It looked like this might have been Michigan’s year.
The Wolverines had a nearly flawless 2022 season, going 12-0 in the regular season with big wins against rivals Michigan State and Ohio State. The maize and blue also had a commanding win against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship, and it appeared Michigan was a team on a mission heading into its second straight College Football Playoff appearance.
But TCU had something to say about that. On Saturday, the Wolverines were bounced out of the playoff after losing to the Horned Frogs, 51-45.
The Wolverines turned the ball over three times; two pick sixes from J.J. McCarthy and a goal-line fumble by Kalel Mullings. While Michigan found itself down 19 points late in the third, the Wolverines came back, but fell short.
A disappointed McCarthy answered one question after the game. He started by giving TCU all the credit for the victory, but he made a promise for next season’s Wolverine squad.
“All credit to them,” said McCarthy. “They won the game in the 60 minutes that were played. They’re a good football team. No matter what it is, they got the win.”
“Fought our hearts out. There’s a lot of things that we could have done better. Can’t wait to watch the tape. But we’ll be back, and I promise that.”
Running back Donovan Edwards ran for 119 yards in the game on Saturday. Once Michigan went down by multiple scores, it was clear the Wolverines would need to pass the ball to stay in the game. But even trailing big for the majority of the game, the sophomore said they believe they are still a complete team and he shared similar sentiments to McCarthy.
“We had our heads up high the whole game,” said Edwards.” Regardless, we’re a four-quarter team. We’ll be back.”
“It sucks that we lost the game,” Edwards said. “Our whole season preparation has been to win a national championship, and this is the second year that we have lost in the 14th game of the season. So we’re just like, ‘We will be back.’ Same thing we said last year.”
After turning the ball over three times, Michigan had too many self-inflicted wounds. The Wolverines had several chances to complete the comeback, but between the offense fluttering at the wrong times and the defense getting gashed by the run — the comeback stalled.
Edwards said Michigan will get back to the drawing board and fix its mistakes. The Wolverines should have plenty of players returning for next season and freshmen Will Johnson and Colston Loveland gained valuable experience. Because of that, Edwards reiterated the Wolverines will be back.
“It ain’t nothing to it,” said Edwards. “Just back to the drawing board, you know? It’s like we got a good amount of the same people that were here last year and this year. So the new guys that are here this year, they understand what it takes.”
“The freshmen that were here, Will Johnston, Colston Loveland, et cetera, et cetera, they understand what it takes and the preparation that we have to be able to be in positions like this. So we’ll be back.”
Nickel back Mike Sainristil is one of those players that will return next year. He could have declared for the draft after a solid campaign as a defensive back, but he wants to hone his skills one more season. He believes Michigan will learn from this loss and come back better than ever.
“I would just simply say it’s time to — we’re going to learn from this one” said Sainristil. “Once we get back to the drawing board, it’s just time to rebuild, refocus.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it now, but learn from the mistakes and do the best we can this offseason to put ourselves in the best situation for the beginning of next year.”
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=]
[listicle id=67337]