Undertow

The buffs look good on Barrett.  Oh, hey, Denard! (Michigan Athletics)

I know what I wanted
I know what I wanted
I know how I wanted this to be

You go down to the water
Drink down of the water
Walk up off the water, leave it be

This is not my time, sister
It is cold in heaven
And I'm not sprouting wings

I'm drowning
Me
I'm drowning
Me, yeah

"Undertow" by R.E.M. from the band's 1996 album New Adventures in Hi-Fi 

OK, this one's on me.  I picked the white #23 jersey to wear for this game.  A 2003 vintage Chris Perry, it's one of my newer additions to the collection, but I thought getting "Perry with the carry" vibes would be good against Rutgers, which, if it can do anything (beyond make things exceedingly annoying for other teams with their "hard hitting" and "Schiano manning") it is defending the run.  And things felt pedestrian when Michigan moved the ball down the field with relative ease on the first drive, though the red zone struggles seemed to be rearing their head again until Blake Corum's fourth try to get over the goal line to go up 7-0.  It's just...Michigan has punted so little over the last few weeks that Michael Barrett might have forgotten that he is Brad Robbins' personal protector and Michigan had a rare special teams mistake under Jay Harbaugh. Suddenly, it was 7-7.  Thanks to a short field from a Rutgers' surprise onside kick, Michigan used a short field to drive down the field thanks to a quick 43-yard run by Corum, but again, stalling inside the one-yard line but finally getting JJ over the goal line to make it 14-7 Michigan. 

The second quarter was utterly forgettable, like so many second quarters of recent vintage, including seeing Jake Moody miss two fifty-yard field goal attempts thanks to some tricky winds in the warm New Jersey evening.  So yeah, bad vibes going into the locker room for a third straight week.  But Michigan has been a second half team the last few weeks, so perhaps things would right themselves.  That's when I swapped out the #23 for a 2004 vintage #1 Braylon Edwards; you've got to change up the vibes.

Anyway, after ten minutes of the third quarter, Michigan's current #23 Michael Barrett had two picks, including his first-ever pick six at any level, and had a 35-17 lead.  They never looked back.  Will Johnson got his first career pick two series later, Michigan cashed in another touchdown on it, Jake Moody got a field goal that helped remind folks he's money. One more touchdown from the backups and the 52-17 scoreline looks like what was expected, though not the method of arrival.

Rutgers games are always annoying, especially the last three, but in the end, coming out of each with a different kind of win.  A comeback in triple OT in 2020, a hold on for dear life second half in 2021, and now this slow start, fast finish.  Rutgers can do some things well.  They might continue to get better, especially if the Big Ten moves away from divisions and they no longer have to face all of the top teams in the league every year.  But for now, it isn't enough.

The last time Michigan was 9-0, it was on the literal exact same calendar date in 2016.   Every game date, including the bye week, lines up.  Which would make me a little nervous if we were off to Iowa next week.  But instead, Nebraska comes to town as a massive underdog, so hopefully, Michigan can keep handling its business and take advantage of the chaos that happened elsewhere in college football yesterday at the top.

Michigan Spreadsheet Notes
Win 0985
52-17 score, not a Scoragami.  2nd time, previously against Minnesota in 1995.

Attendance 51,117, which is interesting because it exactly matches the attendance at Michigan Stadium on November 16, 1968, when Michigan was also AP #4.  (Oh, and that's the Ron Johnson single-game rushing record game, 347 yards on 31 carries, or 11.2 yards per carry, and 5 TDs.)

Michigan's all-time record against Rutgers moves to 9-1 (9 straight wins).

Michigan moves to 15-3 on November 5th, all-time.  The previous 11/5 game was 59-3 win over Maryland in 2016.
Michigan moves to 11-0 when scoring exactly 52 points.

Michigan moves to 35-16-2 when allowing their opponent exactly 17 points.

Talk About the Passion

When afforded the opportunity to hit the Paul, one must hit the Paul.  (Isaiah Hole)

Empty prayer, empty mouths combien reaction
Empty prayer, empty mouths talk about the passion
Combien, combien, combien de temps?

Talk about the passion
Talk about the passion

--"Talk About The Passion" by R.E.M. from their 1983 debut album Murmur 

I should like this game more than I do.  I did deeply enjoy the era of assured certainty of the late Carr era, where Michigan would show up and beat Michigan State. Even as Michigan was lost in the desert during the Dantonio era, there was this certainty of dumb things happening to Michigan.  But this entire week felt like a full Kobayashi Maru.  If Michigan wins in anything other than blowout fashion, it will be an indictment of the season, to say nothing of the reaction if, once again, an unranked Michigan State finds a way to spoil a Michigan season in the name of making their own.  

So yes, please forgive me if the first quarter felt frustrating.  Even if one intellectually knew that Michigan State could not keep just throwing up long jump balls and scoring, well, it worked in 2020, so yeah.  But the reality settled in that even if Michigan could move the ball to the Spartan five, they just couldn't get in the end zone.  But, thankfully, Jake Moody remains money, and it was 13-7 at the half.

The underappreciated genius of Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards is that they echo Mike Hart's running style without copying it.  They find the holes, they fall forward for the extra yards, and they do more, but they don't make it look difficult.  When the running game is clicking, it's not necessarily an exciting brand, even if Corum and Edwards were both averaging over five yards every time they touched the ball without a bunch of explosive plays.  In the larger view, the only reason that this didn't feel better was that Jake Moody had five field goals instead of, say three field goals and two Michigan touchdowns in their stead.  37-3 would be much more indicative of what the offense was doing outside the red zone than what they were doing inside the red zone.  I suppose that is a credit to the Michigan State defense.

