The pass smacked off the Wisconsin receiver and shot into the air, and linebacker John Thompson held out his hands, praying for the rebound. Down came the ball, a gift from the heavens, and he squeezed it tight, turned toward the end zone and, with the crowd roaring, began his rumble.
Five yards. Ten yards. He slowed, instinctively, waiting for his team to show up, the way the sold-out stadium had been waiting all afternoon, the way Michigan fans have been waiting all season, and suddenly there they were two, three, four, five, six maize-and-blue jerseys, thundering together with Thompson tucked safely in their midst, a force, a group, a unit too powerful to stop.
A Team.
Remember this day, folks. Because they may have just come together, this Michigan football group, a beleaguered collection of young players and a new coaching staff, lugging a wagon full of headlines that said the experiment wasn’t working, it’s taking too long, it’s embarrassing, it’s a mess. Heck, until the fourth quarter Saturday at the Big House, wouldn’t you have said the same thing?
The game had been a disaster, a humiliation, the worst Big Ten opener for Michigan in more than two decades. The Wolverines trailed, 19-0, had five turnovers, one first down, negative yards passing — and it could have been worse. Fans were only cheering sarcastically.
When they weren’t booing.
Out of the blue
But that fourth quarter. Wow. It was movie. An epic. It was Popeye’s spinach kicking in. It was Superman waking up from the kryptonite. It was an offensive explosion and a defensive resurgence that began with less than 12 minutes left, on a touchdown burst by Brandon Minor, and ended with only 13 seconds still on the clock, when Wisconsin’s Allan Evridge threw too high on a last-ditch two-point conversion attempt.
Final score: Michigan 27, Wisconsin 25. The second-biggest comeback in U-M history. The stadium exploded with yellow T-shirted fans leaping to their feet, as if a giant sunburst had splashed onto the seats.
And a new era had, officially, taken hold.
“I’m so proud of these young men” coach Rich Rodriguez gushed to a TV reporter. “They didn’t quit at halftime.”
No matter how logical it seemed.
Let’s be honest. Who expected Michigan to come back from this debacle?
Against Wisconsin? A top-10 team? Michigan had looked terrible losing to a mediocre Notre Dame and overmatched losing to a good but unranked Utah. Here, in the Big Ten opener, it was suddenly supposed to overcome 19 points and all those ugly mistakes against the Badgers, ranked No.9 in the nation?
Well. I guess that’s what they mean by a “team in transition.”
The moment of truth
Although let’s face it. Until the fourth quarter, you would have defined “transition” as walking in on a man changing his pants. U-M indeed looked like someone caught in his underwear, hopping awkwardly, bouncing, dropping things — and wanting to yell “Shut the door!” until the situation improved.
But quarterback Steven Threet, under duress all day, suddenly came alive with accurate throws and some fine running, including a 58-yard fake-handoff burst that led to the Wolverines’ third touchdown of the quarter.
And the U-M defense proved its mettle behind lineman Brandon Graham, who was everywhere, sacking Evridge and forcing a fumble after the Badgers had reached the shadow of U-M’s end zone. There was energy. There was excitement.
There was play-making.
There was a team.
“What does this mean to your program?” Rodriguez was asked by ABC.
“It means we’re 1-0 in the Big Ten,” he said.
And yes, it does. And no, it means more. Every new coach needs a signature victory. Bo Schembechler got his in 1969, in the classic upset of Ohio State.
Houston Nutt got his Saturday at Ole Miss, upsetting No. 4 Florida. These are victories that tell the fans the compass is working, great things are possible on any week, if not every week.
And now Rodriguez has his. It would have been big if U-M had simply won this contest. But to come back the way it did, to exert that pressure, to rise above the mistakes — well, nobody will be able to predict anything now. You won’t know which U-M team will show up in weeks to come — and that’s a good thing for a program just finding its new identity.
Remember this game. Or at the very least, that play, with Thompson thundering to the end zone, swarmed by his teammates, blue on blue on blue on blue. It may be just another highlight. Or it may be something much, much more
No comments:
Post a Comment