This Tornado Loves You

All three phases (Tommy Gilligan, USA Today Sports)

Carved your name across three counties

Ground it in with bloody hides

Their broken necks will line the ditch

'Til you stop it, stop it

Stop this madness

I want you

I have waited with a glacier's patience

Smashed every transformer with every trailer

'Til nothing was standing

65 miles wide

Still you are nowhere

Still you are nowhere

Nowhere in sight

Come out to meet me

Run out to meet me

Come into the light

--"This Tornado Loves You" by Neko Case from her 2009 album Middle Cyclone 

To be fair, the game before The Game has, during the Harbaugh era, has a tendency to get stupid.  Let us consider:
2015-at Penn State (Happy Valley is never easy)
2016-Indiana (the Snow Game)
2017-at Wisconsin (Peters injured, no flag)
2018-Indiana (Winovich and Gary injured, six field goals)
2019-at Indiana (early struggle with Indiana before pouring it on...)
2021-at Maryland (well...)

So, in the third quarter, when Maryland put together a four minute-ish, 79-yard drive to bring it back to 31-10, it was something where that sliver of doubt could creep back into one's mind.  Then this happened.

4:38, 3Q: @AJHenning3 81-yard kick return TD
1:23, 3Q: @DEdwards__ 77-yard receiving TD
:34, 3Q: @djturner_5 42-yard Pick-6

Relive @UMichFootball's prolific every-phase scoring spree to close out the 3Q ⤵️. pic.twitter.com/XZvBb2qBVd

— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) November 21, 2021

Yes, Maryland had a lightning drive and two-point conversion to bring it back to within 20, but Donovan Edwards reminded all of us that wheel routes remain undefeated.  Edwards had a huge day playing the Blake Corum role, catching virtually everything out of the backfield and making hay with it.  It was delightful.  A DJ Turner pick-six that Maryland gave up on because they thought he stepped out of bounds was essentially all there needed to be.  Backups got in, JJ got a rushing touchdown, and Michigan rolled to a 59-18 win.  It was the least stressful game before The Game of the Harbaugh era by a wide margin.

Ten wins in a season when 7-5 seemed to be "optimistic" by some is remarkable.  Thanks to Ohio State's demolition of Michigan State at the Horseshoe before Michigan played, we now know that The Game will be, for the third time since 2015, for the Big Ten East crown.  It will be the first time that Michigan has had this opportunity at home.  Michigan looks as good as it has all year, though, as anyone on Michigan Twitter is happy to tell you, there are plenty of flaws that Ohio State's death machine of an offense will be happy to exploit.  It would be easy to say right now that it feels different, that there's something different about this team, about this moment, that this will be the year, but that's just the hope talking, and well...

because

But hope is better than despair.  As we head into Thanksgiving week, we can be grateful that there's at least a moment for all of us who love this team and believe in this team that they can do it next weekend.  But for now, I will appreciate a Michigan team that was interesting, fascinating, and for much of today, supremely fun to watch.

Beat Ohio.