Michigan Football: Chris Evans is wrong about the Ohio State game
Michigan football running back Chris Evans believes UM must beat Ohio State or the season is a failure. While that’s a good attitude, it’s simply not true.
Kickoff for Michigan football is still about six weeks away. But that doesn’t mean that the chatter about the Wolverines upcoming season is going to die down anytime soon. In fact, it’s ramping up.
This time of year, everyone is trying to find that different angle and one topic of conversation that has come up in recent days, is the idea put out by Chris Evans that if Michigan football can’t beat Ohio State, the entire 2018 season will be a failure.
Evans, a junior running back, made the comments in a recent interview for the Wolverine.com.
Chris Evans told @TheWolverineMag if Michigan doesn't beat Ohio State, the season is a failure. Agree?
— Michael Spath (@MichaelSpathITH) July 16, 2018
When I heard this statement, the first thing that came to mind was good. That is the kind of urgency that Michigan football should place on the Ohio State game. Ultimately, Michigan won’t be a successful program again, until it can beat the Buckeyes.
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The Wolverines should be thinking and prepare every day to try and beat Ohio State. However, the idea that UM can’t have a successful season without beating Ohio State isn’t true.
Michigan will have a lot of chances to score some big wins this season, starting with Notre Dame in the season opener. Another really important game is Michigan State. As much as the Wolverines need to catch the Buckeyes in the Big Ten East, they also need to pull even and eventually surpass the Spartans too.
With other teams like Wisconsin, Penn State and Nebraska on the schedule, a 9-10 win regular season would be hard to be disappointed with, even if it didn’t include a win over Ohio State.
The real letdown would be if Michigan fell short in all of its rivalry games. If the Wolverines lost to Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State, no matter what else happened, it would be hard to label that campaign a success.
Yet, if the Wolverines can beat one of those teams and win 10 games total, as well as make a major bowl, well then it would be hard to call that a failure. At the very least, it would be a step in the right direction.
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No Michigan football player should ever be accused of focusing too much on Ohio State. However, with wins in some other very important games, the Wolverines could still lose to the Buckeyes and have a successful season.