Michigan’s game against Northwestern last year ended with jubilation. A 53-yard grab by Roy Roundtree with time running out set up a game-tying field goal, and the Wolverines won in overtime.
For the Wildcats, it was heartbreak. The Daily sat down with two of the team’s leaders, Kain Colter and Venric Mark (who will miss the rest of the season with an injury), to — gently — get their thoughts on that loss and this year’s team:
The Michigan Daily: Can we talk about last year’s Michigan game? I see you’re rolling your eyes a little. How difficult was the ending to swallow?
Kain Colter: I mean, yeah, it sucked but like everything in life, you’ve got to learn from your negative experiences, try to fix what you should’ve fixed in that game. Hindsight is 20/20, so looking back there’s a lot of things we wish we could’ve capitalized on. Fix it this year.
TMD: You do have a chance to fix it this year. How much extra motivation will that provide?
KC We feel like we owe them one, but every game is different, every team is different. Our team this year is different than the team we had last year. Their team’s different. It’s going to be a different game, but we feel like we owe them one.
TMD: What ways is this year’s team different than 2012?
Venric Mark: We’re faster, we’re a lot more experienced, we’re more physical, we have a different mindset. We came into their house, we had a hard-fought game. We were winning that game. There were different calls that didn’t go our way like my kick return that got called back, which was questionable. Kain was making great throws, and that last play was something that was out of our control. Like Kain said, they won that game, but we’re going to be prepared, and so should they.
TMD: You mentioned the team is more physical this year. How much of a focus has that been?
VM: Our focus mainly has been on our mindset. We’ve always had big players. Most of our big players have come back. We’ve worked hard this summer. I can honestly say the best condition that we’ve been in so far. We’re getting stronger, and on top of that mindset is key. If you look back at that game, overtime, that takes a certain mindset to win a game in overtime. So we’ll be ready.
TMD: What is that mindset?
VM: Killer mentality. Go out to kill. We’re not just going after this one game, we’re going to have to put opponents away, and that’s what we plan on doing.