Where Do We Go From Here?

Let's start with doing the right thing. Congratulations to Michigan State and its fans. You were the better team this year and you got a well deserved win. That's it. No back-handed compliment, no vows of revenge, no warnings for the future. Just a simple nod of congratulations. See you next October.

It was a strange feeling last night to realize that for the first time in my life, I want a Michigan season to be over. I never have felt this way before. The end of the season always meant the longest period of waiting for a new season to start. But this year, I'm just looking at the last four games and waiting for the conclusion. It's a strange feeling, because I refuse to give up on the season, but I also don't know how much more of this season I can take.

I don't know what else to say. In each of Michigan's last three Big Ten games, Michigan has taken a lead, only to see the opponent roar back with a metric ton of unanswered points. The defense, which was bend, but don't break, is not giving up massive plays, particularly on third and long. The offense is maddeningly inconsistent, which I will attribute to the youth and inexperience of the starters, but even still, it just boggles the mind to see things happen that you just know aren't right.

But, what are we to do? We can't make them play better? We cannot urge them on to anything more than what they do already. We can't tell them to practice harder, or to "make plays". We're kind of stuck here. But we are here. We're here because we choose to be here. Because we have committed ourselves to something larger than ourselves, rain or shine. We're here because in the dark, we learn who we truly are as fans. We're reminded how much certain other segments of the college football world holds us in disdain for who we are and revels in our failure. But mostly we're here because it's where we need to be.

So, where do we go from here? We sit, we wait, we hope, and we're reminded that sometime next August, we'll be 0-0 again, and a new season will await. But until then, we're sitting here, cold, wet, and angry, but here.