Ruth Lincoln: Looking ahead, it could be a sad, lonely holiday season for Michigan football
Ruth Lincoln
Daily Sports EditorNovember 8th, 2009
Every Saturday, Wolverine fans see defensive end Brandon Graham as the leader of the Michigan football team. With each ferocious tackle for loss or bone-shattering sack, it’s clear Graham leaves every ounce of himself on the field.
But when the game ends and he’s all alone, it’s a different, more emotional Brandon Graham than the monster who levels opponents each week.
“I wait until I get home and let it all out,” Graham said. “I just go home and think about it and sometimes it’ll be on my mind and sometimes a couple tears drop. Sometimes they don’t.”
Graham shares those tears with a disgruntled fan base wondering how a 4-0 start quickly spiraled into a 5-5 debacle. Looking at the state of the Wolverines, there’s a lot to cry about.
Five straight conference losses, putting the Wolverines tied for last in the Big Ten.
Three consecutive second-half collapses in which opponents outscored Michigan 75-12.
And one major question that has yet to be answered: After winning their fifth game on Oct. 17, will the Wolverines win one more game to become bowl eligible? Or will they miss the postseason for back-to-back years for the first time since the mid-1970s, when no more than one Big Ten team could go to a bowl per season?
If you watch Michigan’s best players like Graham, junior cornerback Donovan Warren and senior tailback Brandon Minor, that answer to the former would seem obvious: yes.
Against Purdue, Minor ran for three touchdowns and 154 rushing yards on a bad ankle. Warren grabbed an interception, and Graham had his typical timely tackles. That’s the talent, leadership and drive you would expect from players set to play in late December or January.
But week after week, the rest of the Wolverines have left much to be desired. Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said before the season that the Wolverines would make a bowl only when they deserved it. But examine the rest of the team, and there’s little reason to believe that reward is coming.
The lack of depth at nearly every position can’t be fixed in the next two weeks. Every Saturday, it’s the same mistakes. Rodriguez keeps saying the effort is there but the execution is missing. From what Warren called “a lot of mental mistakes” to completely blown secondary coverage, the Wolverines simply don’t look like a team that can close out a game. With every miscue, their bowl eligibility is slipping further away.
For a senior like Graham, who has been Michigan’s brightest spot during two seasons of constant struggles and who postponed entering the NFL draft to stay an extra season, you want to hope there’s something that can still be salvaged.
“Just all the goals we had this year go down the drain a little bit,” Graham said, describing what has made him upset about this season. “We just trying to get to a bowl now. That’s a big goal. I’ll really cry if we don’t.”
With a road game against Wisconsin and Ohio State at home remaining on the schedule, the chances Graham’s eyes wells up after Nov. 21 are pretty high.
One of the Big Ten’s quietest surprises this season, the 20th-ranked Badgers have elevated themselves behind a solid rushing offense and an impressive (+5) turnover margin. And considering Wisconsin is 5-1 in Camp Randall Stadium this season, it’s not likely the Wolverines come out with a win there.
Should Michigan earn its sixth win against Ohio State, it couldn’t be a more poetic ending. End a five-season losing streak against its most hated rival, qualify for a bowl and deny the Buckeyes a potential Rose Bowl berth?
Especially for Graham, his freshman year game against Ohio State meant more than just another chapter in the rivalry. It’s hard to forget the No.1 vs. No. 2 matchup that seemed like just the beginning for Graham and his classmates. But a lot has changed in three years.
There’s a reason Ohio State might play for the Rose Bowl and Michigan is playing just to make one. With the Wolverines’ 2009 season already unraveling, not much would sound better than to win in two weeks. For that to happen, it’ll take a different breed of Wolverine than anyone has seen these last six weeks.
As things stand, it’s shaping up to be a teary holiday season for many. It’s admirable Graham is saying the Wolverines will keep fighting week to week, but it’s getting hard to face what now seems like reality. It would be a shame, but it looks like come holiday season, Graham will be singing “The Tracks of My Tears” instead of “The Victors.”
— Lincoln can be reached at lincolnr@umich.edu.
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:49:40 -0500