By all objective measures, Jesse Minter’s recent track record is unimpeachable.

For the second consecutive season, the Michigan football defensive coordinator presides over a top-10 unit that has steadily improved since his February 2022 arrival. This year, the Wolverines have surrendered the fewest points in the Football Bowl Subdivision despite playing one more game than most teams. They not only squeeze the spirit out of their opponents, but they now sting them, too. Michigan has generated 24 takeaways, the ninth-highest total in the nation.

Only a short time after linebacker Michael Barrett created one of those turnovers with a jaw-rattling hit on Indiana quarterback Tayven Jackson in a 52-7 romp on Oct. 14, he declared, “We are in the ass-kicking business. And business is booming.”

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Barrett made that brash statement before the Wolverines blanked two Big Ten opponents, including Iowa during a 26-0 victory in the conference championship game earlier this month. It was the kind of decisive win — and display of dominance — that usually garners hyperbolic praise. But in this case, it did not. Instead, by the end of the next day, Michigan had been left to defend its legitimacy after it had been matched up against Alabama in the College Football Playoff Rose Bowl semifinal.

“I’m sure a lot of people are saying, ‘We can’t hang with the SEC or other guys outside of the Big Ten,” Barrett said. “So, yeah, it’s definitely a prove-it game.”

That is especially true for Minter, who seemed to be scarred by what happened at this stage last year: a 51-45 loss to TCU that spurred the sudden and shocking end to Michigan’s second straight trip to the CFP. The Horned Frogs repeatedly punctured Minter’s unit, averaging seven yards per play while reaching the end zone five times — twice more than any other opponent the Wolverines had faced. With mobile quarterback Max Duggan, a fleet of speedy skill players and aggressive play-caller Garrett Riley, TCU outflanked Michigan’s players and outfoxed Minter.

The unexpected collapse by Michigan caused outsiders to wonder whether the Wolverines’ defense had been artificially propped up by playing in a league known for its retrograde brand of football, subpar quarterback play, and low-scoring games. That skepticism remains 11½ months later, and Minter understands why it has persisted.

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“I think you can certainly look at offensive statistical rankings and look at the Big Ten and it’s factual that there’s a decent amount of them towards the bottom of the list,” he said. “Whether that’s because the defenses are good or they’re bad, you could argue that every which way.”

But it’s really not much of a debate. Of the 35 teams averaging the fewest points this season, eight are in the Big Ten. That’s more than half the league. This season, Michigan faced six members in that impotent group, holding them to 31 points combined. The weekly futility from Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Rutgers boosted the defensive rankings throughout the conference — from Ann Arbor to Columbus to Iowa City to State College. It’s no surprise then that the four teams conceding the fewest points in the country all play in the Big Ten.

Minter doesn’t ignore that reality.

But he’s also not bothered by it. While Minter concedes that Alabama’s Jalen Milroe is unlike any quarterback Michigan has faced, with his unique blend of athleticism and arm talent, he derives confidence from the test his defense faces every day in practice: a multi-pronged offense that ranks 14th in the country. The Wolverines have turned to fleet-footed Alex Orji, one of J.J. McCarthy’s backups, to simulate Milroe; Minter said he has done well imitating him. But trying to a find reasonable facsimile of Alabama's mammoth offensive line and stand-ins for its dynamic receivers hasn’t been as easy.

Then again, Minter expected that. The Crimson Tide, after all, boast the most talented roster in the country, according to 247 Sports. They have 74 former blue-chippers, including 18 five-star prospects in high school. Some of them contribute to a robust attack that averages the equivalent of five touchdowns per game.

“They recruit at such a high level,” he said.

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Within the Big Ten, the only team that features such a deep cast of high-end players is Ohio State. Minter, of course, found the antidote to the Buckeyes each of the last two years.

Now he’s looking to find a similar formula that will work outside the conference footprint and neutralize the Tide. Whether he can remains uncertain.

“We’ll find out when the ball is kicked off,” he said. “Talking about it is really cheap at this point.”

The coordinator with the top-ranked defense in the country knows he simply has to prove it — as strange as that may seem.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin.

Next up: Rose Bowl

Matchup: No. 1 Michigan (13-0) vs. No. 4 Alabama (12-1), CFP semifinal.

Kickoff: 5:10 p.m. Jan. 1; Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California.

TV/radio: ESPN; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).

Line: Wolverines by 1½.

At stake: The winner faces the Sugar Bowl winner between No. 2 Washington and No. 4 Texas in the CFP title game Jan. 8 in Houston.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Michigan football defense sees Alabama as a 'prove-it' game