pupil’s failures — it’s their job 
to handle them properly.
And 
if 
Manuel 
and 
his 
department 
can’t, 
they’re 
the ones who should be held 
accountable.
Winning 
programs 
don’t 
excuse that.
Stoll 
can 
be 
reached 
at 
nkstoll@umich.edu 
and 
on 
Twitter @nkstoll.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com 
Wednesday, December 7, 2022 — 11 

Despite second straight Big Ten 
championship, Michigan’s focus lies on the 
national title

SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Editor

drove me so much that this vic-
tory tonight doesn’t really feel like 
anything,” McCarthy said after 
the game. “That’s something that’s 
really hard to come by. I mean, 
back-to-back Big Ten Champion-
ships is amazing, but just that feel-
ing that we had last year, this is just 
in the way of making sure that feel-
ing never happens again.”
It’s a difficult position to be in, 
but it’s also an enviable one. For 
McCarthy and Edwards, they’re 
at a point where accomplishments 
like Saturday night don’t mean 
all that much to them. They want 
more, the Wolverines want more. 
Michigan just captured its 13th 
victory, its most wins in a season 
in program history. And yet, there 
is no trophy for that accomplish-
ment, no banner to hang — it’s 
simply what’s expected of college 
football’s elite. It’s obvious that the 
Wolverines want to be in the upper 
echelon of their sport. Edwards 
proclaimed that much to everyone 
inside Lucas Oil Stadium, moments 
after accepting the Big Ten title 
game MVP trophy.
“I mean it’s kinda self-explana-
tory what our goals are,” Edwards 
said. “I believe we’ve talked about 
it all year. And it’s not really much 
more that needs to be said. … Let’s 
go do what our main goal is.”
Michigan’s goals have been to 
beat its rivals, win the Big Ten, 
make the College Football Playoff 
and win the National Champion-
ship. 
The Wolverines have been very 
upfront about those goals all year, 
they’ve worn them unabashedly 

on their sleeve. But now it’s dif-
ferent. Now, they are on the 
doorstep of their hearts’ desire — 
they’re just two wins away from a 
national title.
Michigan’s dreams of winning 
a national championship are tan-
gible. And McCarthy recognizes 
that.
“I love our chances,” McCar-
thy said. “Last year it was kind of 
the bright lights, everything was 
new, Big Ten Championship, Col-
lege Football Playoff. Going into 
the offseason it gave us so much 
momentum, and we knew that 
we could get there, and we could 
get back. Ultimately, this whole 
offseason it was about winning it.
“Everything is great that hap-
pened today. But job is not fin-
ished. We’ve got a lot bigger plans 
in mind.”
It’s really that simple. The 
Wolverines want to win a 
national championship, and they 
believe that they can. Everything 
that has happened over the past 
year has just brought Michigan 
closer to its end goal.
Maybe that’s a rematch with 
Georgia for the national champi-
onship, maybe it isn’t. Just which-
ever team it plays, the Wolverines 
hope that they aren’t, once again, 
the team learning what it’s like 
to play with the big dogs. Or 
the team taking moral victories 
instead of taking a trophy.
Michigan wants to be the team 
celebrating. And if there’s one 
thing to take from the Wolver-
ines, it’s that they unequivocally 
think they will.

Sports

FOOTBALL

SportsMonday: Don’t let winning distract you from the athletic department’s failures

In sports, one thing is put 
above all else: winning.
Excuses are made for cheat-
ers and gamblers on the tame 
end, and domestic abusers and 
sex offenders on the extreme 
end. But as long as they help 
your team win, it’s OK. Because 
in sports, that’s all that matters, 
right?
Right?
And Michigan is winning.
The 
football 
team 
just 
claimed its second straight 
Big Ten Title — accomplishing 
the feat for the first time since 
2003-04 — and secured consec-
utive College Football Playoff 
appearances for the first time 
in program history. The men’s 
basketball team has made five 
straight Sweet 16s. The wom-
en’s basketball team reached 
unprecedented heights, mak-
ing the Elite Eight in last year’s 
tournament. The hockey team 
made it to the Frozen Four once 
again. The gymnastics teams 
bring home banners, individual 
wrestlers have claimed titles 
and the suite of other varsity 
sports have found great success.
That 
success 
across 
the 
entire athletic department has 
been forged by hard work, dedi-
cation and — of course — moral 
compromise.
Because who needs account-
ability when you’re winning?
First, turn your eyes to the 
Big Ten Championship MVP 
and sophomore running back 
Donovan 
Edwards. 
After 
retweeting antisemitic rheto-
ric, the athletic department 
didn’t muster a very strong 
response. Edwards eventually 
apologized, only after saying 
it was a “glitch” — an unlikely 
scenario given the steps it takes 
to retweet something. Universi-
ty President Santa Ono put out 

