It’s about time. Hopefully it pays dividends in November! #GoBlue
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — On Thursday, Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh took to the stage at Lucas Oil Stadium and shared just how much the Wolverines want to beat rival Ohio State.
And apparently, he means it.
While Harbaugh has beaten the rival Buckeyes as a player, he has yet to do so as the head coach in Ann Arbor. The maize and blue had something of a reprieve this past season, having had to pull out of the game due to COVID-19 issues decimating those who could have taken the field in Columbus, but now that we’re returning to normalcy, Michigan has the Buckeyes in its sights.
But why is that? Because since Harbaugh took over the program in 2015, he said of OSU, ‘I make no guarantees,’ like he had as a player. ‘Every game is a championship-type game’ was repeated routinely, with no extra onus — at least on the record outside of the locker room and practice field — placed on Ohio State.
Now, however, it’s different, senior defensive end/outside linebacker Aidan Hutchinson says.
“I think it’s a culmination of everything,” Hutchinson said. “It’s a culmination of getting these new coaches, new blood, new energy, Coach Hart who has played in the rivalry, who hates these guys as much as we do. And then you’ve got Coach Harbaugh putting more of an emphasis on it. We kinda change, we adjust things every single offseason, and that’s one thing we did — to put more emphasis on Ohio State and that’s because of Coach Harbaugh.
“You bring in young guys like Coach Macdonald, Coach Bellamy, Coach Hart — not Coach Macdonald, but Coach Bellamy and Hart — those guys have played here, they’ve been in the thick of it. So having those guys here just makes it all the better.”
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While Hutchinson wouldn’t go into specifics, he did share some generalities, further reinforcing that the Wolverines are targeting the Buckeyes.
At the moment, this team feels like the pressure is off, that they’re the underdogs even outside of The Game. In Hutchinson’s eyes, if Michigan puts all its focus on beating Ohio State and getting to the level it takes to do that, then it will be able to take down any other foe that also stands in its way.
“We are emphasizing it in ways that you cannot imagine,” Hutchinson said. “We have a lot of things, whether that be signs, whether that be other things that remind us of Ohio State.
“It is (different). We’ve never done some of the things that we’ve done. Our philosophy is if we plan for Ohio State, we can beat any team. Ohio State has been consistently in the Big Ten Championship, consistently one of the best teams in the Big Ten, in college football. So, if we aim to beat them, no one can beat us.”
Senior running back Hassan Haskins agrees with the sentiment.
While Haskins also was short on specifics, he notes that the mentality inside Schembechler Hall has changed and that the entire team is working diligently towards a common goal. And that the focus on Ohio State is more intense than it’s ever been.
“That game right there is definitely on top of the list,” Haskins said. “We’ve been working every day for that game. It’s gonna be a good one.
“It’s different — I look around in the football weight room or in conditioning and I see everybody working (on Ohio State). No weak links in the chain. The energy we bring every day to the table is just different from previous years I’ve been here. It’s definitely shifted the energy.
“It’s gonna be a fun game to watch — that’s all I’m gonna say.”
Now, Hutchinson demurs when it comes to the notion that OSU cares more — much like Justin Fields said after the last matchup in Ann Arbor in 2019.
Ohio State famously crosses out all of the ‘Ms’ on campus during game week, has a countdown clock in the locker room and a fanatical ‘team up north’ drill that’s done every day after practice. Hutchinson notes that Michigan has always prioritized The Game, it’s just more now compared to before.
“I never felt we were behind,” Hutchinson said. “Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying we’re just now realizing that Ohio State is our rival and we’re finally, ‘Oh (mimics expletive)!’ No, we’ve always thought of Ohio State, we always can’t wait for that game at the end of November. It’s not like they have their stuff in their facilities and that makes them want it more than us. That’s not the case. However, it’s just that this season, we’re putting a little more into it and visually, mentally, we’re doing things that are emphasizing it and — it’s not like we have not recognized this rivalry until this year. We’ve always recognized it, we’ve always emphasized it, we always can’t wait to play scarlet and grey in November.”
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