What a familiar position this is. Michigan ekes out a victory over an inferior opponent. Glass half-empty fanbase revolts and calls the season over. Glass half-full fanbase finds a list of excuses why the poor performance was the exception not the norm. Michigan goes to Wisconsin and gets boat raced.
The first half wasn’t particularly pretty, but it was dominant for the Wolverines. A jugular-seeking pass came up just short of making it a three-touchdown lead, followed by an incompletion and stuffed run that had Michigan settling for a field goal as the first half ended. That little victory was taken in to the halftime locker room where apparently Greg Schiano molded it into what must have been the most motivating speech any Scarlett Knight has ever heard.
The Wolverines were dominated in Ohio State like fashion in that second half, just clinging to the lead they had built to the very end. The blame lay mostly at the hands of a suddenly inept offense, unable to run, and just missing passes. Big Play Michigan took the week off. Road-grader Michigan took the week off. The only piece that remained was a defense that was asked again and again to save them from themselves. Put in the worst position possible at every turn, they delivered a season saving bend-don’t-break performance. In the absence of everything else, and in the face of every notable statistic going in the favor of Rutgers, the defense held off the Scarlett Knights, finally forcing a turnover to seal it in the waning moments.
Not the team we saw for three weeks. Not the comfort we had almost gotten used to. This was ‘20 or maybe ‘19, or ‘18 or ‘17. A regression at best, a panic-inducing collapse at worst. Perhaps “they are who we thought they were,” and next week will be when the bell tolls.
But I’m still here.
Go Blue!
