On fourth and long with less than two minutes to go in a tie ball game in raucous Lincoln, Nebraska,  kicker Jake Moody approached an assistant coach before heading to the field to attempt a go-ahead 37-yard field goal.  The assistant stuck a pack of smelling salts into Moody's face mask.  Moody breathed them in deeply, calmly walked onto the field and drilled the ball through the uprights with the same stroke and ball path he does on seemingly every kick.  

After Moody's kick, Nebraska gained one quick first down before Michigan's defensive authoritatively slammed the door on four consecutive snaps. Michigan only needed two kneel downs to walk out of corn country with a unblemished 6-0 record.

Have you ever tried smelling salts?  The only way I can describe them is what it must feel like to inhale vaporized moonshine.  They smack you with a strange combo of simultaneous confusion and clarity.  If you have the type of screw loose that is required to play fullback or professional hockey, smelling salts can bring you a clarity of purpose and act as your personal rocket fuel.  On this team, the offensive line loves them dating back to 9-on-7 drills that formed their identify in the off-season.  But because this is an all caps TEAM, the kicker from Northville loves smelling salts too.  

As the final seconds ticked down and both teams converged to shake hands, All-Everything Senior DE Aidan Hutchinson and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh "hugged," which in their relationship means screaming "COME ON, LET'S GO!" in each others faces interjected with punches to the chest.  The camera angle came from behind Harbaugh, so Hutchinson's raw emotion was the focal point.  As someone who grew up 30 minutes from the Big House, went to school here, and has been hopelessly devoted to Michigan Football for 25 years with legacy alums in my mom and brother, I can tell you that emotion from Hutchinson is something that cannot be faked, and something that you cannot learn in just the 4-5 years in a program that kids have.  Aidan Hutchinson loves Michigan Football as much as Jim Harbaugh does, as much as Josh Rosh and Mike Hart and Ron Bellamy do, as much as you and I do.  When a first round talent passes up the NFL draft in the face of a losing season for his senior year, there is only one message that can reverberate through Schembechler Hall: Michigan Football is bigger than you.  And as Tom Brady has described, you have a responsibility to those that came before you.

I do not mean to suggest that the only way to win at Michigan or anywhere else is with legacy players, or that recruiting local kids is more important than finding talent, wherever it resides.  My point is this: whatever may come the rest of the way, this Michigan Team will play for each other, for their coaches, and for Michigan.  If you are an opponent, they will come into your house, wipe their feet on your rug, and stand their ground with a smelling-salt-induced purpose.  If you have a traditional song you play at dinner, they'll jump up on the table and dance all over your nice cutlery as it plays.  

We can hope that this season is the type that can cement the foundation for this program, but chemistry and culture are hard to build and easy to lose.  So enjoy this run for what it is, in all its imperfect fun.  

Go Blue.