Going Nowhere

Hey, the band's still good! (Michigan Athletics)

Here am I, going nowhere on a train

Here am I, growing older in the rain

--"Going Nowhere," by Oasis, the B-Side to the 1998 single "Stand By Me" 

It is an old but somehow familiar feeling that I had heading into this past weekend's Michigan football game against #1 in the nation, the Ducks of Oregon. It had been admittedly several years since I walked into Michigan Stadium and thought, "OK, let's just keep it close. Maybe some weird things happen, and we're in it." Then I found out Michigan was down both of its starting cornerbacks and well, there went that.

It was so academic that the lighter turnout in the student section had me checking my CFB scores app frequently to see what was actually happening in Georgia/Florida. I watched Indiana roar back on MSU with 47 unanswered points, knowing that Michigan is heading to Bloomington next week.

Some interesting things did happen in this game.  Interesting doesn't always mean good, but Michigan getting a muffed punt turned into excellent field position to score was certainly interesting.  The Big Ten not reviewing Oregon's first touchdown was certainly interesting.  The fourth down call that ended up with Semaj Morgan throwing a pass to Alex Orji, where Orji ended up running into a CBS camera, was certainly interesting.  But mostly, this looked pretty much like what anyone who had been watching this team all year expected, disorganized and disjointed offensive play calling, defensive choices that allowed busts to happen, and the best team in the country looking like it when it counted.  (I don't mind the last Oregon touchdown.  Perception matters to the committee, and a three-score win looks better than a two-score win.  Besides, Michigan should have stopped them if they didn't want them to score.)

The Washington game gave Michigan the benefit of shattering anyone's illusions about this year's team, and for that, I am grateful.  I do wonder what Michigan would have done against Indiana's schedule to this point, probably 7-2, potentially flipping the MSU and Washington results due to venue, but you play the schedule that the league assigns you (or that your athletic department sets up to try and make for interesting non-conference games that aren't just G5 games.)  Indiana has done virtually everything right this year and has shown one very powerful thing, you can bring a winning culture in with the portal.  Michigan's transition costs from Harbaugh and from winning the national championship were very high, but I think fans would accept the results every time.  (A slightly buzzed Ducks fan leaving Section 7 gave me a pat on the shoulder and said, "You won the national title last year, man.  Someone asked me how long I would be willing to suck to win a Natty, and I said, 'Fifteen years.' so this is nothing, man."  Oregon fans were, by and large, boisterous and positive, and I did not really encounter any jerk behavior on their part.)

If the viewing experience has gotten worse at Michigan Stadium this year, it's because I've been surrounded by more buzzed or drunk fans than at any point in my life.  It's not my place to say Michigan shouldn't have introduced this lucrative revenue stream to the Big House, but it's been kind of a bummer to have folks just saying whatever comes to their mind and expect you to have a full-on conversation with them during game action.  But I am an old man and just one season ticket holder, so my voice will not matter that much.

They're off to Indiana to see what happens next.

Tales from the Spreadsheet

• 38-17 is a Scorigami (meaning in Rodger Sherman parlance, this was a Fetty Wapping, though not a true one because Michigan was the home team.  However, on the Michigan Stadium scorebug, it was, so your mileage may vary.)
• 110,576 were in attendance (the 98th-largest crowd in Michigan Stadium history.)
  
  
• Michigan moves to 3-3-0 all-time against the University of Oregon.
• Michigan moves to 13-3-2 all-time on November 2 (the previous November 2 losses were to Yale in the disastrous 1881 season and to Michigan State in EL in 2013, where Brady Hoke famously said he would have a good assessment of what this team was like...after Week 10.)
  
  
• Michigan moves to 18-17-2 when scoring exactly 17 points.
• Michigan moves to 0-8 all-time when allowing 38 points to the opposition (hey, remember the last time Indiana beat Michigan. Yeah, that was 38-21).
• Michigan has lost 7 games all-time by precisely 21 points, most recently, the 2019 Wisconsin game, where things just felt completely and totally out of sorts.
• Michigan has now played 22 games against AP #1 at the kickoff (the first was Northwestern in 1936? OK, who knew? Anyway...). Michigan is now 3-18-1 in those games. Their first-ever win over AP #1 at the time of kick was the 1969 Ohio State game. They also beat #1 Notre Dame in 1981 and #1 Miami in 1984. The most recent game against #1 at kick was 2019 Ohio State, and I don't want to think about it.)