Wolverine Watch: Michigan Needs To Find A Way Forward

By John Borton

Michigan football hasn’t spent a lot of time being mediocre to poor over the past 145 years. You don’t accumulate the most victories in college football history without consistent excellence.

There are always dips, though, through change and circumstance. This is one of them.

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Michigan and Michigan State both enter their Saturday Showdown at The Big House with 4-3 records. Here’s the difference. MSU fans feel giddy about that mark, following a 4-8 record last year and losing records in three of the past four. Michigan followers linger somewhere between resigned and inconsolable regarding the Wolverines’ 4-3 slate.

That’s understandable. Michigan’s coming off the highest of highs — 15-0, national champions, third straight Big Ten championship, third straight win over Ohio State, and arguably the finest three-year stretch in modern U-M football history. The Wolverines have already lost as many games in just over a half season as they did in the past three campaigns combined.

That will make a Wolverines fan cringe like a 2015 U-M-MSU flashback.

Michigan looking for more

So what now? If you’re Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, you dig in, focus on winning the game directly in front of you, and put on a brave face for the troops.

“Yeah, I’d probably go back, not really when I was playing, but more so a couple years back here when we were coaching, like just getting back to the little things, to having fun and the positive reinforcement,” Moore offered on “Inside Michigan Football” about U-M’s present plight. “Because you’ve got to point out the things, you’ve got to call the guys out and keep them accountable. But you’ve got to lift them up, too, because the players hurt more than anybody. You’ve got to make sure that they’re in a good headspace.”

They’re not in a good ahead place, like the past three seasons. At 4-3, 2-2 in the Big Ten, it appears they’ll do well to finish .500, with a 4-5 Big Ten record — their worst since crash landing under Jim Harbaugh at 2-4 in 2020. Doing better would involve knocking off current Associated Press No. 1 Oregon, No. 4 Ohio State in Columbus or No. 13 Indiana in Bloomington.

It would also demand a win over Michigan State. That’s no given, despite the Wolverines being established by the money men in Las Vegas as a touchdown favorite early on.

MSU masterful in mediocrity

In fact, when it comes to a mediocre Michigan versus mediocre Michigan State showdown, well, MSU owns mediocre. Consider the last five times the Spartans and Wolverines have both finished at a game above .500 or worse in a season. Here’s the rundown.

• 2020, at Michigan — Michigan State shocks Michigan, 27-24, throwing at will over U-M defensive backs in a 2-5 MSU season.
• 1984, at Michigan — Michigan State breaks Jim Harbaugh’s arm, and busts free for a 19-7 victory in a year when both teams wind up 6-6.
• 1967, at Michigan — Michigan State dominates, 34-0, despite finishing with a record (3-7) worse than that of the Wolverines (4-6).
• 1962, at East Lansing — Michigan State (5-4) records another shutout, 28-0, over a Michigan team bound for 2-7.
• 1959, at Ann Arbor — Michigan State rolls, 34-8, on the way to 5-4 versus Michigan’s 4-5.

Michigan leads the all-time series, 73-38-5. But obviously, in modern football history, the Spartans are the better of the two at being bad.

Michigan’s advantage? It’s by far better at ceasing to be bad, and staying good to great far longer. And it’s not impossible, even in one year, these days.

Cignetti shows the way

Just ask Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti. The new boss of the historically horrific Hoosiers snagged 10 starters on offense, and roughly half his defense, out of the transfer portal last winter. He sounded like a blowhard when spouting, “I win. Google me!” to reporters before the season.

At 7-0, he doesn’t look so blindly boastful now.

That’s the big-picture job for Michigan, beginning a couple months down the road. This week, it’s finding a way to shut the Spartans up for another year. It might mean a better version of grad QB Jack Tuttle throwing balls away, rather than to MSU defensive backs. It might mean junior QB Alex Orji running service academy ball in an overland assault versus MSU. It could mean the return of senior Davis Warren, or the debut of freshman Jaydn Davis.

What it needs to feature — at the very least — involves a little Devin Bush edge. Bush won’t be in uniform. But a version of his defiant, S-kicking orneriness can be. Michigan gets Michigan State under the lights, and one team fighting for .500 will be plunged a little further into darkness. Team 145 needs to dig up both the attitude and execution to make sure it’s not them.