On January 1, 2011, the Michigan Wolverines trudged off the Gator Bowl field after enduring a 52-14 beatdown at the hands of Mississippi State. It was an abysmal game, one hardly worth watching past halftime, and one that slammed with authority the final nail in the coffin of Rich Rodriguez’s short-lived tenure as Michigan’s football coach.
While Michigan showed signs of offensive life at various points during the 2010 season, the defense gave up a record-setting 35 points a game, and our kickers combined to make four field goals the entire year (4, FOUR... as many as VT’s third string kicker had the other night), on 14 attempts.
[caption id="attachment_1758" align="alignnone" width="274" caption="Missed field goals make me sad"]
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So if someone had gone up to you on January 2, 2011, and said, “next year, Michigan’s going to win a BCS game, largely on the strength of its defense, AND we’re going to make a field goal to win it,” how would you have reacted?
Call the cops to have the guy committed?? Better yet, ask for whatever drugs whose influence he was under??
Yet here we stand one year later, and the Michigan Wolverines are Sugar Bowl champions, 
having won the game on a Brandon Gibbons field goal after the defense bent like hell all night but yielded one solitary touchdown.
It wasn’t pretty in the slightest. Michigan’s All-American center, David Molk, got hurt in pre-game warmups, but tried his mightiest to stay on the field after the backup’s first three snaps went awry. Senior defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen got hurt to the point where he was on crutches in the post-game interviews, but somehow found a way to take up near-permanent residence in the backfield while playing on one leg.
And injuries weren't even the ugliest part. Michigan’s offense suddenly resembled the 2008 version... AKA the Threet/Sheridan experiment that was so retched I wouldn’t even wish it on Ohio (ok... that’s a lie). The defense gave up third and longs so regularly that one wondered whether Greg Mattison was channeling Greg Robinson as some sort of cruel joke. But somehow, thanks to no fewer than four minor miracles (the first Hemingway TD, the overturned interception, the overturned TD in overtime and the absolutely idiotic decision to fake punt), Michigan found a way to win. And that’s what good teams do.
(Aside - don’t let anyone argue that Va Tech caught that ball in bounds in overtime. If you catch a ball and half your arm is out of bounds, you’re out of bounds. If you catch a ball and then it moves when it hits the ground, it’s not a catch. Don’t believe me? Ask Junior Hemingway.)
[caption id="attachment_1760" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="No catch?"]
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[caption id="attachment_1759" align="alignnone" width="351" caption="Ball on ground? No catch!"]
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A co-worker today told me that Michigan was the worst 11-win team he’d ever seen, a statement which I thought doubly ridiculous, considering VaTech had also won 11 games and Michigan had just beaten them. Was Team 132 a great team? Absolutely not. There were few, if any, elite players, and lacked any sort of depth whatsoever, but it was a team in every sense of the word, a very good team at that, and all year long, it showed outstanding resilience. The comebacks vs. Notre Dame and Northwestern were epic, but even the near-comebacks vs. MSU and Iowa evidenced that this team understood that nothing was decided until the clock read 0:00. This team made plays when it had to. And that’s what good teams do.
Case in point: In past years, had Virginia Tech taken over down three points with three minutes left to play, the question wouldn’t have been, “will they score a touchdown,” it would’ve been “will Michigan have any time left?” (the 2005 Wisconsin and Ohio games instantly come to mind). And on Tuesday night, VaTech immediately moved right down the field, but then something happened, the same thing that’s happened pretty much all season. Michigan made a key stop. It got off the field. It forced a field goal and lived to fight in overtime. And that’s what good teams do.
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I took a bit of a hiatus following Michigan’s streak-busting win over Ohio, because everyone takes a holiday vacation (see: Ohio’s offensive coordinator and Mark Richt’s scrotum on New Year's Day). But the extended break also gave me an opportunity to reflect on the season that was. And it was a season that surpassed even the wildest of expectations.
It seems like a distant memory now, but a large swath of Michigan fans were extremely disappointed with the hiring of Brady Hoke. He wasn’t the hot name like Jim Harbaugh, or the sexy champion like Les Miles. But from that very first press conference Hoke exhibited a love for Michigan that you just don’t see out of most collegiate coaches. Every time he opened his mouth during the season, he spoke not of himself, but of his team, and especially, his seniors. His on-field interview following the Ohio game was tear-enducing.
I’ve previously discussed the line, “Attitude reflects leadership,” from the movie, “Remember the Titans.” Go back and check out David Molk’s speech at the Football Bust, or Junior Hemingway’s Sugar Bowl MOP acceptance speech, and tell me that these guys don’t exude a passion for Michigan and for their teammates that we’ve come to expect from “Michigan Men,” that we ourselves share for this university. This year’s team was as cohesive and singular a unit as I can remember, and that starts at the very top.
The best part? Hoke’s not satisfied with this season, and he’s imparted that onto his players. From the beginning, he’s made clear that the goal is to win the Big Ten championship. Michigan accomplished so much this year: winning under the lights, beating Ohio for the first time since 2003, winning a BCS game for the first time since 2000. It all added up to the most enjoyable season, in my opinion, since 2003. But they didn’t accomplish the primary goal, and Brady Hoke isn’t about to rest on his laurels. Neither will his team.
I read recently the opinion that, years down the road, younger generations will remember the 2011 season the way the greybeards fondly recall Bo Schembechler’s inaugural season in 1969. We’ll look back and say that 2011 was the year that Michigan restored itself as a national powerhouse, a school as rich in current success as in its history. Brady Hoke and Team 132 brought Michigan back from lowest depths the school has ever seen, and there are no finer examples of Bo’s lasting axiom than the seniors whose leadership provided the foundation for this memorable season. 
Those seniors, who overcame multiple coaching changes, a litany of player departures, losing records, bowl-less seasons and endless turmoil, proved once again:
Those Who Stay Will Be [Sugar Bowl] Champions!
