My 2023 thoughts
Where to begin?
I came to the University in 1971, looking to design spacecraft. I quickly learned that my academic strength was mathematics, got an Applied Math degree from the Engineering College, followed by a Master's and Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh, where my doctoral advisor was a prof I had met (and taken several classes from) at Michigan.
I've written about some of this before. Trying to follow Michigan football from Pittsburgh, Athens (Georgia, my first academic job---Herschel Walker and I arrived the same year---where I met and married my wife), or Madison (Alabama, just outside Huntsville, where I had my second academic job, and where our kids were born), was difficult in the late 20th Century, but I managed. The coaching transitions from Bo to Moeller to Carr were disturbing, but I liked Carr, and I think he handled the 1997 team almost perfectly. (And he did better in later years than I think he gets credit for, but there were mistakes and unfortunate turns.) And, yes, I was an obnoxious fool over 1997. There will be no apologies.
Later coaching transitions (Carr to RichRod to Hoke) were little short of disastrous. Harbaugh did great (mostly with Hoke's players) in 2015, better in 2016, but still short of expectations. Thus we entered the long grim period of unmet expectations. I was the recipient of numerous social media posts/texts from friends and family, taunting me. After the "Trouble with the snap!" moment in 2015, several members of my family were seriously worried about my well-being. But I persisted. The family was now used to my obsessions.
The 2020 season was an utter disaster, and I was hitting rock bottom. By now we had been in AA for 14 years, as I had left academia to take a job in academic (mathematics) publishing at the turn of the century. I was in the position of some current Michigan fans, of becoming apathetic about one team (FB) and putting their energy into another (MBB).
I cannot document this, but I did think 2021 would be a good year---I just had no <bleeping> idea how good it would be. I retired that summer, and some friends gave me tickets to the Indiana game. As we were walking in to the stadium we learned that Purdue was beating Sparty, and that was the necessary predicate to all that followed. The 2021 OSU game is still my favorite game to watch, simply because we kicked their ass from start to finish---and I love the Brandstatter/Dierdorf call).
2022 was just a build upon 2021. I was sorry to lose Cade McNamara, as he was a vital part of 2021; it might have been handled better, by all involved. My daughter came to sit with me for The Game in Columbus, a wonderful experience.
And now we come to 2023, the most epic year in the history of Michigan football. I will confess to some concern about the "natty or bust" rhetoric, as I feared it could easily lead to huge disappointment. But damn, did the kids come through!
Folks laughed at the weak non-conference schedule, unless they wanted to highlight JJ's three picks against Bowling Green (a school I interviewed at for my first academic job; they did not want me), but the team began to continue to dominate against B1G teams. I was worried about Rutgers, because they played us tough in 2021, and had a lead in 2022 before falling apart. I was worried about Indiana, because it was Indiana, and then they scored first (I learned this on the way to the airport, on the way to a family wedding), so I was sweating bricks until we landed in CT and I got the final score.
Everything after that was utter joy. The next game was Sparty, after signgate dropped, and we torched them. The new Purdue coach made some ugly comments, and we torched them. Tony Pettiti made an ass of himself and the kids rubbed his nose in it in the most epic Michigan win in "unHappy Valley" since 1997. Blake Corum sealed it with what I thought (at the time) was his best run of the season; little did I know what was coming.
After a typically tough "trap game" at Maryland (a breakout game for the DL and some dude named Mike, pronounced "Mikey") we came to the 2023 edition of The Game. Again, our daughter (Elinor) came to hold my hand (i.e., sit on our couch), and we thoroughly enjoyed the game. (And Blake had a TD run that arguably was better than the one in Happy Valley.)
(I'll skip over the B1G Championship because, well, the score is the story.)
The Rose Bowl, given its B1G history and our 14 years in Alabama, was the epic game. Again, Elinor was with us. I was resigned to another tragic loss until Corum caught that pass from JJ and got far downfield. When we got to OT (thank God for Jake Thaw's recovery of the punt muff), I was brimming with confidence. After one good run from Blake, we got what I will consider forever the greatest rushing TD in Wolverine history. He would not be denied, and arm-tackles are not going to stop Blake Corum.
Frankly, the stop in OT in the Rose Bowl was a given to me. I had zero worries that Alabama could get a TD. Elinor and I went ballistic after the stop. My wife came downstairs to say she had heard our neighbors screaming. Our son was texting us from Lexington, KY (where he is in graduate school):
YEE FUCKING HAW!
And so we come to January 8; I was late, as I had an online Zoom obligation that kept me away until the 1st Qtr. was mostly over. (Yes, I know, that was bad on my part; Fielding Yost will judge me in the afterlife.) The game was kind of a slog---they could not do anything, and neither could we (after the 1st Qtr.) Corum's burst to extend the lead in the 4th Qtr. was his second-best TD run of the year.
