Column: On Michigan Football's Missed Opportunity To Take Back The State
The Michigan Wolverines let one slip away on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. There is no other way to slice it.
Despite everything it fought through, whether it be officiating, shotgun blasts to the foot, or otherwise, Michigan was right there. The elusive Jim Harbaugh signature win was there to be bad.
Like most opportunities of this ilk in recent memory, it slipped through their fingers.
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Saturday's loss drops Harbaugh to 3-4 overall against the Spartans and 0-2 against second-year head coach Mel Tucker. It drops their record to 3-9 overall against their two chief rivals with an 0-for-5 mark against the Ohio State Buckeyes added to the mix.
It is hard to call any Michigan season that ends without wins in the two biggest measuring stick games a success. They will play Ohio State at home on Nov. 27.
The Wolverines have nothing to hang their heads about outside of the final result on Saturday. They came in ready for a fistfight and threw as many haymakers as they could.
Despite that, it was still a loss in a rivalry game. It was still a loss to a top ten team on the road with a signature victory hanging in the balance. A few too many self-inflicted errors when the chips were down sealed their fate and left them empty-handed getting back on the bus.
Bad calls happen, the worst of which was Michigan's overturned sack-fumble touchdown thanks to pass rush duo Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo. Both played their hearts out on Saturday and their effort should have been rewarded by the football gods. It was not meant to be, apparently. That said, Michigan was able to force a punt after the overturned call and would settle for a field goal on the next offensive possession.
Four points were thrown out the window. This is an example of the meat left on the bone Harbaugh has talked about all season long.
For as reliable as junior kicker Jake Moody (4-for-4 on field goal attempts) is, finishing drives with three points instead of seven killed this team on Saturday. Today's college football requires that you score and keep scoring, especially in this type of game. Michigan's infamous red zone woes reared their ugly head once again when it mattered most and it cost them a shot at a shootout win.
Michigan lead 30-14 with about 22 minutes to go in this game. It felt like they were on the verge of a knockout punch, but MSU Heisman-caliber running back Kenneth Walker made sure that would not happen. His 197-yard, five-touchdown game is one that will live in infamy on both sides of the rivalry.
Still, the Wolverines have nobody to blame but what looks back at them in the mirror. They botched nearly every chance they had down the stretch to close out the game. Their five possessions after taking a 30-14 lead went: punt, field goal, fumble, turnover on downs, interception.
In an especially cruel twist of fate, Michigan's late-game woes were headlined by the quarterback situation. True freshman quarterback J.J. McCarthy lost a fumble on first down when Cade McNamara was allegedly on the sidelines in the injury tent. The FOX broadcast never made mention of this, but Michigan Radio did. It is unclear what happened other than McNamara was "working through something," per Harbaugh. It is hard to get a read on what happened there in the immediate aftermath, but the turnover completely swung the momentum in MSU's direction.
Michigan State won on Saturday because it got plays from its best players when it needed them most and was empowered by its staff to do so. Michigan, as it tends to do on these types of stages, flinched and were on the wrong side of Saturday's brawl.
So, What Now?
Michigan State is and has been a legitimate threat to the Wolverines no matter the number of people who scoff and point to the OSU rivalry as most important. In terms of history, lore and stakes, they are not wrong.
However, that last game of the year should be a de facto Big Ten East Championship game. When you lose one to the Spartans and cannot handle business in the state, that is a tough pill to swallow. The Game will always carry a gargantuan amount of weight, but there is no doubt it feels a little less when playing second fiddle in your own state.
Michigan State is no longer some also-ran football program. It has not been for a long time. They have played for and won Big Ten Championships more recently than Michigan has and appear to be on track to do so with their second coach in the last 15 years. This game is important, too. Harbaugh and the Wolverines have not won it nearly enough.
This one hurts double because of what it means in both the short and long term. Michigan no longer completely controls its own path through the Big Ten East and needs some chaos along the way. From a broader perspective, MSU just received a heck of a boost to its stock under Tucker. This will pay dividends on the recruiting trail in-state and elsewhere.
This was supposed to be a rebuild/reload/regroup year for both programs. Then, each of them won a lot of football games to start the year. When you do that, the goalposts move and expectations change. It goes from being a rebuilding project to one where you can both have your cake and eat it too. The Spartans are way ahead of schedule and already had a win over Michigan, but they found a way to get it done anyways. They will play the most meaningful November football in the state. That is the reality.
MSU has results to sell. Michigan still only has hope.
Swimming upstream against the Buckeyes is difficult enough. To be outmanned by a Spartan program in year two of a facelift is a massive disappointment, to put it kindly. This is especially true given the regime in place has been in Ann Arbor for nearly a decade.
Michigan heads into November with its goals technically still in front of it, but it is hard to envision how this season ends any differently than even the best ones have under Harbaugh. A win over Ohio State was going to take a herculean effort anyways, but now it almost has to happen for this season to be considered a success by Michigan standards.
It felt like this group might have been different. It still could be. The climb just got a lot tougher. The ultimate test of the revamped culture and resolve of this group will be tested more now than in any other moment this season.
Wolverines fans have eaten enough crow in recent seasons for it to become an acquired taste. The pain of Saturday's loss has a lot to do with the game result but stings more from a realization that MSU is simply further ahead as a program right now.
Narratives can be rewritten in November, but it feels like we know how this story ends.
It would be nice to be proven wrong, though.
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