Most important Michigan win over Ohio State since I have been following the program (1967). For several reasons:
1) Both teams unbeaten heading into the game. Rare. Last year, 2006, 1970 and 1973. We lost in 1970 and 2006, tied in 1973, and won last year.
2) As this is the final year of the four-team playoff, the next time both teams meet as unbeaten teams the loser will be assured s spot in the 12-team playoff. So the importance of this game will have more to do with seeding than being a do-or-die situation where the loser goes home. Plus, next year the loser could well face the winner again the following week in the Big Ten title game.
3) The 2022 game was not as consequential as the loser still managed to sneak into the playoffs. That won’t happen this year.
4) The Michigan wins in 1969 and 2021 were monumental in terms of changing program momentum and starting new eras of Michigan football, but neither team was unbeaten heading into the game and were national title long shots at best.
5) The 1997 Michigan co-national champion team beat an already once beaten Ohio State team. They then went on to beat a not so great Washington State game in the Rose Bowl. Great accomplishment and all. But let’s be honest. Their path to the national title was far easier than it would be this year. More analogous to BYU beating Bo’s worst team (6-6) in the Holiday Bowl to win the national title back in the 80s. Also, that 1997 title was a split VOTE. In other words, a mythical national title, not one won in an actual title game.
6) The surrounding circumstances of the sign-gate scandal. Losing the game would be used by Michigan detractors to claim that the first two wins were illegitimate, even if blatantly false. And the likelihood that the evidence dropped into the NCAA’s lap came from an investigation started by Ryan Day made this game all the more personal.
7) No more Ohio State excuses. No flu. No bad weather. No sign stealing. For the guy born on third base-strike three and you are out. Three straight wins is a trend. And it goes a long ways in erasing the stench of the losses incurred to those cheaters the first two decades of this century.
So here we are, the conquering heroes. And it feels great. Really great. Soak up the moment. Enjoy it. From a purely subjective this win, in snd of itself, will be more satisfying than any future win. Even if we win the national title. The Ohio State game has always been very personal. But this year, more personal than ever before. Don’t mess with Michigan.
But being the fans that we are, we want more. Which is only normal, as the team has goals it had yet to reach. So onwards we all march, to the Big Ten title and then hopefully two more wins in the playoffs.
Strangely enough, at this moment, for (mostly better or for worse, I feel a bit frozen in time. On several fronts:
1) Both teams unbeaten heading into the game. Rare. Last year, 2006, 1970 and 1973. We lost in 1970 and 2006, tied in 1973, and won last year.
2) As this is the final year of the four-team playoff, the next time both teams meet as unbeaten teams the loser will be assured s spot in the 12-team playoff. So the importance of this game will have more to do with seeding than being a do-or-die situation where the loser goes home. Plus, next year the loser could well face the winner again the following week in the Big Ten title game.
3) The 2022 game was not as consequential as the loser still managed to sneak into the playoffs. That won’t happen this year.
4) The Michigan wins in 1969 and 2021 were monumental in terms of changing program momentum and starting new eras of Michigan football, but neither team was unbeaten heading into the game and were national title long shots at best.
5) The 1997 Michigan co-national champion team beat an already once beaten Ohio State team. They then went on to beat a not so great Washington State game in the Rose Bowl. Great accomplishment and all. But let’s be honest. Their path to the national title was far easier than it would be this year. More analogous to BYU beating Bo’s worst team (6-6) in the Holiday Bowl to win the national title back in the 80s. Also, that 1997 title was a split VOTE. In other words, a mythical national title, not one won in an actual title game.
6) The surrounding circumstances of the sign-gate scandal. Losing the game would be used by Michigan detractors to claim that the first two wins were illegitimate, even if blatantly false. And the likelihood that the evidence dropped into the NCAA’s lap came from an investigation started by Ryan Day made this game all the more personal.
7) No more Ohio State excuses. No flu. No bad weather. No sign stealing. For the guy born on third base-strike three and you are out. Three straight wins is a trend. And it goes a long ways in erasing the stench of the losses incurred to those cheaters the first two decades of this century.
So here we are, the conquering heroes. And it feels great. Really great. Soak up the moment. Enjoy it. From a purely subjective this win, in snd of itself, will be more satisfying than any future win. Even if we win the national title. The Ohio State game has always been very personal. But this year, more personal than ever before. Don’t mess with Michigan.
But being the fans that we are, we want more. Which is only normal, as the team has goals it had yet to reach. So onwards we all march, to the Big Ten title and then hopefully two more wins in the playoffs.
Strangely enough, at this moment, for (mostly better or for worse, I feel a bit frozen in time. On several fronts:
- Iowa game: This is a trap game. Make no mistake about it. Hopefully the lessons learned from TCU will empower this team to handle business on Saturday. They will need to. There is no way they will go into the game with the emotional high they had against Ohio State. The good news is that they won’t need to in order to beat Iowa. They just need to play mistake-free and take care of business.
- Recruiting: Well, to be honest up until this past weekend recruiting seemed frozen in time since before the season. With the exception of our 2025 QB recruit. Especially with no visitors the first three weeks, Harbaugh yet to sign an extension, the 2024 class being pretty much filled, our NIL policy and finally, of course, sign-gate. The ongoing investigations, of course, created a sense of existential risk far greater for fans to worry over than the mundanities of trying to figure out where a 17-year old would attend college. A ton of prospects are hyped after the game. Now it is time to get closure in sign-gate (good that expedited) and get Jim signed so that we can start closing on recruits.
- Cheeseburgergate, Sign-gate and Jim signing a new contract. I am lumping these together. Each one, in and of itself, may only cause collateral damage. But taken together it makes it tough to move ahead with recruiting and the portal.
- NIL/Transfer Portal/Player Retention. All are intertwined with one another and point 3. If no NIL to high school recruits we had better be putting together great NIL packages for transfers and retaining kids with our “one more year” funds. The proof will be in the pudding the next two months. The portal opens next week. The balancing act that Michigan faces is that a lot of kids will not be making public decisions about declaring for the NFL or transferring until after our season ends, which likely not be until January. So the coaching staff will need to gave a lot of private conversations with those who move on to get a lay of the land in order to better address portal needs/strategy. And of course the biggest wildcard of all is Jim. If he was to win a national title, I would not be surprised to see him move on. The good news is that the heir apparent has been identified, so it could be a relatively seamless transition.