And then came the greatest play in Wolverine history---Mike Sainristil's championship-sealing INT/nearly pick-six. I literally screamed "Mikey---he likes it!) when I realized who had grabbed it. Everything after that is vague, except a weird combo of relief and joy---the kids had done it, and the old farts (like me) could breathe again.
In the days since, I have been spending the money my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas on Wolverine swag. At 70, I think I am allowed. This group of young men---more correctly, the group from 2021--2023, including Cade McNamara---have given us an epic three year run, and I will always be willing to buy them a beer or a Bourbon or whatever, should our paths cross.
As has been said: "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!"
And for the past three years it has been especially great.
January 16th, 2024 at 9:04 PM ^
Well-written.
Michigan had some TEAMS in the 70s - in your memory, were those teams appreciated in their time? Or do we view the past with rose colored glasses?
January 16th, 2024 at 9:38 PM ^
Indeed, they were loved by students, alums and other fans as much as they are now. Maybe more, since there was no internet to share the pissing, moaning and finger-pointing that put a nasty spin on so many things.
January 22nd, 2024 at 9:38 PM ^
Just watch the Anthony Carter win vs Indiana and you will see how awesome it was. Im so jealous of how much fun they had. They had beaten them something like 90-17 over the previous two seasons so fans had every right to leave grumpy with a "Yeah well of course they shouldve beat them, almost lost that damn game" but instead they celebrated like it was a National Championship. Wouldve like to been there.
January 16th, 2024 at 10:59 PM ^
The early 70s teams---71--74---went 41-3-1, I think; the losses were to Stanford in the 72 Rose Bowl, and to OSU in 72 and 74; the tie, of course, was the epic 73 10-10 game. After that 73 OSU game, some folks hung a large banner behind the Fishbowl on the Diag: "We are Proud of our football team!"
Those were "my" four teams. There was a lot of post-game finger-pointing regarding the Rose Bowl and OSU losses, because there was a lot of feeling that Bo's play-calling cost us. IIRC, Joe Falls devoted an entire chapter to the 72 OSU game, titled, "Kick the Field Goal, Bo!" Dennis Franklin and Rob Lytle, two stars of the 72--74 teams (Lytle also played in 75 and 76) were very much appreciated on campus.
The late 70s teams---with Rick Leach at QB---were after my time, so I cannot speak with much authority.
The 72--74 guys really got screwed. They went 30-2-1, the only blemishes being OSU games (all three of which they arguably could have won), but got zero bowl games, because of the "one bowl team only" policy of the Big Ten at that time.
January 17th, 2024 at 8:11 AM ^
I was much younger at the time (8 years old in '72), but the players on those teams were absolute heroes to me. And I feel the same way about the players on this team. Especially Michael Barrett and Mike Sainristil, who didn't clearly have positions early in their careers, stuck with it, and found a way to become leaders on and off the field -- they and a bunch of other players (Corum, JJ, some of the o-linemen and d-linemen) are exemplary for much more than their raw athletic abilities.
January 17th, 2024 at 8:21 AM ^
I followed a similar journey, the ups and downs of fandom. I'm 63 and my username is an homage to the '85 and '97 defenses. I loved watching opposing offenses try and move the ball forward only to see our dominant front 7's crush their intentions with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
Lloyd was frustrating because if they had only opened up the offense like he did in his last game we could have achieved so much more. The RichRod years were tough, but then Denard became so fun to watch. Hoke started with promise then faded. The injustice of 2016 forced me to reevaluate my passion for Michigan football altogether. Why become so emotionally invested when a game can be stolen from you by the officials? (It wasn't the spot so much as the consistently biased calls throughout the game, the PI call against us and the PI non-call against them. The ref slapping a bucknut's ass after a successful play.)
I always had faith in Coach Jim. Even when it looked the most bleak I knew his passion and NFL track record proved he could do it at the college level. At least I believed he could. While I admired our approach to NIL on principle, I questioned if we would ever win a National Championship without paying players like other programs have.
Well whaddayaknow? It turns out a Ball Team, a Brotherhood that loves each other, is well-coached, highly trained, and physically and mentally developed can beat multiple bands of mercenaries. While I love JJ and Blake, Zak and Trevor, Jim, Jesse, Sherrone, Mike Hart, Jay, Clink, and Mike Elston, (what a staff! truly elite, world-class), the Don, Mason Graham & Kenneth Grant, I think I respect, admire and appreciate how we won just as much - developing the character of young Michigan Men.
A season for the ages.
