Football heaven

by Kevin

I am still basking in the glow of the Michigan game this weekend. I am not sure you can understand the psychic healing that game involved for Michigan fans. It was like Christmas and your birthday wrapped into one. It is hard to remember a more important win for this program in many years. I was unlucky enough to be out of the country for Michigan’s last Rose Bowl win so perhaps that year’s win over Ohio State would be the last game where I felt Michigan had that much on the line and won.

Drubbing Notre Dame in South Bend was exactly what this program needed. Carr has a pretty strong record against highly ranked opponents but the team has struggled in the rivalry games of late. Coming into Saturday UM was 1-4 against both Ohio State and Notre Dame. Michigan hadn’t won its opening road game since the mid nineties. Most fans would love to have a team as consistent and tradition laden as Michigan. But with that history and tradition comes responsibility. A decent winning record and a bowl game just doesn’t cut it.

What Michigan need was a big game to show that it belonged in the national conversation. Saturday was just that. The defense look aggressive and stayed that way. They created turnovers and dominated the game. Chad Henne finally seemed to get his accuracy issues settled and was dropping gorgeous passes into the hands of his wideouts. Mike Hart was Mike Hart. Man that felt good. To look at the team and feel the dominance was practically indescribably good.


BUT. BUT. What Michigan needs now is a continuation of this dominance. One win feels great, but a loss in a weakened Big Ten or another poor performance against Ohio State and this win will not be as special. Far better to have this win be the start of a magical season than to have it be a bright spot in a what might have been season.

So I will always have a warm spot in my heart when I think of this game, but now I am focused on revenge against Wisconsin.