The final analysis of this game is that Michigan won by nearly exactly the margin they were expected by Vegas to win by and has reclaimed Paul.  Michigan has a win over every Big Ten team in their most recent match-up.

Michigan Spreadsheet Notes:
Win 0984
29-7 score, not a Scoragami.  4th time, previously against Indiana last year.
Win 450 at Michigan Stadium (in 600 games)

Attendance 111,083, the 65th largest crowd in Michigan Stadium history

All-time record against Michigan State/MAC moves to 72-38-5

Michigan moves to 14-5 on October 29th, all-time.  The previous 10/29 game was 32-23 win over MSU in 2016
Michigan moves to 16-2 when scoring exactly 29 points

Michigan moves to 107-13-4 when allowing their opponent exactly 7 points.

It's Rutgers week.  Steel yourself accordingly.

Crush With Eyeliner

It wasn't the moment that Michigan fans stopped worrying, but it was the moment Michigan fans at least allowed themselves to consider the possibility of stopping. (Patrick Barron)

I'm in like

I'm infatuated

It's all too much, the pressure

She's all that I can take

What position should I wear?

Cop an attitude? (you fake her)

How can I convince her? (fake her)

That I'm invented too, yeah

I am smitten

I'm the real thing (I'm the real thing)

We all invent ourselves

And, uh, you know me    

--"Crush With Eyeliner" by R.E.M. from their 1994 album Monster 

By coincidence, well, and the way the calendar lines up, today marked the third time that Michigan had faced off with Penn State on October 15.  The first was in 1994, just a few weeks after the release of Monster, R.E.M.'s "back to basics" rock album, when #5 Michigan faced off against the #3 Nittany Lions in Ann Arbor just three weeks after "The Miracle at Michigan".  Penn State was facing a lot of skepticism about their weak early schedule but came out and posted a 16-3 halftime lead, only to see Michigan race back to tie the game twice, only to pull it out in the end.  I distinctly remember this was also the night of my junior year Homecoming Dance and I kept checking in on the game at the bar in the restaurant, which was fine because my date was also a fellow future Wolverine and wanted to know what was happening.  

The second was 2005 when Michigan was 3-3, having alternated wins and losses to start the season took down a #8 Penn State squad at the Big House on "Touchdown Manningham" an improbable win during "The Season of Infinite Pain" that meant Michigan had won seven straight in the series, a run that began on Judgment Day in 1997.  

History isn't instructive in college football, as much as we like to celebrate it.  So none of these things that had happened before mattered as we came into today.  A Maize Out to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the beloved 1997 National Championship team, a 6-0 Michigan team, said by some around the country to be untested, against a 5-0 Penn State team.  Big Noon Saturday...again.  All the making of a classic.  Except, it really wasn't.

Michigan could clearly move the ball early on, eating up most of the first quarter on an 11-play, 64-yard field goal drive and a 13-play, 77-yard field goal drive sandwiched around a three and out for Penn State.  It would have been great to finish those drives with touchdowns, which Michigan got after another three and out and a 13-play, 70 yard touchdown drive, it felt like Michigan had things well in hand, especially when it looked like Michigan's defense had stopped the Penn State rusher in the backfield, only for the entire stadium to discover that Sean Clifford still had the ball and ran for 62 yards to set up a Penn State score.  

OK, no problem, just keep moving the ball, that was a fluke, the defense has this in hand...and then a double helmet bounce pick six and Penn State has the lead and nothing makes sense.  Michigan did go down and get a field goal on another 11 play drive to go into halftime with the lead, but a game that could have easily been 28-0 was 16-14 and it just felt bad.  Penn State had 14 points on 14 first half plays.  Michigan fans aren't always great about being rational even with a lead.

Penn State went down and finally put a drive together, using a 48-yard pass to get into field goal range, but no more.  Now Penn State has the lead and everything feels...oh wait, Donovan Edwards just exploded for a 67-yard touchdown run that included a spectacular freezing of the final defender to beat and with a two-point conversion by Ronnie Bell, Michigan was up 7.  And while Penn State went for it on fourth and six (after the entire stadium sang "Mr. Brightside") only to give the ball back to Michigan, Blake Corum decided to make sure the Heisman talk was still coming this week with an explosive 61-yard TD run of his own to put Michigan up 14 and never looked back.  Michigan scored 25 straight points after Penn State took the lead, never looked back, and moved to 7-0.  

Bye weeks are always better when you're coming off a win. Michigan State in two weeks, on Halloween weekend.  We can dare to start dreaming again, because we all invent ourselves and, uh, you know me.

Finest Worksong

J.J. went for 300+ thanks to a very good second half. (Patrick Barron)

The time to rise has been engaged

You're better best to rearrange

I'm talkin' here to me alone

I listen to the finest worksong

Your finest hour

Your finest hour
--"Finest Worksong" by R.E.M. from their 1987 album Document

Resolved: Indiana games are always dumb.

The first half certainly felt like it would be one of those games.  

(I have to be honest here, I have started and stopped writing this one several times, mostly because I really just want Mike Hart to be OK.  I am encouraged by the reports out of Bloomington, and I am hopeful that the medical professionals were able to get to the bottom of what caused him to collapse on the sideline.  So I mostly wanted to acknowledge this before I started talking about the game because it just felt like it needed to be said.)

