COLUMBUS — It began with Devin Gardner, the fifth-year senior quarterback, throwing an early interception. He hung his head the same way he always has as he rushed off the field to the Ohio State marching band piped in through the speakers.
It ended with Drake Johnson, the sophomore running back, shaking his head in disbelief as he handed in his helmet to a manager one last time this season, all while fans heckled him from the concourse of Ohio Stadium.
Saturday’s game began and ended in the pain you had expected and dreaded for a week.
But somewhere, right in the middle, for 28:27 worth of game time, there was everything you had dreamed this team could be. After it had failed to do so for much of its season, Michigan had finally “executed.”
It ran an offense that rushed the ball well with a running back corps that was three deep. When it didn’t, it turned to its quarterback, who escaped pressure by scrambling to the outside. He was capable of handling pressure and making throws to his No. 1 wide receiver, just as the fifth-year senior had been projected to do.
The Wolverines scored points, stopped one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in J.T. Barrett, and, for 28:27, their performance was everything you had hoped and dreamed it could be.
You forgot about the 5-6 record, the blowout in South Bend, the rain-soaked nightmare against Utah and whatever that was against Northwestern. You forgot about Joe Bolden’s stake, Dave Brandon’s resignation and Mark Schlissel’s candid remarks about the role of athletics on campus.
You forgot, because you saw what the Michigan football team could have been.
You saw Michigan coach Brady Hoke smile, wearing his sunglasses as he high-fived Jack Miller after the Wolverines grabbed the lead. Maybe you smiled, too.
Michigan could have been a team, which, stuck on its own five-yard line, ran the ball to Johnson enough to create space to throw. It could have been a team that utilized its best wide receiver to get in front of defensive backs, as junior Devin Funchess did twice, and pick up a first down. It could have been a team whose quarterback, when no other option was available, scrambled to find room.
A 95-yard drive caught you by surprise, just as it caught Hoke by surprise. He pumped his fist like you pumped your fist, and you thought that maybe, even if you didn’t have a reason to, this was the Michigan team you wanted to support.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Hoke said, “when you see a 95-yard drive. That was neat.”
You forgot about the painfulness of the season when, on the next possession, after receiving a pitch, Johnson stopped, turned around six yards behind the line of scrimmage and lofted a pass to an open Gardner. And you laughed because it worked, and it hadn’t been tried yet, and you knew what Michigan could have tried it at any other point.
You didn’t think about how angry you were with Brady Hoke and how much you clamored for a new coach in the 28:27, because the team you had expected to see all along enthralled you. As Hoke paused in his press conference, he stuttered over his words and forgot about the questions on his future and his impending conversation with Athletic Director Jim Hackett, just like you forgot in that moment.
Those 28 minutes and 27 seconds didn’t erase the sting that came with losing the third straight in the rivalry and missing out on a bowl game. They can’t erase the image of Hoke and Gardner looking up at a scoreboard at the same time during the final minute, with a hand on their hip to see all that could have been come to fruition.
“Would we like to be that way?” Hoke said. “Yeah, we’d like to be like that all the time. Have we been? No.”
But was this the type of team Michigan could have been?
“Yeah. Absolutely,” said Jake Ryan.
Then, in the 28th second, the Buckeyes marched 81 yards down the field, running for 30 yards until they decided they would pass instead. They stopped the Wolverines on the next three possessions, built up a 21-point lead and ruined any hopes of making the game close.
So you remembered what Michigan has been, and it was the same feeling you had before the game as you had after it.
It was irritating because it had been missing for nearly all of this season. It was maddening because those 28 minutes took so long to arrive, yet lasted so briefly you didn’t get to savor them. It was painful because you saw it taken right out in front of you.
But, damn, it was fun.
Garno can be reached at ggarno@umich.edu and on Twitter @G_Garno.