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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Last week, Michigan football returned to practice as it readies for its first-ever opportunity in the College Football Playoff.
While the challenges Georgia presents might seem daunting, considering the Bulldogs were thought to be unbeatable — you know, before they were beaten by Alabama — the Wolverines are excited for the opportunity, and think that the coaches have a good plan to get them ready.
“Slowly working us back into it. (Thursday) we went, it was like our Tuesday practice – we’re bangin’,” third-year defensive tackle Christopher Hinton said. “The coaches have a great plan for us to not kill us early but to get us right, so we’re fresh for the game in a couple weeks. I just really like their plan, trust their plan, trust the coaches all year.”
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In preparation for playing in the nighttime heat of Miami Gardens, the team has been practicing indoors, as to get acclimated before heading down to Florida on Dec. 26. The added corollary is that the team was able to have just over a week off after the Big Ten Championship game, which helps players such as Blake Corum, who has been injured since early November.
While he is self-admittedly still not 100%, he feels that the time off helped immensely in clearing the air between the regular season and the postseason, while also helping him and others to get healthier.
“We’re locked in. We had a nice little week off, refresh our mind, refresh our bodies,” Corum said. “Now we’re back, locked in, focused on Georgia. Either watching their film, going over plays, plays that will work, and just getting ready for this Orange Bowl.”
That said, don’t expect the team to suddenly change things now that there’s the potential for two more games.
As Corum notes, they reached this point doing things the way they’ve done them all year long, there’s no point in suddenly doing things differently just because it’s the playoff.
“Goal’s still the same. The goal was to get this far, the goal is to keep going,” Corum said. “Our focus is the same, goal is the same. We’re still approaching everything the same way. It’s working – why change it? We’re gonna prepare the same and go from there.”
That said, it will be a clash between the Michigan offense, which leads the nation with 17 plays of 50-plus yards, and the top-ranked Georgia defense.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen much more imagination out of the Wolverine offense, from the usage of Donovan Edwards against Maryland, which set up the A.J. Henning end-around against Ohio State, which set up the Edwards throw downfield in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Do the offensive players feel like coordinator Josh Gattis has anything special saved up for this game and the possible one the following week?
“I wouldn’t really say he saves it, we just practice it and we use it when the opportunity presents itself,” third-year receiver Mike Sainristil said. “The opponent we play might not have the right defensive look for us to run it into, so we’ll just continue practicing it, keep it in the playbook. And as soon as the opportunity presents itself, we’re gonna use it.”
The excitement level in Schembechler Hall is palpable. As third-year cornerback DJ Turner says, this team is salivating at the opportunity to showcase its ability on a national stage once again.
“We’re back energized, refreshed, ready to go.”
The Capital One Orange Bowl kicks off at 7:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 31 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
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