Fifth-year senior linebacker Mike McCray knows his Wolverines missed a golden opportunity on Saturday to pick up a season-changing win over Ohio State.

The Maize and Blue grabbed a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, and McCray explained what went wrong after that.

“We gave up a touchdown immediately after on defense, and we didn’t execute a few times,” he said. “It hurts in the end, but we’ll be alright. They did everything we expected, and they took advantage of the times we didn’t execute.”

McCray explained that a lack of execution is what especially plagued Michigan in the second half, when it was outscored 17-6.

“We didn’t execute,” he confirmed. “The touchdown their tight end [fifth-year senior Marcus Baugh] caught up the middle was on us — we made a mistake, and they took advantage of it. If we didn’t make that mistake, he wouldn’t have been so open.”

Although Ohio State fifth-year senior quarterback J.T. Barrett was injured in the third quarter and never returned, McCray knew he and his teammates couldn’t relax one bit.

“We don’t play to knock out anybody,” the fifth-year senior stated. “When he went out, we knew the guy behind him [redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins] was pretty good. We just had to keep playing our game though. Our defense fought to the end and we gave it all we had.”

The Ohio native also talked about how emotional he was on Saturday, knowing it was his last game in The Big House.

“Going into the game, I actually handled my emotions pretty well,” he revealed. “After the game, my emotions just came out on the sideline and in the locker room.

“I knew I had to pull it together for my teammates, because they look up to me. It’s hard, but you have to stay level headed and move on.

“Coach Harbaugh had a message for all of us in the locker room after the game — I’m not going to lie; I was crying, though, so I don’t know [what it was].”

McCray explained that the team's attention now turns toward the future — first, the bowl game, and then next year’s team.

“We need to go in, watch film and learn from our mistakes,” he explained when asked what the next step for the group is. “We’ll find out who we play in our bowl game next week, and go from there.”

Although McCray won’t be a part of the 2018 club, he likes its potential.

“They’re going to be a great team,” he affirmed. “They have a lot of fight in them. I see a bright future for this team.”

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