INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The last time that Cade McNamara set foot on the Lucas Oil Stadium field, he was being showered with confetti and handed a trophy, declaring he and his team champions of the Big Ten Conference. But eight months later, the journey to retain that title starts anew.
While McNamara enjoys the fond memories from Dec. 4, 2021, sitting at a podium just yards away from where he got the championship trophy is more motivation to not relinquish it this year.
“Yeah, it feels good. I mean, last time we were here, there’s confetti on us, which felt felt good, but those feelings that we felt, as they’re being triggered right now it only makes you want to work harder,” McNamara said. “And I think seeing the other teams, being in this atmosphere, it gets us excited that we’re close to real football again, and, of course, it’s going to be motivated.”
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The media doesn’t expect Michigan to repeat. In this year’s Cleveland.com media poll, Ohio State was unanimously picked to win the conference, with the Wolverines finishing second in the Big Ten East division.
The maize and blue travel to Columbus in November, a place they haven’t won since 2000. While the pundits out there expect 2021’s success to be something of a one-off, McNamara says that this team is looking to build off of last season, rather than feeling like one year’s win was something of an accomplishment.
“It should be a foundation. I think everyone in our program is very confident in the culture that we have developed,” McNamara said. “And I think it is, it should be here to say, I think — for this season, at least it is I think the guys are confident in not just our ability, but what we’ve created at Michigan is, from a culture standpoint, from a mentality standpoint, it’s been such a big difference over the last couple of years.
“And I only see this continuing to grow. And, I’m just here and some of the other guys that are here today are here to make sure that we stay on track.”
Of course, 2021 wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
Michigan wasn’t particularly competitive in the College Football Playoff semifinal against eventual national champion Georgia, but what likely sticks with the team more is that the only regular season loss came at the hands of rival Michigan State — in a game that was eminently winnable, but a series of miscues and mishaps plagued the Wolverines down the stretch.
This year’s team has four goals — beat MSU and OSU in the same season being chief among them — with taking down the Spartans at home and handing Mel Tucker his first loss in the rivalry being one of the bigger motivating factors. Should the Wolverines accomplish that and find a way to get the first win in Ohio Stadium in 22 years, it would go a long way towards reaching the other goals — repeating as Big Ten champions and getting back into the College Football Playoff.
“Well, yeah, that stung,” McNamara said. “We lost two games last year and that was one of them. And I think the way we lost sucked. We’re definitely gonna circle Michigan State this season, It was the same thing, it’s upsetting that we lost that game, and that fuels a lot of dudes who didn’t beat them the year before that as well.
“We’re gonna worry about every one or schedule, but obviously, our goals are to beat Ohio State, beat Michigan State in the same season, winning the Big Ten title and win the national championship.”
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