicable 16-14 loss to Purdue, but Michigan finally gets by Ohio State and goes to the Rose Bowl. Oh goody: 14-6 USC
1977: Another dumb conference loss, this one 16-0 to Minnesota. But they beat the Buckeyes and they're back in the Rose Bowl and a huge favorite over 7-4 Washington, so finally Michigan's going to win the Rose Bowl. Oops: 27-20 Washington
1978: This time the conference gag is against MSU but the Wolves beat the Bucks again and are back in the Rose Bowl. Same song, 18th verse: 17-10 USC
1979: 8-3 Michigan finally gets an easy bowl opponent, UNC in the Gator Bowl. Thanks for playing Bo: 17-15 UNC.
1980: Finally Michigan wins a Rose Bowl, defeating our DAWGS. Think this is their shot at winning a NC? ND kicks a miracle 61 yard FG to defeat them in week 2. The next week the stunned Wolves also lose to South Carolina, removing them from NC consideration permanently.
1981: Bo finally beats ND for the first time (Faust's 5-6 team) and beats UCLA in a bowl game. The bad news? It's the fucking Bluebonnet Bowl.
1982: Bo somehow makes it to the Rose Bowl at 8-3 and plays UCLA. UCLA wins of course, 24-14.
1983: Good news: ND's off the schedule for Bo. Bad news, they have to play Washington again and lose 27-25. 9-2 Michigan gets invited to the Sugar Bowl where they lose to Auburn 9-7. Bo has now managed to lose 3 of the then-Big 4 bowls.
1984: Michigan flops around to a 6-5 record and then makes history as the weakest opponent ever in a bowl game for a national championship team as BYU gets by them 24-17 to claim the NC even though BYU would've been a 2-touchdown underdog to Oklahoma, Nebraska or Washington.
1985: A conference loss to Iowa and a tie with Illinois keeps UM out of the Rose Bowl and NC consideration. UM does beat Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.
1986: UM somehow loses to 3-9 Minnesota in Ann Arbor but still makes it to the Rose Bowl where the Wolves lose 22-15 to ASU. ASU is now the 5th Pac 8 or 10 team to beat Bo's teams in the Rose Bowl.
1987: Lou Holtz drills UM 26-7 in Ann Arbor, visibly laughing during the post-game handshake when he sees Bo crying. Michigan suffers 3 more losses to go 8-4.
1988: UM finally wins a Rose Bowl over USC, but is not considered for the NC due to a missed chip shot field goal against ND.
1989: Bo chokes to ND again, but runs the table at 10-1 before getting blown out by USC.
And thus concludes Bo's career.
Elite verdict? No.