After another expert opening drive, Michigan just felt like it couldn't get its act together on offense and was struggling with Indiana's tempo on defense.  But all of the elements that Indiana was able to use to get their touchdown drive were not replicable, as Ace Anbender pointed out on Twitter at the moment.  Not that this felt better in the first half.  In a week where a Big Ten Network viral promo had James Franklin telling us that penalties are the most overrated stat, the officiating crew decided to test that thesis on Penn State's next opponent since the Nittany Lions were off this week.  A matched pair of blocked kicks on field goals and it was 10-10 in the locker room.

Jim Harbaugh said he challenged his team to play their best half of football in the second half, their finest hour, if you will.  And they did just that.  The 98-yard touchdown drive started off feeling bad with Cornelius Johnson letting a sure touchdown slip through his hands, only to redeem it by cashing in for the go-ahead score.  Two more touchdowns and a pass rush that seemingly made Indiana question whether the legalization of the forward pass was in fact wise and Michigan got out of Bloomington with a three-score win.

Indiana games are always dumb, but for another season, it's over.

Living Well is the Best Revenge

Mike Morris decided to end the game himself, and not a moment too soon.  (Patrick Barron | Shop)

Don't turn your talking points on me
History will set me free
The future's ours and you don't even rate a footnote now
So who's chasing you? Where did you go?
You disappeared mid-sentence
In a judgment crisis I see my anecdote for it
You weakened shell

All your sad and lost apostles
Hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you toss to them
Well I'm not one to sit and spin
'Cause living well's the best revenge
Baby, I am calling you on that

--"Living Well is the Best Revenge" by R.E.M. from their 2008 album Accelerate 

Feelingsball is a bad way to coach, but it is supremely the way that many of us consume football.  Michigan never fell below a 90% win expectancy at any point in the second half, but after Iowa scored to make it 20-7, and Michigan went three and out after Blake Corum slammed into a fierce Iowa goalline defense on a third and one at the Michigan 33, it was starting to feel dicey.  It was not dicey, but the specters of Kinnick past lingers, even if they were not able to be seen.  Even though Brad Robbins boomed a 50-yard punt to put Iowa behind their own twenty-yard line, things did not feel good.

They had felt good early.  Michigan looked like it was running a clinic on the opening drive, 11 plays, 75 yards, 5 minutes, and a Ronnie Bell run for a touchdown.  Michigan wanted to put pressure on Iowa's offense that an early score would help facilitate that exact notion.  While Michigan would get a pair of Jake Moody field goals to go up 13-0 at the half, even with Iowa's documented offensive difficulties, it still did feel like more was needed.  So, after the beautiful JJ rollout right to Donovan Edwards on the angle route to make it 20-0, it felt like Michigan just needed one more drive to salt things away.  About that.

After the Robbins punt, Iowa proceeded to, in defiance of history and precedent, move the ball down the field.  The first touchdown could be explained away by the short field generated from the backward pass McCarthy threw, and Donovan Edwards covered for a loss, but not a turnover.  But now, Spencer Petras is actually hitting guys, Michigan's tackling is leaving something to be desired, and while it's taking some time, Iowa has fourth and two on the Michigan six...this is it, this is the play that will...and Iowa throws short of the sticks and commits offensive pass interference all at the same time.  Michigan gets the ball back, and Iowa is still down 20-7.  Michigan did go three and out again after this, but another Brad Robbins bomb, this one for 51 yards, and with four minutes left, Iowa still needed two scores.

That was when the defensive line decided to make the Iowa offense pay for its sins on the day and exorcised so many of the ghosts of Iowa City.  Mike Morris on first and second down brought the heat, leaving Iowa to face 3rd and 19 when Taylor Upshaw and Eyabi Okie teamed up for another five-yard sack and then Okie with a QB pressure on fourth down.  Michigan only held the ball for three plays on the next drive as well, but this time it was because Blake Corum shimmied and shook an All-America linebacker out of position for a touchdown to make it 27-7.  While Iowa would get a cosmetic score late against a very soft bit of coverage by Michigan, a top five maize and blue squad escaped Iowa City with a win to move to 5-0 for the second straight year, the first time since (checks notes) 2010-2011.  (Wait, really?  Yes.  Really.)

The fears in the game came from a storyline and the fears of what happened the last time Michigan visited Iowa City, in what felt like a lifetime ago.  But Kinnick is in the rearview and Michigan moves ahead to play at Bloomington next week with bowl eligibility possible with a win.  As Harbaugh said in his presser, the only way to get to 6-0 is to get to 5-0, so we'll see what happens next.

(Don't Go Back to) Rockville

Blake Corum found holes and ran through them with purpose. (Patrick Barron | shop)

"It's not as though I really need you

If you were here, I'd only bleed you

But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down

And that's not how it ought to be

I know it might sound strange but I believe

You'll be coming back before too long."

--"(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" by R.E.M., from their 1984 album Reckoning 

"(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" is, at its core, about Mike Mills catastrophizing what would happen if his then-girlfriend went back to Maryland for the summer, despite knowing nothing about Rockville at all.  It is not a perfectly apt metaphor for yesterday's game, but it's a starting place.

Maryland checked in today at 30th in Bill Connolly's SP+ ($), which does have some pre-season expectations still baked into it, but reminds us that it's a major step up from playing the 125th, 127th, and 129th teams in that same ranking.  (By the way, Iowa checks in at 27 if you're wondering about next week.)  It was known that Maryland had some talented skill players, but it was also known that Maryland frequently played highly undisciplined football.

About that...

I do not believe I have ever seen a football game, at any level, with just two accepted penalties for the entire game.  Now, one can say that this evens out in the end, that if it's not a penalty disparity, then no one benefits, but given how Maryland was making effective use of some holds and coverages, perhaps not.  Then again, Michigan benefitted from a seeming unwillingness to review interceptions, so perhaps it all comes out in the wash.

