ANN ARBOR, Mich. — I like to call them the table-setters. The foundation blocks. Those who went through the mud and muck and came out on the other side victorious. The football players that put their blood, sweat and tears into the football program, putting their bodies on the line, only to fall short.
Today, the table was set. The fine plates and cutlery were set on top of a plain table cloth. This time, when the Michigan football program went to perform its yearly magic trick, the fine china didn't come crashing to the floor. Instead, after long last, everything stayed in place once the cloth was pulled away.
Those players hold a special place in the heart of Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh. A group of players that took its lumps from Ohio State, took its lumps from the media that it couldn't go to Indianapolis and couldn't win the big one.
On Saturday, the group fought back.
Everything the group learned, everything it wanted, culminated with a Top-5 victory over Ohio State and a right to play for the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis next weekend.
To that foundation, this one is for you.
"Hassan or Aidan would be our most valuable player," Harbaugh said after the game. "Two guys along with—Andrew Vastardis, Brad Hawkins, Jake Moody, Brad Robbins, Andrew Stueber, Ryan Hayes, there's a group of those guys that I call them 'The One's.' Without them, we wouldn't be where we are. Incredible performance, again, by Hassan and also Josh Ross. He would be the eight. And Ronnie Bell. Those eight, I call them 'The Ones.'
"Without them, we wouldn't be where we're at. So many other guys, so many guys that were committed, didn't flinch. Didn't fold at the slightest whiff of adversity. Just kept going, kept preparing, kept working. Where it shows in production. Just the way so many produced."
Adversity has been a common theme for the Wolverines this season. Outside of a single blemish on the year, U-M had danced around the punches of adversity like Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring. Ducking, dodging and countering all the negativity with play that silenced even the strongest of doubters.
That's what it was all about.
The butterfly finally floated and the bee managed to sting when it mattered the most.
"There are guys I like to refer to as the foundation, the foundation of the team," Harbaugh said. "Guys that were here in 2020, some were here in 19, 18, 17, 16 going all the way back to 2015. Those are the guys, they were raised, they learned that you don't just fold or quit at the slightest whiff of adverse circumstances. So many in that group, so many coaches and players. Cade McNamara, Dax Hill, long, long list of guys. The committed guys, the truly committed guys.
"The seniors on our team that have been here the longest, worked the most and overcome some adverse circumstances. Injury or setbacks, I'm just talking all players here. All those seniors. The fourth group, the ones. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are. Guys that really, literally, willing to take the team on their backs. It was like a train, a locomotive, going down the tracks. They literally stopped it, picked it up on their backs, turned it around and started pushing. The rest of us started pushing, too. Those guys, Aidan Hutchinson, Brad Hawkins, Andrew Vastardis, Josh Ross, Moody, Robbins and Ronnie Bell. Those guys—and Ryan Hayes, guys that we wouldn't be where we're at without them."
While the job is certainly not finished, a win over its fiercest rival is a good step in the right direction.
It's clear that the Wolverines' locomotive is full speed ahead to much grander goals moving forward.
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