The Edge Of Space
I wrote one of these eleven years ago, when Michigan basketball took on Louisville in Atlanta. It never saw the light of day because Michigan did not win that game, but it was titled the same thing. I had largely opted out of the great grim period before John Beilein was hired and so the post had undertones of apology to those who did not, those hardy folks who stuck it out through Ellerbe and Amaker.
I said that everyone was going to float that night, but the people who had invested more would find themselves lighter, and go higher. I said that the payoff here was proportional to the pain. And I still believe that.
Apply it to Michigan football, now: a slow degradation over the last few years of the Carr era, culminating in less than 100 yards of offense against OSU. Then a good-on-paper hire who Michigan sabotaged internally with a bullshit NCAA investigation. Then Rich Rodriguez did a pretty good job of sabotaging himself. This was followed by a hollow suit hiring Brady Hoke over Jim Harbaugh and telling us "all that glitters is not gold." This was followed by Brandon's unceremonious firing—Hoke exited soon after—and Jim Hackett dropping in with a single mission: hire Harbaugh. This he accomplished.
In some ways this was the worst part of the journey here. Harbaugh immediately improved the team to near-elite levels but could not get over the giant hump at the end of the season. After a two-year ramp up period Michigan lost in double OT with an injured starting QB; the next year the starting QB went down again in a game that anyone but John O'Korn probably wins. Michigan was so close they could taste it, and then OSU pivoted from being JT Barrett's team to one that would have a series of NFL-level passing attacks. The next year Michigan entered The Game with the #1 defense in the country and proceeded to give up 62 points. Ryan Day would infamously promise to "hang 100 on 'em" after 2019, when OSU put up 56.
This is the point where I more or less gave up hope. After all that—dumping Brandon and getting Harbaugh and being one nanometer away from the paradigm-shifting win—Michigan was once again playing football seasons that existed merely as foreshadowing for an apocalypse. I was not in a mental space to regard 2020 as fake, which it now clearly was, and wanted someone other than Harbaugh in 2021.
As teams were headed to locker rooms at the half. @OhioStateFB @UMichFootball
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 27, 2021
About to be an interesting 2nd H
@CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/knxp97O4Oq
To go from that nadir to the last three years… I have experienced nothing like it as a sports fan and never will again. Because that all counts. Some years ago, when the site was small enough that I could only afford to have Paul Nelson and Tim Sullivan on part-time, I asked Paul to put together a weird highlight video set to Rilo Kiley's A Better Son/Daughter that spent its first half reprising debacles in black and white. A certain segment of the Michigan fanbase revisits it, or something like it, periodically, to the point where there is occasional backlash against that vibe. We have occasionally caught flak around here for being the type of site that puts up posts like "here are the worst plays of the last ten years whoops here's part two." The word "wallowing" could apply to fairly large swathes of our content.
Why did we do that? Because it hurt, and that counts. It hurt so badly that at times I swore this was the least fun program in America to follow, or wrote a column that was entirely about buying a new mattress, or tailed off in the distance trailing UFRs I would never get around to doing. Sometimes when we did do one—usually this was Seth—the comments section would be filled with people wailing "whyyyyy did you do this?"I dunno. It's who we are. We're not here to paper over holes in your heart. There would have been something dishonest about not wallowing during… all that.
But then… this team. And the two before it, all part of the process of getting here. Aidan Hutchinson is on this team. Hassan Haskins is. Luke Schoonmaker, Olu Oluwatimi, Brandon Graham, Denard Robinson… every bit of hope chiseled out by a guy fighting so hard and so futilely before the breakthrough is on this team. Khalid Hill getting into the endzone by an inch on fourth and goal in Columbus. Devin Gardner putting the team on his back with a broken foot. None of that was enough, until it was. Until some wonderful idiot started waving chairs around and Michigan said fuck all that wallowing shit. The past is past.
This team took on Washington and Alabama and Ohio State and Penn State in the midst of the most ridiculous sturm und drang in the history of college football, and in the end they proved what I'd hoped back in August, a thousand years ago:
They run like my kids run. My kids do not have keys, or a wallet, or a phone. They do not have objects they carry around every day that represent demands, obligations, responsibilities. Mortgages, credit card balances, texts you have to answer from people you do not want to talk to.
