Generally speaking, any conversation concerning sports is mainly predicated on one thing – winning. And when you’re a program as esteemed as Michigan, the bar is set at winning titles. Big Ten titles – and, as of late, National Championships.
This year’s Wolverines, known to the faithful as Team 145, did not reach those lofty heights. In fact, at no point have they really looked like a roster capable of defending their crown for any meaningful stretch. A date on their home turf with the Texas Longhorns in the second week of the season largely shined a light on what this roster would be all year: working from a severe deficit at the skill positions (most notably at quarterback) and heavily dependent on their defense.
Heading into the season finale against Ohio State at The Shoe, Team 145 was a very underwhelming 6-5.
But that brings us to the other thing sports conversations are predicated on – vibes. And let me tell you, in the month of December, vibes for the team from Ann Arbor are skyrocketing with an unnatural tilt that would have triggered a trading halt if this was the stock market. And anyone who bought the dip is pounding their chest harder than most crypto bros.
It started on November 30th, when, for the fourth year in a row, Michigan claimed a grueling 13-10 victory over Ohio State that flipped the entire sport on its head.
The Wolverines, who entered the game as +19.5 betting dogs, were assumed to be dead on arrival – and that’s BEFORE you factor in the obvious spot for Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. After years of frustration and damaged reputation inflicted by the golden era of the Harbaugh regime, further exacerbated by the shadow of Conner Stallions, this was the spot for the Buckeyes to get their revenge. No more Harbaugh, no more Stallions and a roster that simply shouldn’t have any business matching up against the team from Columbus.
But they did. They went into the Horseshoe and held the most talent-rich offense in college football this season to 10 points. And in doing so, they deprived the likes of Jack Sawyer and the rest of the Ohio State ’24 senior class of ever tasting victory over Michigan.
Boom. Vibes. Sprinkle in some massive wins on the recruiting front, and you have a fairly happy fanbase once more.
But this isn’t most schools – this is Michigan. And Michigan revels in finding ways to break the spirits of any program audacious enough to point its nose down to them.
So, what better way to end your year – a year in which you were a relative disappointment for about three quarters of the season, than by doing the same thing you did last year when you won the whole damn thing?
Actually, I guess you could do it in a game where virtually none of your best players even suit up – because they’ve all declared for the draft. And you could beat the team that a very loud and equally prideful fanbase believes was cheated out of the last spot in the expanded playoff. Heck, while we’re engaging in wishful thinking, let’s give Michigan four turnovers in plus territory in the first quarter; literally each of Alabama’s first four drives of the game.
And finally, to make this truly preposterous, what would it look like if Davis Warren plays one of his better first halves of the season, then suffers an injury early in the second to force the Wolverines into playing Alex Orji as their primary and only signal caller for the remainder of the day. Oh, and you already fired Kirk Campbell earlier this month, so tight end coach Steve Casula is your interim OC (because Chip Lindsey hasn’t been in Ann Arbor long enough to hear his first ‘ope’).
Well, if you won that game, too – I suppose the vibes would be on some kind of supernatural level heading into 2025 for Team 146.
Beating two of college football’s most revered institutions for the second year in a row to end the season is sweet indeed, but do it the second time as double-digit dogs in both matchups and averaging less than 70 yards passing?
That’s Pure Michigan™
Final from Tampa at the ReliaQuest Bowl: Michigan 19, Alabama 13
