There are some things that you never want to get used to no matter how often it happens.
For the Michigan Wolverines, one of those things would be their annual loss to Ohio State.
The Buckeyes have now won 15 of 17 matchups this century, and never once did a Wolverine player just sit back and accept his fate.
“It’s the most bitter pill that I’ve ever had to swallow personally,” said Wolverine defensive end Chase Winovich. “Coming here for four years and not beating these guys once, it’s tough. And that’s basically what we set out to do. Hats off to them. Their quarterback goes down and they still find a way to win.”
Michigan has now lost six games in a row to the Buckeyes, as OSU head coach Urban Meyer moved to 6-0 against the Wolverines. Only once in those six games (2015) was Michigan not leading or tied in the second half.
That’s a lot of heartbreak to deal with.
“It’s a little frustrating, but that’s the game of football,” said senior linebacker Mike McCray. “They’re on a run right now against us. Hopefully next year the team next year can change this.”
For the sixth year in a row, the Wolverines now have to point to the future in hopes of finally beating Ohio State because the present has been just as cruel as the past.
“It gets old after a while I think, just saying, ‘Oh, we’re going to get better.’ But at the end of the day, you have two options – you can get worse or you can get better,” Winovich said. “So that’s our mentality. We’re going to get better.”
After the game, every player in the Michigan locker room was distraught, dismayed, and defeated. Each time a loss to Ohio State happens, they try to let it push them forward to an eventual victory, but that boulder never quite gets to the top of the hill before it rolls back down.
Winovich hopes seeing the struggle first hand drives future Wolverines to finally get the job done, because he believes they are as close as they ever have been.
“I told some of the recruits in the locker room today that if anything you should be more motivated than ever to come here to win this game,” he said. “To see our faces in the locker room and how this hurts. And know how close we are. We can taste it. We’re right there. The whole game we’re battling. We’re a few pieces or inches away in my mind.”
Even most of ttun ‘s Heisman winners were born and bred OHIOANS!
One was from Indiana. Did that state up north ever rear one? Well maybe the one who went to bammy.
I so remember those Cooper years. Going on the message boards and getting trashed, every year. But it was worse than just losing to Michigan, remember the 33 years without an national Championship? We were getting it shoved in our faces on every front. 17 years of victories barely erases the humiliation of being a fan for a team that is close but doesn’t get it done year after year.
I guess I should have more sympathy for the Michigan fans in their current predicament. But I’ve already showed them more sympathy than they ever showed me. What, am I supposed to stop gloating? I’d love to say I hope they get better, but if they beat us again in my life time, I’m going to be totally depressed.
Good I hate them all…I hope it is so damn painful it makes them ill…..Muck fichigan, and their ugly ass fans.
Andrew, as usual I enjoy reading your posts. I too am counting. 8 more. We get them at home next year!!
“Blue” is going through PCTD (Post Cooper Trauma Disorder) and it’s fun to watch. I hope Urban can make it 10 in a row!
Remember though, while OSU clearly had trouble beating UM during the Coach Cooper years, his teams still excelled. His teams frequently won 10 games, produced tons of major award winners, and twice finished #2 in the final rankings, UM has not done anything close to that while we have been hammering them since 2001.
And you are right, its fun to watch!!
This was the best opportunity to get a win for Michigan. OSU was the most vulnerable it has been for a while due to attrition. Next years buckeye team is going to be better than this years. Might be another 3 years before they get a shot like they did this year. In my opinion of course.
Well, as Winovich says, recruits can choose to go to Michigan so they, too, can sit in the UM locker room and experience how much it hurts to lose to Ohio State. That’s great motivation, if you ask me!
Kirk Barton said it… “Come to Ohio State or lose to Ohio State.”
https://twitter.com/kirk_barton/status/557306047267086336
“To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And to hear the lamentations of their women.” — Conan the Barbarian.
Six down, eight to go to avenge the beginning of the series.
That’s part of the problem, Andrew. The beginning of the series doesn’t need to be “avenged”. You are buying into UM propaganda by even writing it. The games before electricity DON’T matter, and neither do UM’s halcyon days of combatting the likes of Ohio Wesleyan and Columbia on their way to ‘championships” no one alive can even remember! Leave it to UM to be stuck in the past, we aren’t like them (I hope).
Cordially disagree. When we lose the memory of Francis Schmidt, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, and Jim Tressel we might as well be sandlot ball. History and tradition matter. I get what you’re saying with TTUN but the difference is that they’ve lost their way. The Klingons, if you read the novels, have a proverb that runs, “There are two kinds of organism in the universe: those that are living and growing and those that are shrinking and dying.” It isn’t enough to be “once-great” but to continue to grow and thrive and THAT’S the difference between TTUN and THE Ohio State University. For them to even have an overall series lead you now have to go back to 1908 and before. THAT’S why avenging the series beginning is important – not for ‘then’ because you’re right, no one is alive from then. But to fully crush your enemies that means you leave them NOTHING left – not even the past.
The main difference between TTUN and OSU is that they have no choice but to live in the past. The last SIXTY plus years of this rivalry have been an OSU landslide. UM went 17 seasons without a Big 10 title from early 50s-1967, and the past 16 years for them have been train wreck head to head vs OSU. That’s THIRTY THREE season of getting worked. During that same time span, OSU has trumped UM in national tittles, Heisman and other major award winners, and 1st round NFL players. The memories UM evokes go FAR beyond Woody Hayes- heck, they apply to a time before he was even born. If the UM fans who evoke this so called “tradition” can’t even point to specific instances related to it, its just empty words. Again, if you play by their rules you validate them.
PS- yes, huge Trekkie, more than you can imagine.