Michigan Football 2014: The Glass Might Still Be Half Full

By Jacob Lipnik on September 9, 2014

There’s still hope.

Take it from someone who was ready to call AD Dave Brandon Saturday night and suggest he fire the entire coaching staff: buried beneath Notre Dame’s 31 points—each of which felt like another tiny punch to the gut—and that disappointing, embarrassing, pathetic 0 placed next to Michigan’s name in the box score, there’s still hope. The glass might still be half full for the Wolverines’ 2014 football season.

After Michigan was throttled by the Fighting Irish Saturday night—falling behind 21 to 0 at half time and never coming closer to scoring than two missed field goals—article after article was written denouncing these Wolverines. I’ll save you the trouble of sorting through them, since they all said just about the same thing: Michigan’s season is done, all hope is lost.

But I’m here to say that the hope is still there. In fact, there are a few huge reasons for optimism.

To start, let’s give Notre Dame the credit they deserve. They played as close to a flawless game as can be played. The defense was stifling, the running game was consistent, and Everett Golson looked like a bonafide Heisman candidate, throwing for over 200 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Even if Michigan had played its best, it would’ve been hard to beat the Irish that night. And that performance wasn’t an anomaly by any means either. Notre Dame is a legitimate top 10-15 team in the country; some people even consider them a threat to make it to college football’s first ever playoff. Oh, and let’s not forget that Michigan was playing this playoff contender in South Bend, one of the toughest road venues in the country.

So while the way Michigan lost was undeniably pathetic, the fact that they lost isn’t actually so bad. They lost to a very good football team playing a nearly perfect football game. That happens.

Devin Gardner will have to become more consistent for the Wolverines to turn their season around  (Via Flickr.com)

One key factor was very influential in leading to the blowout, though, and it actually bodes well for the Wolverines going forward: injuries. Michigan’s defense looked great its first time on the field, stopping Notre Dame early in their drive and quickly getting the ball to the offense. But Raymon Taylor, one of Michigan’s starting cornerbacks, was injured on that drive. He would never return to the game, noticeably limping on the sidelines with what appeared to be a leg injury of some sort. Jabrill Peppers, the highly touted freshman who had earned a starting spot in the secondary, didn’t see any action in the game either, still nursing an ankle injury he suffered in the season opener against Appalachian State.

I’m not saying Michigan would have won this game if those two players had been healthy, but their absence was certainly felt, as Golson shredded up the secondary for first down after first down. The good news, though, the glass-half-full-ness of their injuries, is that neither one seems too severe. Both players should be back by the start of conference play. If Michigan can’t get by Miami (Ohio) and Utah without them, the team has much bigger issues than its loss at Notre Dame.

Once the whole team is healthy, they’ll be a much more complete—maybe even elite—unit. The offense, a young group, should be showing improvement by conference play as well. And in the end, Big Ten play is all that really matters this season. Nobody actually thought Michigan was going to make it to the College Football Playoff. Hoke has said again and again that the goal of the season is to win a Big Ten championship, and that goal remains very much attainable—the Notre Dame loss, as bad as it was, doesn’t affect the race for a conference championship one bit. And that race isn’t against a very impressive bunch this year.

Simply put, the Big Ten is bad. Only three teams (Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin) are ranked in the AP top 25, with none in the top 10 and only one (MSU) in the top 15. Each of these ranked teams has already lost a game this season. Past those three and Nebraska, who is just outside the top 25, the Big Ten isn’t very daunting.

Head coach Brady Hoke could finally get this expression off his face with a Big Ten championship (Via Flickr.com)

Michigan’s path within it isn’t very daunting either: it’ll have two tough games on the road at Michigan State and Ohio State, but avoids playing either Nebraska or Wisconsin. Other than that, the rest of the schedule is against lower tier Big Ten teams; their toughest game of the season is already past—it’ll be easier from here on out.

Although Michigan might not be a great team this year, they don’t have to be. They just have to be the best of a not so great bunch. If they can squeeze out a big road win in East Lansing or Columbus; if they can avoid any unexpected upsets; if they can stay healthy; if a few things fall in their favor, Michigan could very well end up winning the Big Ten. If that happens, the sting from that disappointing, embarrassing, pathetic loss at Notre Dame will be just a tiny road bump in an otherwise successful season.

I’ll drink a half full glass to that.

 

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