Perspective | How will we remember this Michigan football team? As champions.

HOUSTON — The Michigan players took it all, including the seats. With the smell of cigar smoke wafting through the air, they toted folding chairs as they emerged from the locker room, eager to hop from one celebration to the next. They didn’t care whether all that padded College Football Playoff furniture could be packed with the rest of their equipment. The victors needed to hoard loot.

“Took on all comers,” Coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday, a little before midnight. “Last one standing.”

If this season was truly Michigan vs. Everybody, we have a final result. Michigan dominated. Everybody, from the worthy challengers to the anonymous whistleblowers to the public-opinion judges sentencing them to cheater prison, lost. The last of Everybody toppled in the College Football Playoff title game after Washington, owner of the most stylish offense in the sport, succumbed to the physicality and defensive brilliance of the Wolverines. In an impressive 34-13 triumph at NRG Stadium, Michigan left no doubt to conclude a season smothered in doubt.

For the first time since the 1997 season, the Wolverines claimed a national title. While they can’t escape the memory of the sign-stealing and illegal scouting scheme that then-staffer Connor Stalions organized, it would be dishonest to completely discredit their greatness. Yes, they’re involved in a messy, integrity-piercing fiasco that remains under NCAA investigation. And, yes, they’re the class of the 2023 season despite the slimy footnote. They’re not as “innocent” as Harbaugh proclaimed after the game. And they’re not as irredeemably guilty as the arbiters of righteousness keep screaming.

Michigan is a chameleon, an all-of-the-above answer to every question. But you still have to crown the Wolverines. Their defense, formidable at every level, was a spectacular next act to the scary units that lifted Georgia to back-to-back titles. For all the complaints about the illegitimacy of their success, their roster development tells a charming college story. Like Washington’s, Michigan’s unbeaten journey to the title game wasn’t the result of monster high school recruiting classes fulfilling the destiny of can’t-miss prospects. These stars grew over time, sacrificed for one another and embraced the heartbreaking process of becoming a champion.

In 2015, Harbaugh inherited a 5-7 team and a program that had lost itself during the failed coaching tenures of Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez. It took him nine seasons to summit college football. It took until 2021 for Michigan to qualify for the College Football Playoff, but the Wolverines couldn’t break through the past two seasons in semifinals against Georgia and TCU.

Disappointment drove them to get better. They wouldn’t have finished 15-0 without the scar tissue. The players wouldn’t have been able to handle the controversy heaped on them by irresponsible adults without the motivation to finish the job.

“We came a long way, but in order to accomplish things like this, you’ve got to go to those dark places where everything’s not great,” quarterback J.J. McCarthy said. “And just the response, the urgency right after that last game last year, it was different. I knew it. Just from being on the podium last year and saying we would be back. I knew the guys that were coming back. I had this feeling that it was going to be where we are right now.”

When he took the stage for a postgame interview, McCarthy pretended to crown Harbaugh. The coach now has a trophy to solidify his status as both an elite program builder and a finisher. His father, Jack, won a national title at Western Kentucky in 2002. His brother, John, led the Baltimore Ravens over Jim’s San Francisco 49ers 11 years ago in Super Bowl XLVII. Now, the little brother has become the third Harbaugh this century to celebrate being the last team standing.

“For me personally, I can now sit at the big person’s table in the family,” Harbaugh said. “They won’t keep me over there on the little table anymore. It’s good to be at the big person’s table from now on.”

Of course, with the Ravens entering the NFL playoffs with the league’s best record, John could win a second Super Bowl in about a month. Even if Jim took one of those souvenir chairs, his big-table seat might not be the cushiest.

Perhaps he’s willing to unplug his competitiveness and ambition for a few days now. It won’t last long with Harbaugh expected to flirt with NFL suitors. Again. But Monday night, he was as content as he will ever be.

“I just want to enjoy this,” said Harbaugh, who served two three-game suspensions this season. “I just want to enjoy this. I hope you give me that. Can a guy have that? Does it always have to be what’s next, what’s the future?”

The Wolverines are a team worth stopping time for. They put on a clinic against Washington, taking apart Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies’ offense and rushing for 303 yards. According to ESPN, three-quarters of those yards came before contact. To open the game, Donovan Edwards darted through massive holes for touchdowns of 41 and 46 yards. He finished with 104 yards. Blake Corum ran for 134, including a 59-yard dash. The first eight times that Michigan running backs carried the ball, they gained 178 yards. That’s 22.3 yards per carry. A dry-cleaning service couldn’t have kept those Michigan jerseys looking fresher than Washington’s confused defense.

With the lead, Michigan could play its game. It didn’t need to take unnecessary risks on offense. On defense, coordinator Jesse Minter watched the players execute a smart plan to pressure Penix while slowing down his processing and restricting his audacity in throwing down the field. Penix couldn’t create big plays early, and when a few were available, he uncharacteristically missed. He completed only 27 of 51 passes and threw for 255 yards, pedestrian numbers by his standards. He threw two interceptions and failed to guide the Huskies through three drives in which they could’ve tied a 20-13 game.

“That was a spectacular game by our defense,” Harbaugh said.

He must live up to a promise now. The coach vowed to get his first tattoo if Michigan won. His detractors would probably love to design it, but he has a plan. Sort of.

He knows he wants 15-0 written in ink. And a classic Michigan block “M” in maize and blue to signify the Wolverines surpassing 1,000 victories.

“I’m going to put it on my shoulder,” Harbaugh said.

By the time he quells his imagination, he’ll probably have an arm sleeve.

Harbaugh is a champion. Michigan sits atop the sport, having beaten Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa, Alabama and Washington to finish the season, all victories that came after the sign-stealing revelation.

How will we remember this team? It’s complicated. It’s also wasted energy.

“We said we had unfinished business, so I’ll leave you all with this,” Corum declared during the trophy presentation. “The business is finished.”

The best team won. The best team won while facing past cheating allegations. Both facts are on Michigan’s 2023 record. Only one will be immortalized on a banner.