But if this is about kids from Maryland who go to college out of state, then this is really about Blake Corum and the possibilities of Blake Corum.  It was thought that Michigan would sorely miss the sheer legs churning yardage generation of Hassan Haskins, and rightfully so; Haskins was a rare combination of power and deftness that got yards in the toughest situations.  But to look at Blake Corum is to see a legit muscleball who has an extra gear in the open field, if he can find daylight. Thankfully, for any of the missed downfield passes or excruciating fumbles by Michigan, Corum's two big runs on short yardage, on a fourth and one hurry up at the line, and on a third and four after a time out, made most of the difference, but more importantly, Corum carried the load, Chris Perry style, with 30 carries for 243 yards, the most by a Michigan running back since Biakabatuka dialed 313 against Ohio State in 1995.  Blake Corum was the difference in a game where his being the difference was palpable.  Maryland might still be better than people think; only time will tell.

In many ways, this game was a spiritual cousin to last year's Big Ten opener against Rutgers.  Michigan was a little more tested by a conference foe than it had been, by and large, in its non-conference schedule.  There are plenty of things to clean up, to work on, to improve upon, but as I was reminded on Twitter this morning, it's way more fun to do that when you're 4-0 than coming off a loss.

Michigan will need to be much cleaner on offense next week as they head to Iowa City. where they are 1-5 in their last six games there, but this will be a strength on strength game.  We'll see if Michigan can get the win or waste another year.

Life and How to Live It

A lovely view of the weekend house.  (Zach Shaw)

Raise the walls and shout its flaws, a carpenter should rest

So that when you tire of one side the other serves you best

Read about the wisdom lost, a knock, a knock, a knock

A secret knock one hammer's locked the other wisdom lost

--"Life and How to Live It" by R.E.M. from their 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction

Leon Franklin scored a touchdown today.

Yes, the touchdown made the game 58-0 in the fourth quarter, but consider this: In the 1,365 games in Michigan football history, there have been 34,781 points scored by Michigan all-time.  Leon Franklin is responsible for six of those; no one can ever take that away from him.

Leon Franklin is a senior who lettered last year and had been a special teamer.  He played at Southfield A&T and had a touchdown against NIU called back last year.  He's a Computer Science major, and now, Leon Franklin joins the hundreds of other Michigan football players who scored a touchdown in their career.

I love this for him.  I love today for every Michigan player on the roster who got to see game action today because Michigan's starters handled their business.  Because Michigan's special teams handled their business with a punt block and a punt return touchdown.  Because Michigan knew the assignment and crossed all the ts and dotted all the is.

Michigan player participation neared 100 players today, including having seven different Michigan players attempt at least one pass (Connecticut completed five total.)  All of those players who spend so much time in practice, studying film, and being a student, got to get into the game today.  Some of these guys will forever be to point to a moment in a video to their kids and their grandkids and show them that they played at Michigan.  I think that's pretty great for them.

It is remarkable in its own way that in a game where Blake Corum tied the Michigan record for rushing touchdowns in a game with five, it was not, at all, the Blake Corum game.  Blake Corum was just the closer.  Another case of doing exactly what was needed at the moment.  It was a day where sure, let's let Jake Moody try a sixty-two yard field goal at the end of the half that would have sent the Big House into pandemonium had it hit, but alas.  

The Big Ten conference slate looms, starting with Maryland for Homecoming next weekend.  But for now, let us celebrate three straight games of over 50 points for Michigan and the simple joy that Leon Franklin scored a touchdown.

I'll Take The Rain

"A Tale of Two Post-Game Moods" by Patrick Barron
(Patrick does phenomenal work and you should consider going to his online store and buying some of his excellent nature photography as well.)

I used to think

As birds take wing

They sing through life, so why cant we?

You cling to this

You claim your best

If this is what you're offering

I'll take the rain

I'll take the rain

I'll take the rain

The night time creases

Summer schemes

And stretches out to stay

The sun shines down

You came around

You love easy days

-- "I'll Take the Rain," from R.E.M.'s 2001 album Reveal

A 46-point win that was where Vegas opened the line last week doesn't really have a lot to say about it in the long view.  Hawai'i looks like an improved team from their first two games, which is good, and best of luck to Timmy Chang as he rebuilds the ash heap that Todd Graham left in his wake on Oahu.  It was nice to see Ronnie Bell get into the end zone again after a year away due to the injury, but all in all, it was just a little bit of a strange evening where kickoff came at 9:00 PM, with no MMB pre-game, no touch the banner, but the dispatch of another G5 team that wrapped up just after midnight.

Instead, I wanted to talk about the weirdness of feeling like one needed to have a preference of Cade or JJ in the battle for starting quarterback.  I understand "the choosing" aspect of it; when offered two options, as humans we're going to gravitate toward one or the other for reasons.  Many times in life, the choice of two options is so obvious that we don't even see it as a choice or as something that needs to be decided.  But in many cases, where both options have their merits and deficits, there's a feeling that one needs to render a decision and back up one's opinion with evidence.

I genuinely do not have a preference in the quarterback battle for the simple reason that I have no control over it.  I certainly have sympathy and empathy for Cade McNamara, knowing that he did everything he was asked to do last year as the starter and you know, led Michigan to a Big Ten conference championship for the first time in nearly two decades and their first College Football playoff appearance, only to have his role potentially usurped by a younger player, considered by many to be much more talented.  I mean, this literally happened to me at Michigan, and I learned how hard it is to accept what you can't help but see as a demotion.