Unlike my kids, they do have all of those objects, and all of those demands, obligations, and responsibilities. They've signed up for an order of magnitude more than their fair share by playing football at the University of Michigan™. But they do not seem burdened by it. They are joyful. They run like there is nothing in their pockets, nothing at all.
This is as good as it gets. I was planning to fly home tomorrow; I still will, but I won't need a plane.
Go Blue.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:42 PM ^
They did it, guys. They fuckin did it.
January 9th, 2024 at 1:04 AM ^
The weather forcast in Houston, TX:
January 9th, 2024 at 2:30 PM ^
It did actually hail around 1am downtown, it was meant to be.
January 9th, 2024 at 10:26 PM ^
Proof ....
January 9th, 2024 at 2:12 AM ^
Sometimes when you're on, you're really fucking on. And your friends sing along and are proud. Tonight is for greatness personified. Michigan conquered Everybody and lived to rejoice in that splendor of joy.
For Michigan fans everywhere from 1997 to now, you know how it feels to be the leaders and best, no doubts, no questions asked, just receipts from Team 144, that promised greatness and delivered it on its own terms in gratitude for team, the team, the team. We are what we thought we are, National Champions, because those who stayed made it happen.
January 9th, 2024 at 2:19 AM ^
"Pull it down!"
January 9th, 2024 at 4:08 AM ^
Michigan thank you. Thank you so fucking much. GO FUCKING BLUE.
January 9th, 2024 at 7:23 AM ^
I do not think it is melodramatic to claim we will never see a team like this again, maybe in all of college football. The way they play for eachother is inspiring. They had so many guys come back, so many guys stay, a player lead championship team. The expansion of the conference and the playoff, prolific NIL money, and transfer portal all push the game (rightfully) toward a professional league.
I am so happy my kids (10/8) got to watch this team go out and do it. Never gave up and beat everyone. Feels like so many things came together at once and they truly were a team of destiny.
Go blue!
January 9th, 2024 at 9:08 AM ^
They are the first, best, and last true college team we will ever see.
These are the teams we will see giving interviews and reminiscing about with our grandkids. Dust off an old frame and tell the story of Team 144.
God Bless you Jim, Jesse, Sherrone, Mikey, Will, JJ, Corum, Edwards, Grant, Mason, Makari... God Bless you all.
January 9th, 2024 at 2:30 PM ^
I think it's important to note that this team is the 1st in the Cfp era to win with a "Team Collective Talent" (as assessed by crootin sites) ranking outside the top 10 or something like that.
The crootniks have claimed it wasn't possible because, well, it hadn't been done. The Clemson teams had been the lowest conglomeration of HS talent to win previously, but both were led by superstar QBs.
The reason I think it's important to note this is that Michigan appears to be determined to continue to recruit HS (and now portal) players in this same way going forward. Again, the crootniks, including many many Mgodenizens, say it isn't possible to do this and remain competitive.
I'm beginning to think that building a team is the best way to stay competitive going forward! Already literally dozens of players have grabbed the bag & bolted at A&M and other schools. In two years Jimbo went from the biggest cash outlay for a crootin class ever to the biggest buyout ever!
Now obviously Michigan doesn't win this championship without Donovan, JJ & Will, so they'll need to continue to get some blue-chippers. But by any measure the ❤️ of this team was Blake & the OL, the Mikeys & the DL. These players can be signed without immense, team-chemistry damaging (not to mention impermissible) cash outlays.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:43 PM ^
Go Blue! I love you all.
January 9th, 2024 at 12:11 AM ^
The greatest team in sport covered by the greatest sport writers on the greatest blog on earth! Thank you all--especially you, Brian!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:43 PM ^
Brian, you deserve this. All of this. Thank you for everything you’ve done for our amazing community. Go Blue!
January 9th, 2024 at 12:14 AM ^
Amen. Amazing, Who’s got it better than us?
