FootballSaturday, September 27, 2019
8B
Bowls • Bubble Tea • Bao Buns
Present this coupon for $1 off
your next purchase!
Expires May 2020.
208 W. Liberty (between Ashley St. and 1st St.)
734-369-6942 • www.ChowAnnArbor.com
HANDCRAFTED
I
t has become easy to forget
there is a
football
game to play
this weekend.
That’s in
part because
of the panic
surrounding
Michigan right
now, after every
problem came
to a nadir at
once last Sat-
urday. The resulting fallout from a
blowout loss at Wisconsin has yet
to settle. It’s also because the next
opponent, Rutgers, can do little to
settle it.
The Scarlet Knights are the
worst program in the Big Ten and
one of the worst in the country.
The annual iteration of this game is
usually a slow procession towards
the clock striking zero, and to boot,
Rutgers’ starting quarterback,
McLane Carter, will miss this edi-
tion with a concussion. It’s hard to
quell doubters in the way Michigan
wants against this team.
But not impossible.
Three years ago in the lead-up to
a trip to Piscataway, Jim Harbaugh
was asked the inevitable question
when an inevitable win awaits —
one that dismissed the cliche of
preparing for each opponent and
tried to get at what the Wolverines
could actually take away from the
impending 60-minute formality.
“We’ll treat it as a big game,”
Harbaugh said. “We will treat it as
a championship game.”
Five days later, Michigan walked
off the field with a 78-0 win. The
Wolverines went for 605 total yards
and held Rutgers to 39. When they
were up 27-0, they went for two.
Not only that, but they did so by
faking the extra point. They played
ruthlessly, but as close to perfect
as you can play a game of football.
They showed a killer instinct to the
point of bad sportsmanship.
It’s not just the only time this
century the Wolverines have won
a game by 70, it’s one of just two
they’ve won by 60 or more. The
other was just weeks earlier in the
same season, against Hawaii.
It was hard not to be think-
ing about the unyielding style of
football Michigan used to play this
week when, in the equivalent press
conference five days before play-
ing Rutgers, Harbaugh brought up
questions of effort and hustle.
He wasn’t alluding to Rutgers,
an opponent where effort and hus-
tle might naturally stray, either. He
was alluding to Wisconsin — which
Michigan should have been amped
up to play, a game where it wanted
to prove something.
“Players have to focus. Always
have to play with focus,” Harbaugh
said. “That has to be coached, too.
That’s not getting done.”
That’s a far cry from treating
every game like a championship.
So is the rest of the conversation
around Schembechler Hall this
week.
“Not trying to call out anyone,”
said fifth-year senior tackle Jon
Runyan Jr., “but I feel like there
were some plays (against Wiscon-
sin) where the effort could’ve been
better.”
“We’ve really faced some tough
adversity — and not really neces-
sarily faced some tough adversity,”
said offensive coordinator Josh
Gattis. “We’ve really kind of put
ourselves in some tough adversity.”
“We didn’t want to put that on
national TV,” said graduate trans-
fer defensive end Mike Danna. “We
didn’t want that on our record or
on our label or whatever. Because
that’s not our identity and that’s
not how we play football.”
Right now, though, it is how
Michigan has played. It’s in the
numbers, and it’s on the tape. The
Wolverines have never been fur-
ther removed from that identity-
affirming 78-0 demolition than
they are now.
It’s not much of a question as to
whether Michigan will actually
win this Saturday. It’s a 27.5-point
favorite. But in their last six games
against the spread, the Wolverines
have failed to cover. All by at least
two touchdowns.
Even under normal circum-
stances, just beating Rutgers
wouldn’t be particularly notable.
Here, it would be cause to keep
the alarm bells ringing as Iowa,
a real opponent with a chance of
winning, comes to Ann Arbor next
week.
To convince anyone of anything,
covering the spread is a bare mini-
mum.
Want to get some confidence
around this program again? Want
to get everyone to shut up about
what Michigan can’t do and open
up some room for belief?
Treat this the way this team
treated this game three years ago.
Like a championship game. Play
with a killer instinct. Don’t step off
the pedal.
Show everyone what this
offense’s ceiling is — how three
NFL-level receivers can dominate,
how a senior quarterback can lead,
how this offensive line can plow
open holes for its vaunted fresh-
man running back. Show everyone
how this defense can dominate
like Michigan has throughout Don
Brown’s tenure as coordinator —
everyone swarming the ball, the
quarterback running for his life.
There won’t be a better chance.
It won’t fix every problem, and
being unable to kick the hell out of
Rutgers isn’t one of the existential
crises of the Jim Harbaugh era. But
Rutgers is the opponent in front
of the Wolverines this week, and
doing that would at least be a start.
“You look through the game,
you really don’t need to look at the
stats,” Gattis said.
He was talking about last week.
He should be able to say the same
about this week.
Sears can be reached at
searseth@umich.edu or on
Twitter @ethan_sears.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh took his share of the blame for the disappointing 35-14 loss at Wisconsin last week.
In easy matchup, Michigan can rediscover a killer mentality
ETHAN
SEARS