On the other hand, you cannot help but look at JJ McCarthy on the field and see all of the potential and moments of wonder.  Yes, there were the inexplicable moments, but every quarterback has those when you're looking and watching closely, but the vibes were "This is the guy who can take us higher."  Which, in the back of my mind, was "OK, yes, but I mean, that next leap is a lot."  But I can't blame people for dreaming, especially during this portion of the non-conference schedule this year, when everything feels like it will be supremely easy forever.

What this brings me back to is mostly the idea that one having a preference must, automatically, presume hatred or antipathy for the other choice.  I am struggling to understand the vein of a very toxic fandom that seeks to denigrate Cade simply because he isn't JJ.  He's still a Michigan player; he still has given and is giving his all for Michigan.  Why would we want to make that player, a peer-elected captain, feel like he is unwelcome by people who want Michigan to succeed?  Moreover, strictly pragmatically, we saw in yesterday's Texas game the importance of having a competent, ready-to-go backup on hand.  Even though Texas did not complete the upset of Alabama, they were in that game because Hudson Card made the most of his time under center.

Cade's performance yesterday certainly makes it hard to make the argument for him being the starter, just as Harbaugh noted that McCarthy will start the Connecticut game "on the merit" of his performance last night.  I feel like this team will figure out a way to all pull forward together, and I think it is in the best interests of our own fandom to remind ourselves that we never had any say in the choosing, so let's just enjoy the ride and where it's headed.

We All Go Back To Where We Belong

Jake Moody knows what's up.  (Patrick Barron)

I can taste the ocean on your skin

That is where it all began

We all go back to where we belong

We all go back to where we belong

This really what you want

This really what you want

--"We All Go Back to Where We Belong" by R.E.M., the band's final single from 2011

There is a moment in a season opener at home when you are sitting there, and every possible option is on the table.  Not all of them are as likely as each other, but they all exist on the unfolding horizon.  On a morning where even before noon, one knew it was going to be a hot and humid one in Michigan Stadium, I sat pondering these possibilities when two things struck me.  One, Jake Moody was the last man off the field from warmups, having made sure to do a practice kickoff from each 35-yard line.  There was something routinely mundane in making sure everything was set up the way he wanted it to be.  The second was the wonderfully sonorous voice of Carl Grapentine bidding us good morning and welcoming us to Michigan Stadium and the 143rd season of Michigan football.  Carl's voice was the sign that the off-season was now officially in the rearview, and we're now into the season.  There was a moment of palpable joy in hearing it. 

This was a game that was mathematically, never in doubt, but there are always those moments of trepidation with a new team, and we're also a little out of practice.  So with a quick three and out that featured two drops, and then CSU tempoing and going 25 yards in four plays, all of the dread of every bad thing comes flooding back.  Then Mike Morris made a tackle behind the line, and suddenly Michigan's getting the ball back off a punt, and Roman Wilson said aloha and flew away home to the end zone and Michigan never looked back.  While it wasn't perhaps as crisp and clean on the offensive end, the defense handled its business in a highly efficient and effective way, and the game was never even close to being in doubt.  Cool things happened, DJ Turner's fumble recovery TD, JJ's 20 yard TD scramble, some nice runs by Corum and Edwards.  It was a little of small, nice things.

There isn't much to say about an opener that pretty much goes according to plan.  The new guys looked mostly good, we're still no closer to a decision on the long-term starter at quarterback, and while that may seem trite or like a moment of surrender to the strictures of a column, the reality is, sometimes you do the things that you have loved to do in the past because they remind you of the joys and pains of the past.  

We all go back to where we belong.

Maybe Sparrow

Pictures really are worth a thousand words, sometimes. (Patrick Barron)

Maybe sparrow you should wait

The hawks alight till morning

You'll never pass beyond the gate

If you don't hear my warning

Notes are hung so effortless

With the rise and fall of sparrow's breast

It's a drowning dive and back to the chorus

La di da di da di da

La di da di da di da

Oh my sparrow it's too late

Your body limp beneath my feet

Your dusty eyes cold as clay

You didn't hear my warning

Maybe sparrow it's too late

Moonlight glanced off metal wings

In a thunderstorm above the clouds

The engine hums a sparrow's phrase

For those who cannot hear the words

For those who cannot hear the words

For those who will not hear the words

La di da di da di da

La di da di da di da

--"Maybe Sparrow" by Neko Case from her 2006 album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

There are so many things that one could say about this game but they all come back to one simple truth, Georgia is an excellent football team.  I don't mean excellent in the everyday use of the word; I mean excellent from the Latin meaning "being preeminent."  Georgia defense, which the college football ecosystem spent most of a season calling one of the greatest ever, learned from their mistakes in the SEC Championship Game and played this entire affair like a singular vision of vengeance drove them, Michigan being a mere underboss to get back to the final battle.  Georgia had better athletes across the board, a top-notch game plan, and was crisp in their execution.  You might be able to pull an upset if one of those things isn't firing for your opponent, but when all three hit, it's a long night.

Michigan never quit, though.  They never looked lost or disappointed, or frustrated.  They kept trying, and they were rewarded with a late touchdown.  Perhaps a meaningless cosmetic rearguard action that made the final score look more respectable, but when you realize it was freshman JJ McCarthy finding freshman Andrel Anthony with a critical pass block from freshman Donovan Edwards, the notes of what the future may hold. If nothing else, a small moment of joy for Michigan in a genuinely thorough processing by the Bulldogs.

