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It’s Summer Time for Michigan Football

By Jay Meade

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Apr 4, 2015; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh looks on as Michigan Wolverine quarterback Alex Malzone drops back to pass during the Spring football game at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

It’s summer time! Summer time is a good time, especially for Michigan.  This year Michigan would see the baseball team do very well and fall just short of making it to the Men’s Championship World Series.  The softball team however, is still in play going head to head later tonight at 8 pm against Florida in it’s final game to determine who will be the Women’s College Softball World Champion.  The basketball team is looking to have a good run as Caris LeVert decided to forgo this year’s NBA draft and finish his college career with a Michigan squad that could definitely give itself a great run at a championship this year.  Michigan’s hockey team looks to come back for another good year even after having a few players signing with NHL teams.  We can’t forget about the gymnastics team though.  They will not three-peat this year, but did not fall far down the ladder either.  With so much success in other sports, you can only assume that will translate over to football.  Yes, it’s a new regime with only one familiar face.  But yes, it’s similar faces on the field as well.  Michigan football needs to find it’s identity.  Even with summer time in Michigan going as well as it has, that much is certain.

All of the talk has been done about the changes, but no one is addressing the elephant in the room.  We as Michigan fans pride and boast ourselves on the accomplishments of old.  However, in recent years we can’t speak on much, football related anyway.  Yeah, Harbaugh’s home and doing his ‘media friendly’ Harbaugh things.  Consider what we here at GBMWolverine have done, thus far, breaking the meta.  I’m about to annihilate it.  I was born, raised, and still reside in Columbus, Ohio.  I am surrounded by “those” fans.  Do you know the main question I hear?  “What makes football at Michigan so great?”  You see, they don’t realize that Michigan’s history is being a dominant football team. Meta breaker coming, that was the early 1900s.  They don’t care about the past because, honestly, Ohio State was practically irrelevant before World War II.  Yeah, I said it.  But to be fair, after World War II we only have 3 National Championships and 2 Heisman winners.  Michigan would also snatch 26 conference championships  (13 of which were shared).  So you know what?  Maybe they’re right.  I mean they have amassed 7 National Championships since World War II.  Honestly it probably would have been more if it wasn’t for those “irrelevant” Wolverines in the 90s.  Or Bo Schembechler’s whole career being pesky to their arch rival.  But yeah, they are probably right.  Michigan athletics is not a one trick pony as shown in the first paragraph.  While Michigan may not have won many championships since World War II, don’t ever have them mistaken for “irrelevant”.  This is still “the game.”  This is still one of the highest winning schools in the nation.  You don’t get there by being irrelevant.  You get there by being a threat, and every year Michigan is a threat to Ohio State, see Michigan vs. Ohio State 2013.  Michigan is not only a threat to Ohio State, but also to the “top” conference in the country, the SEC.  Meta.  Michigan holds a winning record against the SEC as a conference. Broken.  In fact, the only conferences they really struggle with are the Big 12 and the PAC 12.  Michigan has played many games against USC and it could be interesting to see more played under Harbaugh.

1989, that’s the year I was born.  Among other great things that year are Michigan basketball winning a National Championship, the football team beating OSU, and the Berlin Wall coming down.  However, in my lifetime Michigan football has not been faring as well as my life had started it off.  Being a fan of Michigan has taught me, and I’m sure others, a lot about how to deal with disappointment.  Disappointment is watching one of the best Michigan teams ever lose to Ohio State, and then again to USC in ’06.  It’s also watching the Michigan-Louisville National Championship for basketball and in the last couple minutes the refs making a terrible foul call on Trey Burke.  That call turned one of the cleanest blocks I have ever seen in a college basketball game into a National Championship for Louisville.

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That’s all the past though.  Now we look toward the future.  It’s summer 2015 and a new era is coming.  We all know “if anybody can do it, it’s Harbaugh.”  But why?  Do you know why Ohio State does so well?  Because when Urban Meyer came to OSU he told players he will play those who deserve to play and are the best at what they do.  He also told his players mediocrity is not an option.  But that was Urban and Ohio State, this is Harbaugh and this is Michigan.  As soon as Harbaugh was announced, the Michigan players were wise enough to know what to expect. That’s why guys like Justice Hayes left.  He was just too far down the list of backs to get any time on the field.  Hayes, a bit of a speedster would also not fit Harbaugh’s play style so he took his talents elsewhere.  Good luck, young man. Guys who didn’t fit Harbaugh’s system would end up leaving as well.  At Michigan mediocrity should never be an option, and it won’t be for Harbaugh and company either.  So expect Michigan football to be right back at their old – harassing Ohio State and little brother – tricks, because it’s just a matter of time before Michigan football is right back at the top, this time with a vengeance.

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