Michigan Then
It’s September 2009 and you’ve just enrolled at the University of Michigan. In the years leading up to this moment, you’ve been that most dreaded thing a native Michigander can be: neutral. You guess like Michigan for football and Michigan State for basketball. Heinous. A doltish folly from a guarded soul. It’s the kind of thing you can think of only if you haven’t let yourself experience one single college football season. You don’t yet know how important it is to give yourself up to the whiplash of glories and gut punches.
And now, you become a Michigan football fan during what is now commonly known as “The Bleak Ominousness, From Which Emergence Is Conjectural And Pain Is Perpetual Except For That Sugar Bowl Season Kind Of.” You’re watching Rich Rodriguez try to figure out who should quarterback his no-huddle spread offense, a mountain-moving shift in Michigan’s offensive philosophy after decades of “Run The Dang Ball No Matter What, And Take Your Time While We’re At It.”
The first snap you see goes to Tate Forcier, Michigan’s flash-in-the-pan ‘Tate’ nearly a decade before Ohio State’s flash-in-the-pan ‘Tate.’ About 11 minutes of game clock later you see Denard Robinson fumble his first ever college football snap, pick it up, then bachata his way around the Western Michigan Broncos for 43 yards into the endzone.
Michigan Now
Not to ‘yadda yadda yadda’ us to now, but here we are.
After 15-plus years of certain demise: immortality. Michigan football rode a five-star quarterback, back-breaking run game, and torrid defense all the way to the promised land. Yes, of course, there were some hiccups.
Forbidden breakfast cheeseburgers may or may not have been purchased. Suspensions were handed out like so many flyers on Diag Day. One particular Stalion broke off from the herd to…well, no one is sure yet. Netflix proposes to tell us soon enough.
Through it all, ultimately: national champions.
In the aftermath: the old coach dashes, the new coach smashes, and at least on paper, the team returns more talent than they’re being credited. However, let’s not talk about ‘on paper.’ Not yet, anyway. Right now, let’s focus on the vibes. And so, with all of that in mind: how are we feelin’?
In A Word: Magnificent
Thousand-foot view: the vibes are great. Why wouldn’t they be? Since January 1, 2024, here’s what’s happened with Michigan football:
- Defeated Alabama and sunsetted the Nick Saban Coaching Experience. This (fortunately? unfortunately?) gives way to the Nick Saban Broadcasting Experience.
- Defeated Washington and won the College Football Playoff National Championship, cementing a perfect season.
- Sent Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL to coach the
San DiegoLos Angeles Chargers. - Sent 13 players to the NFL in the Draft.
- Promoted tight end coach-turned-offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to head coach.
That’s a great six months. Michigan football vibes are, at this point, baked into the program until forcibly removed. They’re woven into its fabric by way of The Great Harbaugh Query: who could possibly have it better than us?
Nobody…Yet
The next six months, on the other hand, are much foggier. Michigan’s 2024 schedule is daunting. Texas, USC, Washington, Oregon, and Ohio State loom in the near distance, and they are all intent on ruining these freshly cultivated vibes. There’s an unsettled situation at the quarterback position. The coaching staff is almost entirely flush with new faces, plus a few internal promotions. There’s a new head coach. Sure, he technically already has 3 wins under his belt after some Substitute Teacher Duty during the aforementioned championship run. But a full season at the helm is a different kind of grind.
A backslide is all but certain. It’s pretty tough to improve on 15-0 and a National Championship. Many will ask if Michigan football can repeat as champions, and many more will answer: no.
And yet, the vibe remains unfettered. As Big Ten Media Days commence and the 2024 preseason begins in earnest, this fanbase is content to bask in the splendor just a little while longer. It’s the kind of acceptance you can only arrive at after years of swift kicks to the shins, knees, and groin.
Everyone knows what comes next, but why think about that just yet? The years of certain death – the dozen Lucy-pulls-the-football almost-wins against OSU, the various ignominies of the Rodriguez and Hoke tenures, the Dave Brandon – steel your emotions.
UNTIL…
You Win The Big One. If you want to feel it fully, you have to open yourself back up, even after you’ve sealed yourself off so the thing you love, the thing you obsess about and glom onto like a remora against the riptide, can’t hurt you. But it still can. You have to let it.
Most schools face certain loss this year, (133 in fact). Most by way of the regular season, some by way of the new 12-team playoff. This time next year, that 134th team will feel the same way Michigan football fans do in the here and now: immortal.
