ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football will certainly be a heavy underdog in the final regular season game in 2024, when it travels to Columbus to face an Ohio State team that’s firing on all cylinders.
But, the Wolverines certainly won’t be limping into The Game.
The maize and blue hadn’t had a blowout win all season long, but then a not-so-good, but not-terrible Northwestern team came to Ann Arbor. And Michigan handed the Wildcats their biggest beatdown of the season, while also far surpassing any previous output the Wolverines had this year.
As Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore says, yes, The Game will feature a maize and blue team that will be brimming with confidence — something that almost couldn’t have been imagined at any other point this season.
“Yeah, great momentum. Great momentum,” Moore said. “But we all know what that game means. It’s a reset. It doesn’t really matter what your record is. It doesn’t really matter what you’ve done before. That game’s different. So we’ve got to go prepare.”
Often, the week before the Ohio State game is seen as a trap game, and given how tough Northwestern has played some teams (it even kept things close for a half against the Buckeyes last week), and how Michigan has played all year, you would be forgiven if you thought the 50-6 drubbing could have gone a different way.
However, Moore never thought that his team would overlook the Wildcats.
“Yeah, because it’s the next game,” Moore said. “It’s another opportunity. Senior Day is the last game at The Big House. There’s so many reasons: bowl eligibility. There’s so many reasons that it was easy for our guys to just keep attacking it.
“Like I said before, another opportunity to put on that helmet and jersey. Can we ever think that any game is a trap game or overlook anybody, especially when you’re at Michigan?”
Despite Michigan going into The Game with a 6-5 record, compared to the Buckeyes sitting at 10-1, you won’t find the Wolverines cowering or submitting to an early defeat.
Of course, both teams now have some momentum, and OSU will rightly be favored. But this game is of utmost importance to the Wolverines, and they’re prepared to give the Buckeyes everything they’ve got.
“It’s everything. Our building, it’s all over the place. We think about it 365, so it’s the most important thing to us,” Moore said. He later added on if the team is gaining momentum: “Yeah, I think there is. But our No. 1 goal now, obviously there’s stuff we’ve got to do off the field, but our No. 1 now is to go prepare to go win that game next week.”