Many wanted Michigan fans to be sadder about this result than we were, but in the end, nothing of what happened on the last day of 2021 can take away the other joys of 2021.  This team was not supposed to be close to here; their bowl game predictions slated for something earlier in the week in a locale more akin to Nashville.  That it wasn't, that this team slew so many of the dragons that tormented the program and the fanbase, that is the memory of this season.  It may be a new beginning, it may be a one-off, it may be, like much of life in college football's upper-middle-class, a taste of something that may be hard to get back to consistently.  We don't know because the future holds infinite paths, but only one that will become manifest.  But the past is written.  This team will come back to Michigan Stadium in 2031 and celebrate a ten-year reunion, and be applauded by a fanbase that remembers what they did and appreciates it, either for its rarity or as the beginning of something new.

Thank you, Team 142, forever Go Blue.

Calling Cards

Amazingly, all that was needed. (Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News)

"Singing we'll all be together,

Even when we're not together

With our arms around each other,

With our faith still in each other

I've got calling cards

From 20 years ago."

"Calling Cards" by Neko Case from her 2013 album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

Things always look easier in retrospect, because the goal has been accomplished.  Things are only impossible until they are not. It would have been easy to settle in after the back to back offensive plays in the first quarter that saw Blake Corum bust a huge TD run that featured JJ McCarthy getting downfield and throwing a key block and then a picture-perfect halfback pass from Donovan Edwards to a wide-open Roman Wilson, in stride, to put Michigan up 14-0.  Michigan was never in any real danger, mathematically at that point, but that isn't how it felt.

But as much as I would like to memory hole the entire second quarter, with Iowa's field position game going strong, starting Michigan drives on their 8, 3, and 9, this was the moment that sealed that this was going to be different:

Cade is not a scrambler by nature, but he saw nothing but open real estate ahead of him and went for it.  He dove headfirst to make sure his slide wasn't behind the line to gain.  Yes, Michigan would end that sequence with a punt for a touchback, but Cade did enough to flip the field to keep Iowa from playing the field position game for the remainder of the half.

My grandmother, the person who had as much to do with my being a Michigan football fan as anyone, loved to tell me that Michigan was a second-half team.  That probably wasn't specifically true and I was too young to know it was a widely held college football cliché, but I grew up believing it.  But over the last two weeks, Michigan came out of the locker room with specific and significant adjustments to what Iowa was trying to do on offense, but then also came out with a methodical drive, ten plays, 82 yards, five minutes of game time, to go up 21-3.  From that point, virtually everything else was gravy.

The joy in the Michigan fanbase of seeing every lazy narrative about Michigan football and about Jim Harbaugh's Michigan football teams be put to rest, for good, was one thing.  But similarly, it was about knowing what those of us who have loved this team, who have bonded over the internet for the last fifteen or so years.  We need shared experiences, good and bad, and we find people along the way who understand us.  To be on Twitter last night was a moment of catharsis and validation, which seems silly from the outside, but was understandable to those who had been on the journey.  We all dealt with the disappointments in our own way: anger, gallows humor, open questioning, sullen states.  We also dealt with this unexpected season in our ways.  For all of the accusations of Michigan football and its fanbase being arrogant, petulant, and annoying, so much of that dissipated into the either on that fateful day in early September in 2007.  Nothing had been the same since, and the further that last Big Ten championship faded into the rearview mirror, the harder it became to believe that it might ever happen again.  It became an article of faith, in belief in things unseen.  But what few of us realized is that this team, these players, this coaching staff, always believed it was possible, and they made it happen.  As Jane Coaston, commander in chief of the Michigan War Dads, stated in her NYT Opinion column earlier on Saturday:

In the end, Michigan will be in the College Football Playoff with a team that's genuinely fun.  We hope for the best, but anything that happens from this point is playing with house money.  After all, banners hang forever.

For so many of us, after almost 15 years, we've heard Jenny Lewis sing it, but perhaps we never really believed it until now, until this moment.

You'll be happy.

Magpie to the Morning

To quote Santana Moss: "Big time players make big time plays in big time games." (Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press)

Magpie comes a calling

Drops a marble from the sky

Tin roof sounds alarming

"Wake up child"

"Let this be a warning"

Says the magpie to the morning

"Don't let this fading summer pass you by"

"Don't let this fading summer pass you by"

Snow is very cinematic.  Especially for football.  It can't be too much snow, mind you, but a steady flurry that puts that thin layer of snow on the turf, enough to see the footprints, or the skid mark where a receiver caught the ball and slid into the end zone.  That's what you need, even if it means the folks in the stands are cold as they watch.

Come on sorrow

Take your own advice

This thundering and lightning gets you rain

I'm on a top secret mission

A Cousteau expedition

To find a diamond at the bottom of the drain

A diamond at the bottom of the drain

A diamond at the bottom of the drain

Michigan said, repeatedly, to all who asked this year, that there was a renewed, singular focus on beating Ohio State.  They made sure the public saw the signs in the weight room, they made sure the public knew about the 9 v 7 "Ohio Drill".  They knew we knew.  But even coming into The Game at 10-1, it was still hard to believe that Michigan could stare down the death machine built for one purpose and handle their business.  But they knew.  They knew in their hearts and in their minds and that is what ultimately mattered.  The ones who had the mission executed the mission.