January 9th, 2024 at 12:23 AM ^
Nooobooodddyyy
January 9th, 2024 at 12:25 AM ^
NOOOOOOBOOODYYYY
January 9th, 2024 at 12:31 AM ^
Noooooobody!!!!
January 9th, 2024 at 1:59 AM ^
NOOOOOOOOOBODY!
January 9th, 2024 at 3:32 AM ^
NOOOBODDDY!!!
January 9th, 2024 at 3:32 AM ^
NOOOBODDDY!!!
January 9th, 2024 at 3:32 AM ^
NOOOBODDDY!!!
January 9th, 2024 at 7:32 AM ^
NOFINGBODY!
January 9th, 2024 at 2:47 PM ^
Nobody!!!!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:43 PM ^
I love everyone
January 9th, 2024 at 1:06 AM ^
Literally all I can say. We weathered the storm of all naysayers and came out with the irrefutable chant. We are champions! Fuck you all! No gracious way to say it.
January 9th, 2024 at 1:11 AM ^
We let a naysayer know!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:43 PM ^
A perfect capstone on a perfect season. Hats off to you, Brian, and the rest of the MGoStaff.
This is only the beginning. Go Blue, forever and always.
January 9th, 2024 at 1:28 PM ^
I genuinely feel affection for these boys as if they were my own sons. Blake Corum...such a sweet kid and a true warrior. Perhaps nothing sums up what they're about than when, like the bunch of dorks that they are, they began spontaneously singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" for a teammate or coach after each game.
This one's for you, Brian.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:44 PM ^
Brian, thanks for being the heartbeat for a long-suffering fanbase. Congrats on your awesome work for all these years. Enjoy this moment!
January 9th, 2024 at 12:22 AM ^
Couldn't agree more. We all read the columns full of agony and disappointment. That was hard enough. I can't imagine writing those columns. Enjoy this one, Brian. We wouldn't be here if not for you.
January 9th, 2024 at 12:25 AM ^
I want to say a huge thank you to those on this blog, and especially Brian. The way you can artfully articulate feels that genuinly encapsulate much of my own mindset is impressive. This blog, and your writing, is cathartic. I am glad we can all finally celebrate the mountaintop. It has been a long journey.
January 9th, 2024 at 12:49 AM ^
They get us because they are us. Love this site. Anyone else exhauhsted?
January 9th, 2024 at 12:51 AM ^
Exhausted yet wired. Not falling asleep any time soon
January 8th, 2024 at 11:44 PM ^
Does not get any better. All the players from 2021 on, including those critical players who transferred deserve our gratitude.
January 9th, 2024 at 12:18 AM ^
Indeed! In my minds eye, the face of this championship season is Mikey Sainristil. A “who dat” middling receiver recruit from Massachusetts, he became a heart and soul player on defense. Eight tackles and an interception! Those who stay…
Oh yes…fuck Ohio State.
January 9th, 2024 at 1:07 AM ^
There will be a 30 for 30 about this team and Mikey will be front and center. What an amazing story!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:44 PM ^
Go blue!!! Feels like a dream.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
Damnit, the bug got me again.
January 9th, 2024 at 3:50 AM ^
Darn onions somehow got in my room
January 8th, 2024 at 11:45 PM ^
Never thought this would happen. O me of little faith. What a beautiful night.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
Go Blue!!!
I have the biggest, dumbest smile on my face and it ain't coming off for days.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
Love you guys. We. Fuckin. Did it.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
A fairytale ending to a story and swell of feelings spanning a generation. Thanks for putting on Mgoblog from the very beginning. Go blue!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
Glad you could finally print it. All these years on this board and... Finally.
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
GO BLUE FOREVER!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
Well said ..... been some dark times since 97 which makes this Championship all the more sweet
January 8th, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
I was accepted to UM on the day of The Game in 2006. My first game as a student was App State. This, this is the culmination of my being. Congrats all. So proud of this squad!
January 9th, 2024 at 2:16 AM ^
Dude, same!
January 8th, 2024 at 11:47 PM ^
Go Blue. So happy for this team and our fan base.
The ferret is dead!!!
Hail!
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