War is not football, and football is not war, but having done both, they sometimes look like one another.

In 331 BC (BCE), two great armies stood across a field from one another. The field sits northeast of what is today Mosul, Iraq, and still looks much as it did 2,000 years ago. (1 star, would not recommend). The army of the Macedonian king Alexander were young, but full of promise. Having built their empire from practically nothing in just two generations, the Macedonians knew that in order to achieve the greatness they and their young king so desired, they would have to go through the old foe of the Greeks, the Achaemenid Empire, better known as the First Persian Empire. (Yes, those Persians you 300 viewers)

The Persians were the strongest empire in this part of the Ancient world. Despite massive defeats at Marathon and Platea at the hands of the Athenians and the Spartans a century before, the Persians remained dominant. Their king had brought a massive army to the field at Gaugamela. Mobile, with chariots, light infantry, archers, elephants and even some Greek mercenaries; by all traditional standards, they outmatched the massively inferior sons of Helen who stood waiting across the field.

Alexander knew the Persians, and he knew himself. He knew if he let them, the Persians would ride around him all over the field and encircle him. Therefore, Alexander created one of the most ingenious battle plans the world has ever seen. He would have one part of his army under Parmenion, leading some of his less effective troops, angle the battle line in such a way that he could continue to give ground as the more mobile and numerous Persians advanced. As long as Parmenion bent, but did not break, Alexander had a chance to bring his strongest, most experienced units into a decisive blow.

As the battle waged, Parmenion bent, and bent some more, and bent again until he became surrounded by Persians; but he did not break. Despite the Persian Army throwing their best units at him, he held. He held just long enough, when, at the point he was about to collapse, Alexander smashed his best soldiers into the softest spot of the Persian Army, and destroyed their empire there on the field. So was born the legend of Alexander the Great.

Vincent Gray went to my high school. Not at the same time, I’m considerably older, but we went to the same school as Madonna. He played football where I did. Where my brother won a state championship in football. His head coach remodeled my mom’s kitchen the first year he took the job. I wanted Vincent Gray to be great. But he was terrible. I do not question his effort, I do not question his heart, but on the field, his performance was a weakness that team after team exploited to humiliating loss after humiliating loss.

I was not alone in being nervous at the beginning of the season….how much development could the weakest position on the team have possibly made in one off season, after the disaster on the field the season prior? I looked at Vincent Gray in particular and thought, “that dude and his hoodie are never going to work”. Then some games went by….sure, not against greatest passing teams, but it wasn’t as if Sparty 2020 was a huge passing juggernaut. We saw them get better, even against teams that could throw, they bent, and on occasion, they bent hard, but they never broke. Even the most optimistic amongst us thought….”Maybe they can stand against Ohio just enough…just that one time”

Then Michigan stood across the field from Ohio. With their NFL position room of receivers, and a QB who could throw all over the field, everyone who had ever seen a Michigan game this season knew what had to be done. The secondary just needed to hold. Hold just long enough for the greatest Defensive End ever to play at Michigan and his wingman to get home. Hold just long enough that Ohio was forced to play the Michigan way, one first down at a time. Force Ohio to take time off the clock, the way Michigan and its running game wanted to do. Force Ohio to be party to their own destruction.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know if we could do it. Ohio could have easily hung 100 on Sparty the weak before. But there were no Spartans at Gaugamela. There was only Vincent Gray and his friends, and a great plan drawn up by a young, inexperienced general no one was absolutely certain could handle it. And for 60 minutes they held. They bent, and Ohio with its amazing talent found gaps, but they never broke. They never let their opponent dictate how the battle would go. They did their jobs just long enough for those defensive ends to finish it: just long enough for Hassan Haskins to punch through their defenses and shatter their will. And when it came to the very end, Ohio’s very last chance, it was Vincent Gray who made the last tackle. The worst secondary player on the team last year, the guy who could have quit, who could have left, but instead got better, and triumphed. That is a Michigan Man. And while everyone will remember Hutchinson, and Haskins, and Alexander, and few will remember Gray and Parmenion, I’ll remember Vincent. I’ll remember that Michigan Man.