Mockingbird sings

In the middle of the night

All his songs are stolen and he hides

He stole them from the Whippoorwills

And the yellow meadow lark

He sings them for you special

He knows you're afraid of the dark

A day after his birthday, H2 had his cake and ate it too. (Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press)

Michigan had a game plan that was simple and classic in its design.  Some might call it Manball.  But there were cool things, there was jet and orbit motions, swing passes out of the backfield, but in the end, Hassan Haskins just kept powering through the Ohio State line like some kind of tremendous machine.  He found ways to eek out yards where none seemed possible, and he powered through for big ground gains and ended up with FIVE touchdowns.  Five.  Hassan joins the pantheon next to Biakabatuka and Touchdown Billy Taylor and countless other Michigan men whose names will evoke a specific edition of The Game due to their heroic efforts.  Descriptions of Haskins as a man determined to carry the team on his shoulders are not without merit, they also shortchange the efforts of the offensive line and all of the other vital components of the game plan on both sides of the ball.  It was a team effort from start to finish.

Come on sorrow

Take your own advice

Hide under the bed

Turn out the light

The stars this night in the sky are ringing out

You can almost hear them saying

"Close your eyes now kid"

"Close your eyes now kid"

"These old dreams are hid"

They are waiting

Waiting

They are waiting

--"Magpie to the Morning" by Neko Case from her 2013 album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

There are two version of Magpie, the 2009 version from Middle Cyclone which I linked to and the 2013 version which is sweeter and lighter.  I prefer the 2009 version musically, but the 2013 version lyrically, though the banjo in this version is a wonderful choice.  The joy here is that both exist and I can enjoy both in their own way, not unlike this game.  I do not have to choose between Hutchinson's day and Haskins' day.  They're two versions of the same story that fit together in their own way.  I think so much of what is hard to capture in this column today is that, this was joy.  This was ten years of pent up frustration, of memory, or worry that all of the Michigan heroes of the Ohio State game were graying around the temples, with no new legends to replace them.  Those fears are gone.  A decade has passed, it was a long decade, a maddening decade filled with ups and downs.  But today is the highest of highest that we have felt in a very long time, perhaps too long to truly consider.  The snarky "Can Jim Harbaugh beat Ohio State?" questions are over.  The "last time Michigan beat Ohio State" data has hit the reset button.  In a game that was statistically not really in doubt once Blake Corum ran for 55 yards through the heart of the Buckeye defense, it did not ever feel possible until the 4:45 mark of the fourth quarter.  Would Michigan find a way to answer and re-extend the lead, or would it be on the defense to get the win.  But with everyone watching known Hassan Haskins was getting the ball, running for 15, for 6, for 11 before Ohio State realized with three minutes left it might need to preserve some clock and called a time out.  The snow, which had died down in the early fourth, right as Ohio State began to score again, had come back with a vengeance, and Haskins decided to impose his will and leave no doubt.  Well, almost.  But a 27 yard run that ended with a hurdle, out of bounds at the four yard line and Michigan Stadium exploded.  With just 137 ticks left on the clock, it finally felt real, it finally felt possible.  Possible, but not assured.  It was not until David Ojabo sacked CJ Stroud that I finally told myself this was real.  Olave caught a pass, it wasn't enough, and Cade came in for two kneel downs and joy washed over Michigan Stadium.  Ten years of pent up questions and frustration, washed away, swirling out of the Big House like so much late November snow.

Michigan is off to Indy for the Big Ten Championship game, a phrase never before uttered except in sarcasm and mockery, to face an Iowa team it has yet to see this year.  All of the goals still lay before them, it is time to seize them.  But for now, for this night, Ohio beat.

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.

Vengeance Is Sleeping

All's well that ends well. (Patrick Barron)

"I'm not the man you thought I was

My love has never lived indoors

I had to drag it home by force

Hired hounds at both my wrists

Damp and bruised by stranger's kisses on my lips

But you're the one that I still miss

You're the one that I still miss

And the truth is that it comes as no surprise

I'm not the man you think I am

I'm not the man you think I am"

 --"Vengeance Is Sleeping" by Neko Case from her 2009 album Middle Cyclone

No one could be blamed if you thought the fumble was the end.  I thought it at the moment. The way that Penn State had been converting on fourth down after fourth down (three on that drive) and then got the two-point conversion, well, we've seen this movie before.  It didn't matter at that point that James Franklin had called a mystifying fake field goal, perhaps feeling it a little too much after his successful call of a fake punt that Michigan called an early time out because they thought they saw something.  The missed field goal into the wind two possessions earlier.  All of the breaks that Penn State was manufacturing for Michigan now looked to be wasted because, on the third strip-sack of the game, the ball went to Penn State (which had also happened on the two times that Michigan's ferocious pass rush got to Sean Clifford, Penn State held on to the ball.)  The math bore out the feelings:

In the following sequence, the Michigan defense stood as tall as you could hope, allowing just three yards and shutting down efforts to get the ball to Jahan Dotson, forcing Penn State to settle for their third field goal of the game.

It is funny, in retrospect, that we did not see that settling for field goals is often the doombringer.  Well, red zone field goals, the 52-yarder near the end of the first half hardly felt like settling.  We had said it all year.  We joked about it on Twitter that Michigan specifically seemed to start its two touchdown drives on the 21-yard line just to not need to involve the red zone offense.  How would Michigan respond?  Could Michigan respond?  That old feeling, of Michigan collapsing under the weight of its own expectations, was prevalent among the twitterati, myself included.  History is instructive, but it does not have to be destiny, and the offense decided to make sure it was not.  Haskins immediately ripping off a 17 yard run on first down set the tone.  Then runs of 4, 4, 2 (first down), and 1 and it looked like Michigan was going to put this game on the broad shoulders and insanely muscular calves of Hassan Haskins to see if they could get it done, or, at worst, get it in Moody's range, even if the wind was solidly blowing against them.  

