Michigan Football Can Play Spoiler For Wisconsin And Ohio State
By Peter Arango
Playoff hopes for Michigan football are pretty much gone, but some goals remain intact. And as the season winds down, the Wolverines can play spoiler.
Shakeup Saturday certainly shook things up, and Michigan has a continuing, and perhaps critical, role to play in shakeups and shakedowns to come in the next few weeks.
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Thus far this has been a tale of three very different seasons for the Wolverines. Beginning the year highly ranked but with some concerns about a young team, Michigan played unevenly, slowly gaining confidence and strength as the offense began to jell. We saw sustained excellence on defense and flashes of competence on offense.
A good first game against Florida was followed by wins against Cincinnati and Air Force. The first conference game against Purdue further established the dominance of Michigan’s defense as they allowed only 10 yards and one first down in the second half.
The second season began with the loss to the Spartans, a close loss with another terrific performance by the defense and another limp performance on offense. Drooping slightly, the Wolverines summoned tenacity pulling out an overtime win at Indiana from the jaws of defeat. Indiana was a tougher team than expected, and Penn State tougher still. The 42-13 Saquon Barkley highlight reel capped Michigan’s disappointing slide from national prominence.
Michigan was out of the conversation, near the bottom of the Big Ten East, struggling to get a balanced offense in place, but then…
The third season began with a strong performance at Rutgers and Maryland, the emergence of Brandon Peters as designated quarterback and Karan Higdon as a premiere running back. With Higdon, Chris Evans, Ty Isaac and Kareem Walker, the Michigan running game opened up opportunities to run the option, pass a bit, and kept the defense off the field long enough to bring a ton of smash-mouth football when needed.
That last third ended with a spate of injuries, sending both Higdon and All-Everything defensive end Rashan Gary to the sidelines. Higdon and Gary will play against Wisconsin on Saturday, and we can hope Isaac might see some action as well. All of which matters because …
Michigan is in the position to wreck at least two programs with dreams of reaching the College Football Playoff. Wisconsin is undefeated but has played a weak schedule. The Badgers have to run the table, hosting Michigan and travelling to Minnesota before taking on the winner of the East in the Big Ten title game. A loss to Michigan seals the deal for Wisconsin; no matter how the conference turns out, no playoff for you, Cheese Badgers.
Although Ohio State currently has two losses to Oklahoma and Iowa, they have an easy game against Illinois before facing Michigan. Should they put a whoopin’ on the Wolverines, and should some of the other national contenders continue to stumble (Auburn, Notre Dame, TCU, Penn State, Oklahoma State, USC, Washington, and Ohio State all have two losses), it’s possible that once again, somehow, Ohio State could get the call.
Can Michigan get to the dance? Not this year, but they can send a couple of their closest friends back to the dressing room with some lovely parting gifts.
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The football universe will be keeping an eye on Michigan this weekend and the next. The Wolverines can shape the destiny of some significant contenders and remind the crowds that Michigan is poised to bring it all from the start next year.