Michigan’s players had a job to do during Saturday’s rivalry showdown with top-ranked Ohio State, and they couldn’t quite do it.
The 15th-ranked Wolverines actually led after the 1st quarter and only trailed 17-9 at halftime. But they had nothing left for that hated program from Ohio in the 2nd half, managing 0 points while the Buckeyes pulled away for a 27-9 victory that completed an undefeated regular season. It also ended any faint College Football Playoff hopes for Michigan, which fell to 9-3.
It was crushing enough for the Wolverines to lose the game and any shot at a Playoff berth, on their home field no less. But speaking of that home field at The Big House, Michigan couldn’t change the final score, but it could make sure those celebrating Buckeyes didn’t have any naughty ideas about doing something to the iconic ‘M’ logo in the middle of the field.
So, in unison, the Wolverines stayed on the field after the loss while Ohio State’s players sat in the first rows of the crowd with their contingent of fans. The announcers on the FOX broadcast took note of Michigan’s postgame tactic.
“Michigan hasn’t left the field. They’re guarding the ‘M,'” the FOX announcer said.
It was a wonderful show of solidarity in a rivalry that means everything in both states. Michigan might have lost the battle on the field Saturday, but it wasn’t going to abandon the ‘M’ after the game and let Ohio State’s players have even more fun than they already were having.
And if Ohio State wins in Ann Arbor 2 years from now when The Game returns there, Michigan’s players will probably perform the same act of solidarity.
Of course, these Wolverines would have rather won the game and not had to do it.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
