Michigan football: ‘Team 143 hasn’t accomplished anything’
Michigan won the Big Ten with a surprising season, finishing third nationally and making the college football playoff for the first time. The Wolverines thrashed Ohio State and met almost all of their goals in a magical season.
And now it’s over.
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Nobody will ever forget it, of course. To a man, the players we’ve interviewed for our annual football preview said the OSU win is and always will be one of their best memories of football.
But they also understand that fans have short memories — and so do they. They’ve put the past behind them, senior cornerback DJ Turner said recently, and want it all this year … another Big Ten title and a national championship. Senior quarterback Cade McNamara concurred on the recent In the Trenches podcast with Jon Jansen.
“What we did last year was great. One day, all of us are going to reflect on that season and how great it was,” the Michigan quarterback said. “But what we’ve been really preaching is that was team 142. This is team 143. Team 143 hasn’t accomplished anything. We haven’t won anything; we haven’t even won a single game, so that mentality of not relying on what we’ve done in the past is huge for our team because yes, we were able to prove some people wrong last year. We were able to accomplish our goals, almost all of our goals last season. But that was team 142.
“So, now it’s team 143’s job to make sure it wasn’t a fluke with team 142 and that we carry the mentality. We carry that tradition of winning on into this season. That’s going to be really important for us.”
And it started in the spring. It had a bit of a different feel to it initially, defensive end Mike Morris admitted, with all the new faces. But the end of it, however, they were as tight-knit as last year.
“It’s over repetition, over the times whether we’re working with the coaches, whether we’re talking with the coaches [or not],” McNamara continued. “Anything we’re doing. Really specifically, when it is player to player communication, that’s my job …
“I feel like we have a very veteran offense, a group that has played a lot of snaps. There are a lot of guys who have played in really big games. But I think for guys who maybe were not as much involved as Hassan Haskins was, or whoever that role might be, [they need more].”
And he’s willing to give it. There’s nothing super specific about developing a winning culture, the Michigan senior said — just more of the same.
But they’ve done it before, and they can do it again. That’s the Michigan 2022 mantra, and they got off to a great start this spring.
“I think it’s a cumulation of player led meetings. It’s also adversity [at some point],” McNamara said. “And I think the way our team was able to come together [last year], the way we were able to come out of games with wins and the way that locker room interacted with one another was something special.
“I’m really grateful to be part of such a great team.”
And more than ready to do it all again at Michigan in 2022.