January 17th, 2024 at 1:49 PM ^
Per your Denard comment -- I'll always have a special place in my heart for him because if we had not had him, I can't even imagine how awful those seasons would have been, and I'm SO HAPPY (for he and Mike Hart alike) that he was on the national championship staff. So well deserved.
January 17th, 2024 at 3:09 PM ^
The best part of the last three years is seeing the Harbaugh teams play to their potential. It confirmed that the pre-2021 teams were victims of one damn thing after another (aka snakebite).
I graduated in 1987, so Harbaugh was the QB. His bomb to Koelesar to ice the 1985 game with OSU (the only OSU game I've seen in person) is a personal highlight of my fandom.
January 19th, 2024 at 11:09 PM ^
I watched that on TV in our house in Athens, GA. The live broadcast used an on-field sideline camera because they wanted to capture the ferocity of the hitting. The result was that I had no idea what was happening. Musburger screams about a blitz, they show Harbaugh on the turf, and I was afraid the hit had caused Harbaugh to throw a wounded duck that was being returned for a pick-6. Eventually they put a camera on Kolesar as he crossed the goal line, and my impending cardiac arrest faded.
January 23rd, 2024 at 9:15 AM ^
I was an officer on a ship (USS Durham LKA-114) in Subic Bay Philippines listening to that game on Armed Forces Radio. In the wee hours of the morning. I did not sleep that night I was so excited. That is one of my greatest memories of Michigan Football and the US Navy all wrapped up with a big bow. I love to watch the video on a regular basis. Full circle.
January 17th, 2024 at 3:37 PM ^
I'm loving all these diaries about everyone's fandom over the decades. My daughter pointed out to me that she's 14 while we won the national championship and that I was also 14 when we won the 1997 championship. I barely knew college football existed back then and I'm so grateful she's taken a love to watching Michigan sports with me starting in 2020.
January 18th, 2024 at 9:57 AM ^
I’m with you in that the 17 yd run by Corum against Alabama in OT was the greatest run I’ve seen in my 36-ish years of being a Michigan fan. I could name a bunch of those runs, including a few from the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but that 17 yarder was be of the hardest, won’t-be-denied runs that will live in my memory for a long time.
January 18th, 2024 at 10:07 AM ^
I wrote about this in a different thread. In short: I started in 1999 and was happy with the Lloyd years. Every game was a potential win (even though we would invariably mess something up in the season). The RR and Hoke years was a total retraining on being a Michigan fan. As I said, finding the joy in beating Indiana. Harbaugh immediately brought us back to the Carr feeling, but by 2018 OSU, it was a defeated version of the Carr era. OSU was insurmountable. Fandom was purgatory. 2020 was hell. 2021 OSU changed everything.
Some of My 2023 Thoughts
This season was 4 chapters with an epilogue.
Chapter 1: Club the baby seals
Looking at the schedule we knew the preseason would last 9 games. Nothing interesting would happen until Penn State. The non-con was of course dominating. But with some screwing around and sitting starters, the scores were only dominant, not other worldly.
There was early mild annoyance with Rutgers but it still felt dominant. Then starting with Nebraska it felt like the team was truly special. Going into Minnesota I had never felt so confident about blowing out a team. They did not disappoint. Indiana took a minute but was the same.
MSU and Purdue were due to round out the uneventful preseason. And then...
Chapter 2: Wyld Stallynz
Without rehashing the details here, I was immediately concerned this would derail the season. I didn't yet know just how focused the team was. I thought we would learn something useful about their mental toughness from the MSU game. They didn't just pass with flying colors but made me feel like the team could not be broken. I had absolutely no fear going into Purdue and was mad about JJ only completing 65% of his passes (lol).
Chapter 3: The (ir)regular season
As chapter 2 unfolded, I became convinced nothing more disruptive would happen with Stalions. The NCAA was going to wait until 2024 to do anything. It never occurred to me the conference would break its own rules to sabotage one of its crown jewels, despite Thamel's desperate attempts to make it happen. But the other 13 schools (or 10, maybe excepting Minny/Iowa/Northwestern if I had to guess) smelled blood in the water thanks to ESPN/Yahoo/The Athletic/CBS and were focused on killing Harbaugh. Michigan as collateral damage would be a happy accident. It basically worked. Harbaugh suspended.
Going into the Penn State game, I was still pretty sure the team wouldn't lose from a lack of focus but it was putting it to another test. On top of that, at Penn State was a tough game in its own right. I was concerned. I wanted this game as bad as I have ever wanted a game, except maybe OSU 2006.
It was not exactly how I expected it but they delivered and I thought, okay, this is the team. This is the year. This really is real.
