Ohio State celebrates victory over Michigan. AP photo
Back when the University of Michigan football team jumped out to a 4-0 record this season, freshman quarterback Tate Forcier, who threw a game-winning touchdown in the final minute of the game, told the media, “I never get nervous, I’m confident in what I can do. There’s no reason to be nervous, this is what I’ve been trained to do."
How things have changed.
Since that 4-0 start, Michigan went 1-7 and the only win in that time came against small college Delaware State.
Michigan ended its season on Saturday with a 21-10 loss over No. 9 Ohio State, giving the Buckeyes the outright Big Ten championship in the 106th meeting between the rivals. It was OSU’s sixth straight over the Wolverines. Michigan ends the season at 5-7 and 1-7 in the Big Ten, in last place.
The Wolverines will not go to a bowl game for the second straight year. It’s the first time Michigan has had back-to-back losing seasons since 1963. On a day when Michigan’s defense had its best outing of the season, Michigan’s offense -- especially Forcier -- handed the game to Ohio State.
Forcier fumbled in the end zone to give Ohio State its first touchdown and then threw four interceptions, two in the fourth quarter as Michigan was driving near the goal line.
Forcier, always willing to talk the press, brushed by media onlookers after the game, saying, “I’m not supposed to talk to you guys.”
Forcier did send a text message to the Associated Press about an hour after the game. “I lost that final game,” the message said. “This offseason, I’m gonna make sure myself and every single person on this team works the hardest we have ever worked.”
Forcier was 23 of 38 for 226 yards and a touchdown.
“There’s never one reason you lose a football game,” said second-year head coach Rich Rodriguez. “Especially when you beat yourself.”
The coach said Forcier “will learn from this game. I know he’s upset. There’s a reason most players don’t play as a true freshman but he got a rare chance to play and he’ll be better next year.”
The turnovers made all the difference. Michigan gained 309 yards while OSU gained 318. The Buckeyes waited for Michigan mistakes and then capitalized. For the season, Ohio State was plus 14 in turnovers, among then nation’s best, while Michigan was minus 10.
“We had to be almost perfect against them and we weren’t,” said Rodriguez.
Michigan was 3-9 last year, Michigan’s first losing season in 33 years and Rodriguez said his team improved this year, but they still have a long way to go.
“We’re going to get there,” he said. “How much does a man gotta get humbled? Got humbled last year, been humbled before, be humbled again. I’m tired of being humbled.”
Ohio State beat Michigan last year, 42-7.
Rodriguez said his team is “getting better every day. Some of you don’t believe it but I see it daily. This team is close and no one is going to divide this team. I won’t allow it and the team won’t allow it.”
It was just three years ago when Michigan, ranked No. 2 in the nation, took on Ohio State, No. 1, with a berth in the national championship on the line. The Buckeyes won, 42-39, and nothing has been the same since.
Michigan’s next game was the season opener in 2007 and the Wolverines began the campaign with a shocking loss to Appalachian State. Later that season coach Lloyd Carr announced his retirement and Rodriguez left West Virginia for Ann Arbor. The spread offense was brought to Michigan and the new regime has coughed and sputtered.
“We have to better in February, that’s the key for us,” Rodriguez said Saturday. National signing day for recruits is in February.
Michigan’s only touchdown Saturday came on a pass to freshman running back Vincent Smith. The Wolverines missed senior Brandon Minor, who was held out of his final game in a Michigan uniform with a bad shoulder.
A highlight for Michigan was the play of defensive end Brandon Graham, who ended the season as the national leader in tackles for a loss with 25. He had four more against the Buckeyes, including two in the fourth quarter that kept Michigan’s faint hopes alive.
“We had a lot to play for,” Graham said. “Everybody fought . We knew we had a lot to make up for these past few games on defense.”
Graham, a senior, called the last two seasons “painful.” “It hurts,” said Graham. “I think about it all the time. The first two years I was here it always came down to the Ohio State game to win the Big Ten title.”
On Saturday, with former great Archie Griffin looking on and the Buckeyes wearing throwback uniforms, Ohio State celebrated by singing the school’s alma mater in the end zone after the game.
With no bowl game and the season over, Michigan players will clean out their lockers this week and will meet once more as a team a week from Monday.
For more info: mgoblue, ann arbor.com, Detroit News
Comments
Well, the only bright light was the fact the defense played their best game (vs. a good opponent, that is) of the year, and without the Forcier giveaways (5), UM could have pulled the major upset. The schedule was so weak, with a poor Big Ten and bad nonconference foes (EMU could not beat half of the HS's in Michigan!), this result is pathetic. Illinois and Purdue should have been wins, and with better coaching MSU and Iowa could have been wins as well. Rich Rod may turn it around but he has done a poor job the first two years, and has aggravated many fans along the way. Lloyd Carr dismantled the defense his last 3 seasons, and the results are showing up big time now. That being said, RR should show some class and character, and take responsibility for the results. UM has turned into a laughingstock, and while Ann Arbor is no Columbus or Baton Rouge (where they REALLY take their football seriously), it is embarrassing to see from the nation's winningest program of all time!
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