For 19 Michigan players - whether they want to believe it or not - Saturday was the last time they will run out of the Michigan Stadium tunnel in front of 110,000 fans.

Some players cried, some held back. Some said that the reality had set in during the week, while others predicted they wouldn't think about it until after the season's finish. But no matter what, when the 14 fifth-year seniors and five fourth-year seniors look back on their Michigan career, there will be extremely mixed emotions.

The fifth-year seniors came to Michigan in the fall of 1998 riding the hype created by the Wolverines' epic run to the national championship in 1997. They were as talented as any recruiting class in the country, boasting such high-profile names as Drew Henson, David Terrell, Marquise Walker, Justin Fargas and Larry Foote. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr brought in a crop of athletes that was expected to keep the Wolverines at the top of college football for years to come.

But thanks to Michigan's blowout loss to Iowa three weeks ago, no matter what the Wolverines do in Columbus this weekend, it would take an act of God for Michigan to play in the Rose Bowl. This class, along with the small group of true seniors that is leaving, has competed for the Big Ten title every year. But for some reason, they have been unable to equal the feats of that magical team in '97.

And it kills them. They came to Michigan with the expectation to play in at least one Rose Bowl during their careers, and instead, they have spent New Year's Day in Florida every season, and it is likely that this New Year's will be no different. If you're keeping score at home, the Wolverines have gone to just one Rose Bowl in the past nine years.

It hurts every one of their teammates, who know that a win against Iowa at home would have given the seniors a chance to make that elusive trip to Pasadena.

"Yeah, you try not to think about it, but that's the goal when you come to Michigan," said redshirt junior Courtney Morgan, who came to Michigan in 1999 along with the fourth-year seniors. "The national championship is good, the Fiesta Bowl is good, but you come to Michigan to play in that Rose Bowl. And it's sad."

It's also inexplicable that a group that came in with so much talent couldn't turn the corner. There is no doubt in my mind that Michigan should have won at least one outright Big Ten title in the past five years. The early departures of Henson to the New York Yankees and Terrell to the Chicago Bears, along with Fargas' transfer to Southern California, have turned this departing group's legacy into a giant "What if?"