As I left my house for the Big House before the final home game of 2010 on Saturday, the nostalgia hit me like a brick wall.

Instead of taking Fifth Street straight toward the stadium, I took a detour. It was a pretty special day after all — my last game in the Big House as a student, every senior’s last game in the Big House as a student — so I headed for State Street.

Like many of you seniors, my mind immediately flashed back to freshman year. The first time I saw State Street at its finest. The first time I walked past Bongo man. The first time I took a beer bong from the third story of a stranger’s apartment.

It was still the spectacle on Saturday that it was before that first game, when we all excitedly walked to see Michigan — the No. 5 team in the nation at the time — blow out a 1-AA school from Boone, North Carolina that I’d only briefly heard of during the 2000 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

And when that didn’t happen, we all survived Black Saturday. We survived when Michigan lost the next game to Oregon and started its season 0-2 for only the second time in our lifetime. And we survived when we lost one of the ugliest Ohio State games in the history of the rivalry.

And to think, Michigan finished that season 9-4.

We’ve all done a whole lot of surviving in the past four years. And none of it has been easy.

When Lloyd Carr left, it was supposed to be Les Miles who held the reins of Michigan’s most beloved athletic program. Then, it was supposed to be Greg Schiano. But finally, it was Rich Rodriguez, a spread offense genius from the heart of Appalachia.

It was a fiasco of a coaching search that left us all wondering where Michigan football was going. Then, when we saw the direction, most of us wished we could turn back.

The next few seasons went by at a painful snail’s pace. We survived a 3-9 team led by a quarterback who didn’t fit in Rodriguez’s offense and a defense that looked like it couldn’t get worse.

And then Tate Forcier, an 18-year-old signal caller from San Diego, was deemed “savior” of the program. He led Michigan to a 4-0 start last season as a true freshman. He was on Heisman watch lists all over the country. And we all watched as the wheels fell off in the season’s second half.

5-7. Two straight seasons of below-.500 football, and we were still there when Michigan kicked off against Connecticut this season. Still there when they lost to Michigan State, then Iowa, then Penn State. And as we left the Big House for the final time on Saturday, we left having endured four of the most painful years in Michigan football history.

But we made it.

Now that the experience is over, there’s absolutely no reason to sulk. So what if Michigan finished 16-14 at home during your four years. With the exception of a few Saturdays in the last football season (I’m looking at you, Northwestern 2008), you probably had a great time at Michigan Stadium, win or lose.

Sure, the football team owes us, its loyal following, a whole lot of appreciation for the last four years. But what would your college experience have been without Denard Robinson? Without a 112-point, triple-overtime win over Illinois? Or without a last-second failed two-point conversion to beat Wisconsin in 2008?

What would it have been without the “We Own Penn State” chant when we beat the Nittany Lions in 2007? Or Tate’s final drive to beat Notre Dame last season? Or the look on Tim Tebow’s face when Michigan smashed Florida into the ground in the Capital One Bowl?

I know there’s little hope of me convincing you that the last four years have been a success. Even I would be kidding myself if I told you that.

But when all is said and done and the Wolverines leave Columbus next week, win or lose, don’t feel sorry for yourself. Don’t talk about how unlucky you were to see the worst four years in Michigan football history.

Instead, remember those few moments when that team, your team, made you feel like no other sports team can.

Because, in the end, win or loss, few others have fought as hard as we have to be Michigan fans.

And for that, you should be pretty damn proud.