The Stalions narrative did not die, obviously, but it took a severe hit.
The Maryland speed bump I was willing to chalk up to the old Ohio State look-ahead. Mildly annoyed, not overly concerned. And we knew that JJ was hurt, although apparently more hurt than we realized at the time.
Headed into OSU, I was not 100% positive we would win, but I was 100% positive we were going to be in the game and felt really good about it. And again like PSU, I wanted this game more than any game ever. Maybe more than OSU 2006. This game felt like everything.
The Stalions narrative died that day.
Yeah it did. I know some people (especially MSU/OSU people) pretend it didn't, but it did.
Though technically the postseason, the Iowa game was the falling action of this chapter, a nondescript game reminiscent of the preseason.
And with Georgia out, that meant we got to pick our stadium for the semifinal. On to the Rose Bowl.
Chapter 4: The postseason
A month off to soak up the season, listen to the silence of Michigan’s critics with regards to Stalions, and revel in the Ohio State fallout was like a little football vacation.
But still, we had to hear “SEC” and all that, and how Michigan was good but not good enough. Well, at least we were back to the normal sort of punditry. And for a hot minute, the dead Stalions story popped up like a zombie because Alabama brought up the Catapult security issues, and the media rushed to misinterpret the situation, of course. But Roman Wilson and Sherrone Moore gave it a quick headshot to kill it and it mercifully went away.
Like the Ohio State game, I wasn’t guaranteeing a win, but I had supreme confidence we could. And while I didn’t feel that a win was a requirement for validation, I knew that I would have to deal with the Paul Finebaum’s of the world (of which there would be many) who would look at a loss as an indictment of Michigan, even as they also believed that Alabama was invincible, their consistent struggles throughout the season notwithstanding. The magic of one win over Georgia was really something to behold. On McCarthy’s first throw, all of the terrible TCU (and every other bowl game ever) feelings came back. Thank goodness it turned into one of the great moments in Michigan history.
Going into the Washington game, I thought for sure that Michigan would finally be the presumptive winner for everyone, only to find out that so many people still looked for ways to bring down Michigan. I suppose I understood that Washington was just a trendy upset pick, and was an extremely likable team to boot. But I couldn’t help but feel that the whole “Michigan has never seen an offense like Washington before” was a slight while no one wanted to counter with the fact that Washington hadn’t seen a defense like Michigan’s.
In the words of Michael Barrett: They tried to count us out, but they don’t know how to count.
The Epilogue
That certain segment of fans (basically all MSU and OSU fans) will never let go of Stalions and call this a title with an asterisk, even if it’s not ultimately vacated (and of course I think it’s laughable that it would be). More than that, they’ve deluded themselves into believing the prevailing view is that Michigan cheated their way to a title. That is not what most people believe.
Even if we concede that the videos sent to Stalions was cheating (I’m not getting into that here), there is truly no reason to believe that it was even moderately impactful. Again, not here to debate the MSU fanbase on the details right now, but no one knows what advantage Michigan actually gained—if any—and all we really do know is that post-Stalions Michigan still beat the crap out of terrible teams (Purdue and MSU) and then beat the only good teams they played all year in more competitive fashion. How that can be seen as anything other than validation, I don’t know.
As for the future of Jim Harbaugh, and our program in general, the epilogue is not finished. Personally I am fine if Harbaugh leaves and frankly it makes sense from a story perspective. This era—this Michigan era and this college football era—is finished. The new journey begins in the fall of 2024.
January 19th, 2024 at 5:50 PM ^
Well written, and you seem like a really pleasant person! the defending of Cade shows you have a big heart
January 19th, 2024 at 11:26 PM ^
Thank you. (My older brother does not think I am pleasant, but he was born in the OSU hospital, so ...) It is/was a sad situation. If Cade had been able to realistically assess things, and stuck it out here (and there might well be some blame there on the staff) he would have more rings, and be in line to start next year. As I understand things, he red-shirted in 2019, played in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He is planning on using the Covid-shirt to play next year. He might be able to get a medical red-shirt for 2022, and have two years more. I liked Cade's moxie, character (until he decided to transfer), and determination, but JJ's skill-set was far superior.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:34 PM ^
Enjoyed this. I think there is a good argument that Corum's run against Alabama was his best, but his TD run after Zinter went down might carry the day for me because of the emotional impact it had.
January 23rd, 2024 at 9:04 AM ^
Well said. I've had season tickets since 1981, and there were many years I considered dropping them, and many of my friends did so in the dark years. But the solid group around me in the stadium, those who stayed...are champions. Everything was worth it, I would not change a thing. You have to go through the bad to appreciate the good. And boy do we have it good. Enjoy everything. Go Blue!
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