this indirect statement, which 
fails to address Edwards him-
self or his actual actions. 
Beyond that? Excuses.
You don’t know Dono like we 
do.
We heard.
Dono didn’t mean it.
They said.
Dono’s a great guy.
The line went.
But “Dono” helped them win. 
That much is evident. So his 
actions were brushed under the 
rug.
Just this week, senior defen-
sive tackle Mazi Smith faced 
felony gun charges. The inci-
dent dated back to Oct. 7, but 
the charge was filed Wednes-
day, 
and 
athletic 
director 
Warde Manuel left this lacklus-
ter statement:
“We are aware of the charge 
against Mazi from a traffic stop 
back in October,” Manuel said. 
“Mazi was honest, forthcoming 
and cooperative from the very 
beginning and is a tremendous 
young man. He is not and never 
has been considered a threat to 
the University or community. 
“Based on the information 
communicated to us, we will 
continue to allow the judicial 
process to play out. Mazi will 
continue to participate as a 
member of the team.”
The 
Wolverines 
would’ve 
been hurting without their star 
player and team captain in the 
Big Ten Championship game. Of 
course he was going to play.
I know that Smith was in the 
process of getting his concealed 
carry license and the other facts 
of the case. I’m not here to say 
whether he is guilty or not. I’m 
here to say the athletic depart-
ment failed to give substantive 
reasoning why a player charged 
with a felony wasn’t suspended 
even a game — instead being 
lauded in the press release — or 
why the news wasn’t disclosed 
sooner.

Had the athletic department 
known about the incident since 
Oct. 7, this becomes all the 
more complicated and all the 
more damning. There’s no way 
to know, but the past doesn’t 
look favorably on the athletic 
department’s track record.
Another star athlete — for-
mer point guard Zavier Simp-
son — also faced charges after 
a vehicle incident with police 
in 2020. Simpson, unlike Smith, 
was suspended one game. The 
issue in his case wasn’t the sus-
pension, but the way the athlet-
ic department failed to properly 
address Simpson lying to police 
that his name was “Jeff Jack-
son,” how he was driving a vehi-
cle owned by Manuel’s wife and 
how bodycam footage indicated 
an impaired state of mind.
Winning took priority over 
teaching lessons and molding 
young athletes — over being the 
“leaders and best.”
But passing over serious inci-
dents doesn’t end there.
In former Michigan hock-
ey coach Mel Pearson’s case, 
there was a slew of disgusting 
infractions that Manuel and the 
department had known about 
for months before firing him 
earlier this year. It took pub-
lic outcry before the facts of 
the case were deemed severe 
enough to result in action.
Because Pearson was a win-
ner. His players were top pros-
pects at NHL squads and the 
Wolverines were in the Frozen 
Four. Firing Pearson would 
likely result in a rough year for 
the Michigan hockey program.
That simply isn’t enough to 
excuse inaction — and there’s 
really no other explanation for 
it.
Really, this feigned igno-
rance and false moral high 
ground stretches much further 
back than the past couple years. 
Look at what’s happened with 
Bo Schembechler and the chill-

ing accusations, corroborated 
by his own son, levied against 
him.
Still, Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh praises him, and 
his statue still stands outside 
the hall given Schembechler’s 
namesake on athletic depart-
ment grounds.
Why?
Because he was a goddamn 

winner.
And that should not be 
enough to pardon any kind of 
behavior.
Not every incident needs a 
suspension, firing or sweep-
ing 
address, 
but 
athletes 
and coaches need to be held 
accountable for their actions. 
It’s not Manuel and the athletic 
department’s job to cover up its 

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan earns No. 2 seed, to play TCU 
in Fiesta Bowl

JARED GREENSPAN
Managing Sports Editor

For the second consecutive 
season, the Michigan football 
team is headed to the College 
Football Playoff. 
On New Year’s Eve, the sec-
ond-ranked 
Wolverines 
will 
take on No. 3 seed TCU in the 
Fiesta Bowl. The winner of that 

semifinal will advance to the 
national championship against 
either No. 1 Georgia or No. 4 
Ohio State. 
The game will mark Michi-
gan’s second ever appearance 
in the College Football Playoff. 
Last season, the Wolverines 
earned the No. 2 seed and lost 
to Georgia in the Orange Bowl, 
34-11. 
Michigan is in the midst of a 

historic season, having won 
13 games for the first time in 
program 
history 
following 
its second straight Big Ten 
championship, a title it cap-
tured with a 43-22 win over 
Purdue Saturday night.
The Horned Frogs, mean-
while, sit at 12-1 and will look 
to rebound from a 31-28 loss 
to Kansas State in the Big 12 
Championship Game. 

FOOTBALL

KATE HUA/Daily

KATE HUA/Daily

NICHOLAS STOLL
Managing Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS — At this 
point, it’s a moment you’ve prob-
ably seen before.
The confetti raining down in 
Miami Gardens, the best season 
the Michigan football team had in 
almost two decades coming to one 
somber and unceremonious end.
Red populated Hard Rock Sta-
dium as Georgia’s players, coaches 
and faithful all stuck around to 
soak in a dominating Orange Bowl 
victory. All of the Wolverines had 
left the field, except for a few who 
stood off to the side, watching the 
Bulldogs celebrate what Michigan 
so desperately wanted. 
That contingent included two 
then-freshmen: quarterback J.J. 
McCarthy and running back Dono-
van Edwards. 
Fast forward to now, and the 
scene after the Wolverines cap-
tured their second straight Big 
Ten title was quite different: Play-
ers were grinning, the confetti 
was maize and blue, but one thing 
remained the same.
McCarthy and Edwards once 
again stood right next to each 
other. Although this time, it was 
at the podium after the tandem of 
budding stars carried Michigan 
to another Big Ten trophy. They 
shared bright smiles, but some-
thing about their celebration felt 
hollow.
The memory of last year’s 
Orange Bowl still lingers. 
“I feel like (the Georgia loss) 