Erick All of @UMichFootball for the go-ahead TD today 🙌 pic.twitter.com/S61Dy7EjSh

— Stadium (@Stadium) November 13, 2021

A series of unfair thoughts as this play developed:
1).  Hmm, trips right, I wonder if they are going to try something in a levels concept?
2).  Wait, is All coming the opposite way on a crossing route?  OK.
3).  OK, he's got the first down, this is good.
4).  Wait, he's still going?  Is there someone off-camera?
5).  MOTORING!
6).  All right, one man to beat.
7).  Oh, he's in!  He's in!  Damn!

Erick All finally got his first career touchdown in a way that you likely could not have called before the drive started.  The replay review went Michigan's way, which was confusing in its own right, Moody was money on the extra point attempt and Michigan was up four with 3:29 to go.  An eternity, it would seem.

Sean Clifford was battered and bruised all game.  His offensive line left him out there to be feasted upon by Hutchinson and Ojabo like he was Anthony Morelli in 2006.  But he stood in and he battled and threw a reasonable sideline shot to Cam Sullivan-Brown that was just a tad too long but was reasonably well defended.  A small exhale.  No reason they cannot go back to that.  Clifford found Meiga for 8 to set up 3rd and 2 and keep the sticks moving.  Then, the playcalling went sideways for Penn State.  A pair of incompletions on third and fourth down that left the experienced observers scratching their heads and Michigan took over on downs on the Penn State 33.

If you, the Michigan fan, kept looking skyward for the other shoe, waiting for it to drop, Hassan Haskins plowed ahead for 4 and 5 yards respectively, followed by a Cade McNamara sneak that finally felt like the right call in the short-yardage situation, and Michigan had the first down they needed.  Haskins ran for three more yards, Penn State called their last time out, and then Haskins decided to get one more first down for good measure by running for 12 more up to the Penn State seven.  Three kneeldowns in succession and Michigan finally had its first win in 17 tries in the Harbaugh era after trailing in the fourth quarter to an AP ranked team.

On a day where Brad Robbins averaged more than 50 yards per punt on five beautiful kicks.  On a day where Michigan didn't need Moody to kick a field goal because they got enough in the end zone.  On a day where the defense made enough big, on point, correct plays, Michigan won.  Michigan won its ninth game in a season when seven wins felt like a better case scenario.  Michigan won three tough road games against Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Penn State.  There is a distinct possibility this team has more to say and more to do.  But for now, at least for one week, a specific narrative is dead.  All the goals remain possible.  We see what happens next.

Night Still Comes

I sometimes worry he's too good at his job, but the feeling passes.  (Patrick Barron)

My brain makes drugs to keep me slow

A hilarious joke for some dead pharaoh

But now, not even the masons know

What drug will keep night from coming

There are so many tools that are made for my hands

But the tide smashes all my best-laid plans to sand

And there's always someone to say it's easy for me

But I revenge myself all over myself

There's nothing you can say to me

You never held it at the right angle

 --"Night Still Comes" by Neko Case from her 2013 album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

It's fascinating to realize that the Big Ten schedule set up to have Michigan face Indiana 364 days after the previous meeting, allowing us a moment to take stock of what was, what is, and what can be through this lens.

Last year at this time, if we're even allowed to acknowledge it, Michigan had just dropped a game at home to Michigan State that it felt like it had no business losing and then was staring at an Indiana team that was feeling itself.  The years of almosts and #CHAOSTEAM had congealed into something dangerous.  Indiana made Michigan pay, a 38-21 victory for the Hoosiers that seemed to be some form of retribution for all of the other narrow escapes Michigan had pulled off over Indiana since the Crimson and Cream's most recent win in 1987.  Indiana looked like a team ascendant.  Michigan looked like a team lost and sinking fast.

The historically inclined among Michigan fans like to look for the throughlines, the things that remain true over the years, and the Indiana streak was one of the last great streaks that had survived everything, again, sometimes in "I cannot believe that happened" fashion, somewhat tattered and worn, but it survived.  Last night's game kept at least one piece of that line alive, that Indiana's last victory in Ann Arbor occurred before men set foot on the moon.  

Last night's Michigan performance was not stellar.  It was also not awful.  There were some high points: Hassan Haskins' 62-yard run that Indiana seemed to point to as the turning point in postgame quickly comes to mind, so does Cade's nice long bomb to Johnson late to really just put the finishing touches on things.  There were so low points: the time out on the 4th and 1 "fake" that actually would have worked for six yards had it been snapped a fraction of a second earlier, the delay of game penalty right after the long Haskins run, the surprise Indiana "injuries" that not only seemed to try to break Michigan's momentum but also lead to long Fox commercial breaks, the continued red zone woes, touchdown relative, that do not seem to be any closer to fixing.  

But this was a game that was in little doubt at any point according to math.  Math watches games and knows things.  We watch games and we feel things.

We see the conga line to the injury tent.  We see the small details that feel like a foreshadowing of some larger flaw in the narrative down the line.  The math is based on history, we see the game as a way to gaze into the future.  But the history was present in the Big House last night.  The return of the late 1990s staple, QB waggle, on the first touchdown to Schoonmaker, Michigan's first touchdown pass to a TE this year (they liked it so much they went back to the tight end for the final score as well).  The way that Michigan's injury luck seems to suddenly run out against Indiana...(though that might have more of a reason than just the universe deciding things).  All of it just seems wrong, and then to add night game, and well, maybe we've never held it at the right angle.

In the end, Indiana's in the books again for another year.  All of Michigan's goals are ahead of it.  Let's just hope there are enough healthy bodies left to finish the job.