“Michigan might not be back. After going 15-22 with just six conference wins over the last three years, “back” may be asking too much. But for the first time since Lloyd Carr stepped down, the pervading feeling is that nine or even ten victories are within reach.
No, it probably won’t happen. But it’s August. Anything is possible.”
That was how I finished my inaugural article as a Chat Sports writer, and a week later I preached the need for patience, the need temper expectations of Michigan’s 2011 squad despite the tangible excitement surrounding the new coaching staff.
Almost three months later, the improbable has happened and Michigan is, dare I say, back. After posting consecutive wins in dominating fashion against Illinois and Nebraska, Michigan stands at nine wins, and is a 7.5 point favorite to win a 10th regular season game for the first time since 2006. Even with yet another crushing defeat to Michigan State,
[caption id="attachment_1377" align="alignnone" width="239" caption="Miserable"]
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and despite a maddening loss to Iowa,
[caption id="attachment_1378" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Guh... how is this not a catch?!?"]
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Michigan has exceeded almost all expectations for Brady Hoke’s first season as the head man.
But now, as tends to happen in sports when teams have surprisingly good seasons, expectations have been raised. Now they hinge entirely on one game.
The Game.
There may not be a trip to the national, or even Big 10 title game on the line, but from Michigan’s standpoint, the stakes when they take the field against Ohio still could not be higher.
Win, and Michigan secures a 10-win season, and in all likelihood, a ticket to a BCS game. Win, and Michigan finally breaks the seven-game snide that extends back to 2003. Win, and Michigan firmly establishes that the Tressel era is over, that Michigan has finally seized back the momentum in college football’s greatest rivalry, or at the very least has returned to being Ohio’s equal. Win, and all is right with the world.
But a loss would be crushing. A loss would prove, once and for all, that Ohio is on a completely other level from Michigan, that Michigan is firmly entrenched as a middling Big 10 team. A loss would keep the momentum squarely in Ohio’s corner -- despite a 5-loss season -- with Urban Meyer (aka god’s gift to coaching) ready to take over the reigns in Columbus. Worst of all, a loss would render the entire season meaningless.
It’s not fair, but them’s the breaks. The Game is, and will always be, the biggest game of the season. It can cement dream campaigns, jump-start the careers of the “next big things,” and salvage otherwise disappointing years. A loss to Ohio shouldn’t necessarily ruin the goodwill that a 9-win season brings (especially given the suffering of the last three years), but at the same time, there is no doubt that had Michigan’s 7th win come against Ohio in 2010, Rich Rodriguez would be coaching a Heisman candidate in Denard Robinson instead of scouring Southwest high schools to convince a Denard facsimile to enroll at Arizona.
The Game is that big.
Make no mistake, the pressure is entirely on Michigan. Michigan has everything to gain, and everything to lose. Ohio, on the other hand, has nothing to lose whatsoever. They’re playing out a dreadful season with a lame-duck coach and would love nothing better than to derail Michigan’s dreams of BCS glory and destroy Brady Hoke’s Coach of the Year resume.
Michigan’s been here before. They were the heavy favorite at home in 2001, before an atrocious first half helped bring to fruition Jim Tressel’s (in)famous prediction of Ohio glory. In 2004, Michigan had already wrapped up a Rose Bowl berth but still laid an egg to a 4-loss Buckeye squad. The next season, Michigan blew a 10-point 4th quarter lead at home, and it’s been downhill every since.
Let’s face it. Despite a few bright spots, the aughts were largely unkind to the Michigan Wolverines. But this is a new decade, a new coaching staff, a new team. All the frustration built up from seven years of losses... all the pain pent up from three years of utter suffering... it all ends tomorrow.
This is Michigan’s time. Hail.
