The worst thing about finding yourself on the business end of a 62-39 avalanche at the bloody crags of your chief rival? Well, that’s a conundrum.
There are just too many options.
You can glance in the rearview mirror, painful as that might be. That makes it 2-16 against the Buckeyes since Jim Tressel brought his see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, do-plenty-of-evil brand of ball to Columbus.
It eventually got him fired, but no matter. The Buckeyes just keep on rolling, through scandals, scrapes and the scorn of scribes. Once upon a time, the Wolverines strutted over a 10-2-1 stretch in the series, regarding then-coach John Cooper as the battered buffoon.
The Buckeyes are on a tear — versus four Michigan coaches, mind you — that makes those numbers look modest. The crazed, building-burning, Wolverine-assaulting fury of Ohio State fans has been replaced with smirks and shrugs and mockery and a pinch of pity.
That was all going to change when Jim Harbaugh rolled into town, and it has, to a degree. Michigan should have won in Columbus in 2016 and proved competitive even though shorthanded last year.
But there’s a generation growing up not understanding Michigan-Ohio State like their fathers and grandfathers did.
That stings.
Then there’s the present. That’s what hurts most for the 2018 Wolverines. They’re not responsible for the past, but they were fervently hopeful for the opportunity of a lifetime, right at hand.
This day meant everything. Beat the Buckeyes, and head for a showdown involving the Big Ten championship and the College Football Playoff. In 60 minutes, all of it disappeared like the texts of Buckeyes under investigation.
Sure, 10-2 represents a solid season, with significant progress. But if only…
“We all had mindsets of going to the Big Ten championship,” senior safety Tyree Kinnel assured. “We all had mindsets of beating Ohio State. We started having that mindset after the Wisconsin game. Beat them, beat Michigan State, beat Penn State. We were high on confidence.
“Maybe we got a little bit too ahead of ourselves. It’s just tough, coming into this big of a game, wanting to win and reach our goals … it’s extremely tough.”
Don’t kid yourself that Ohio State was this tough all year. They weren’t. They were meticulously prepared to take Michigan apart, and did, but they’re lucky to be in the conference title game and still in the playoff picture.
The Buckeyes got blown out at Purdue. They trailed Nebraska in their own building in the second half. They needed overtime at Maryland — including a quarterback’s miss of a wide-open receiver on a two-point conversion — to avoid title game elimination regardless of the result against the Wolverines.
But they were ready for this one — with athletes, with schemes and with whatever switch they flip to go from flirting with disaster to scoring more points than any Ohio State team in history has amassed against the Wolverines.
“I thought Ohio State played really well in all phases, did a heck of a job,” Harbaugh noted, going out of his way to be matter-of-fact in front of a train wreck. “They’re a really good football team.”
What about the future? That’s the real zinger, when your team gets overwhelmed. The last couple of years, Michigan fans comforted themselves with ifs, buts and almosts, feeling the big turnaround was just around the corner.
It may be … but there weren’t any signs of it while Buckeye after Buckeye went racing away in the open field. Given OSU’s struggles at times this year, and Michigan’s season-long improvement, the Wolverines were actually favored going into the Snake Pit.
Once Ohio State got rolling, Michigan didn’t have a chance. That can bring the despairing to the point of: If not THIS year, then when?
“It’s a pretty sour taste, actually,” junior quarterback Shea Patterson said of the loss. “We had a helluva season. The defense played lights-out for most of the season. I’m just really proud of our guys. We had a really good run. We’re still going to move forward, regardless of the outcome today.
“I love this team, I love my brothers, I love this University like no other.”
That’s good, smart, brave and honorable talk. Patterson and Michigan’s offense actually put 39 points on the board. Anyone saying they wouldn’t have taken their chances on that tally sounds disingenuous.
The defense? It’s stunning, really, even while losing key performers like junior cornerback David Long and junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr. They need better answers when facing OSU-caliber athletes.
Harbaugh brought Michigan to the brink, once again. This time, the Wolverines plummeted.
Someone asked salty junior tailback Chris Evans what went wrong.
“The score,” he deadpanned.
No arguing there. But it’s the score and a whole lot more, and Harbaugh knows it.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
