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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan’s struggles against arch-rival Ohio State dating back to the beginning of the Jim Tressel era are so well-documented that it feels like a foregone conclusion that the Wolverines won’t come up with a W.
It feels like even more of a daunting challenge given how OSU has rolled through its schedule like a bulldozer moving through feathers. With the reveal of the penultimate regular season College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday, despite two teams above Michigan losing, the Wolverines stood pat at No. 13 — while the Buckeyes moved up to the No. 1 spot.
But Michigan has been a different team as of late. Not just since halftime in the Penn State game, but in recent memory.
Looking back at how the various teams entered The Game, it hasn’t necessarily been a team peaking heading into that perennial final regular season matchup.
In 2018, Michigan seemed to have peaked after decimating Penn State, 42-7, and was tested by an upstart Indiana Hoosiers squad the week before The Game. The concerns coming out of that game were founded, and an injury to star defensive end Chase Winovich, despite him being able to play against OSU, ended up being costly.
In 2017, starting quarterback Brandon Peters suffered a concussion on an already injury-plagued team. Inexperience and offensive line issues to go along with that meant that the Wolverines were (quite literally) limping into The Game with three losses.
In 2016, Michigan was destroying everyone until a costly night in Iowa severely injured starting quarterback Wilton Speight. Without Speight, Michigan struggled to put away Indiana the week before. He played at OSU, but was physically limited. The Wolverines lost in double-overtime.
In 2015, Ohio State was clearly in another league, despite coming off a loss. Michigan defensive coordinator had already quietly accepted the Maryland head coaching job and seemed checked out as the defense got gashed repeatedly in the second-half. The offense managed little.
That covers the Jim Harbaugh era — all four losses. But something about this team feels different.
The maize and blue started the season slow, struggling to put away the first two teams on the schedule before losing at Wisconsin. It wasn’t until the seventh game of the season — a loss at Penn State — that both the offense and defense seemed to be playing well and in tandem, albeit in the second-half — too little, too late.
After that, however, Michigan demolished a Top Ten — and favored — Notre Dame team. It crushed rival Michigan State, similarly. And instead of the road contest in Bloomington going to overtime — like the previous two road contests at Indiana — the Wolverines made the Hoosiers all but quit, as IU got the ball down 39-14 with 8 minutes remaining and chose to methodically end the game with a slow, 45-yard drive that ended nowhere.
This is seemingly a different team, perhaps Jim Harbaugh’s best, despite having two losses. Because it finally looks complete.
“Yeah, I think we’re all clicking on all cylinders right now,” quarterback Shea Patterson said. “Normally, it’s only on the defensive side of the ball, but I think the offensive production has been a lot more. I think we’re playing up to the defense’s level as far as helping them out as much as they help us out every week.”
Despite some terrible showings by the Michigan defense against many of the top teams it’s faced over the years, there’s one thing it hasn’t had: an offense that could help it out.
Junior defensive end Kwity Paye notes how different it is to have an explosive offense, one that’s outscored its opponents 180-52 since the half in Happy Valley.
Given the offensive emergence and defense seeming to also find its way, Paye feels like Michigan has a great shot to go toe-to-toe with the Buckeyes this time around.
“Last year, it was a great team last year — I feel like we have a great team this year,” Paye said. “I feel like our offense is really clicking this year. I feel like our offense is really getting after it ever since that Penn State game. You just keep seeing the offense keep going up and up and up.”
Star wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones agrees with that sentiment.
“Confidence has been increasing,” Peoples-Jones said. “We feel good out there. We feel good playing with the guys. Everybody’s contributing. So that’s always a good thing.”
In screenwriting, the hero’s journey isn’t about easily going from point A to point B. It’s about the conflict they face along the way.
Everything starts as normal, complacent — but then there’s the call to action. Progress moves forward, despite many obstacles until everything seems hopeless and like the end goal is out of reach.
But then, the hero puts to use those lessons learned along the way until they’re victorious in their chosen endeavor.
Perhaps that’s similar to the path Michigan football has taken. After all, head coach Jim Harbaugh has done everything in his power to change the Wolverines’ circumstances. He’s changed coaches and brought in new ones when needed. The offseason hire of Josh Gattis was a direct reflection of the offense not being seemingly capable of hanging with Ohio State, for instance.
Perhaps some of these losses mounted along the way were part of the tale of Michigan football. As far as Patterson sees it, his team has followed said hero’s journey since he arrived in Ann Arbor as a transfer from Ole Miss. Sure, losing 62-39 was beyond a disappointment, as were the losses to Wisconsin and Penn State this year.
But some learn lessons the hard way and they get stronger. That’s this Michigan team. Whether that amounts to a win on Saturday, ending the bludgeoning at the hands of its rival, that remains to be seen.
If it does, however — isn’t that redemption? Coming full-circle? Patterson thinks so.
“I wouldn’t change a thing up to this point,” Patterson said. “This is a team that’s been through so much the past two years, this season — how we’ve been battling. We’re battle-tested. We’ve lost. Double-overtime. We’ve been through some stuff this year. I can’t sit here and tell you how it’s gonna play out on Saturday, but I can tell you that we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”
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