Inside Michigan football's players-only meeting: 'No pointing fingers'

Michigan football’s 37-33 loss to Michigan State last week in which the Wolverines’ held a 16-point lead more than halfway through the third quarter was a tough setback

However, it wasn’t a knockout blow. Not even close. In fact, if Michigan wins the rest of its games, regardless of what else happens, it’s likely in the College Football Playoff.

The Maize and Blue find themselves at a crossroads. They’re 7-1 and just lost to a rival, but all their goals can still be achieved. The team’s leadership council called a players-only meeting Monday to put the loss behind them and focus on the four-game stretch ahead.

The men who stepped up and spoke were the team’s captains and leaders, redshirt freshman outside linebacker David Ojabo revealed.

“They all had their fair share to say, and the floor was open, too,” he said. “That’s something good to point out. It’s not some hierarchy. We’re all a brotherhood. We all relay the same message, and we’ve got each other’s backs.”

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The message was not to dwell on the loss but to use it as fuel.

“Just have each other’s back,” Ojabo said. “Use this as motivation for our bounce back, instead of pointing fingers, blaming anybody, blaming the coaches. This is our opportunity to pick each other up and keep going. The season’s not over.”

“I took away from it [that] we’re moving on,” second-year freshman right guard Zak Zinter added. “It didn’t end our season. We still have everything we want in front of us. We’re going to win out. And just let it be the past — tough loss, but we’re moving on and can’t do anything about it.

“We had talked before the meeting, as well, and we were all on the same page that we can’t point the fingers at one person here, one person there, one mistake. Everyone had their handprint on the game, and we all need to move on together.”

For the most part, Michigan has handled its bouts with adversity well this season. It lost momentum just before the half at Wisconsin but responded by blowing out the Badgers. The Wolverines fell behind in the second half at Nebraska but ultimately prevailed. Within the MSU game, they weren’t able to come away victorious, but the season will be defined by how they respond.

“We’ve been saying all along that this team’s special,” Zinter said. “It’s been all sunshine and rainbows since the beginning, and I think everyone will see that what makes this team special is something didn’t go right, we had a tough loss — the ability for us to turn it around and finish off the season strong.”

The losses piled up last season, but Zinter insists this group is different. Based on the results to this point, many believe him. But this is the biggest test … and opportunity to prove they’re right.

“I think last year we took a loss and it kind of affected us going into the next week,” he explained. “This year, it’s different, and the leadership on the team has been able to help everyone just move on and get ready for this week.”

“We came in on Sunday, watched the film and we all said in front of everybody, ‘What happened is in the past,'” second-year safety R.J. Moten said. “It sucks, obviously, but we still have four games left in the season to prove that we’re a legit team, so I’ve got hope.”

Practice this week has been crisp and focused. The words said in the meeting are now being acted upon on the fields behind Schembechler Hall and the gridiron inside Al Glick Fieldhouse.

“The energy’s still up,” Ojabo said of the vibe at practice. “We know we’ve got each other’s backs. We can’t have anybody hanging their head low. We’ve just got to bounce back. We can’t blame, we can’t point fingers, we can’t blame the officials, we can’t blame anybody. We’re all we got. Just keep pushing.”

Michigan will take on Indiana this Saturday, and travel to Penn State Nov. 13 and Maryland Nov. 20, before hosting No. 5 Ohio State Nov. 27.