Michigan Football: Why the Win over Northwestern Could Salvage the 2013 Season

In a postgame interview with the Big Ten Network’s J Leman, Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner talked about the importance of the Wolverines’ 27-19 triple-overtime victory over Northwestern on Saturday in the team’s goal of winning 10 games this season.

As much as Michigan has struggled over the past two months, Gardner’s statements about a 10-win season were not only correct, but surprisingly respectable.

Respectable isn’t a word too many Michigan fans would associate with this year’s Wolverines, Team 134. But despite a whirlwind two months in which Michigan has been shocked by lowly Penn State, blown out by rival Michigan State and beaten at home by Nebraska, Gardner is right—if Michigan goes on to beat Iowa on Saturday, defeats Ohio State on November 30 and wins its bowl game, the Wolverines could finish 10-3 and turn an otherwise mediocre season into a very impressive one.

That scenario is unlikely, but Gardner’s words and the mindset of the now 7-3 Wolverines is ironic. It was made clear on day one of Brady Hoke’s coaching tenure in Ann Arbor that Michigan’s goal is to win Big Ten Championships—but even with three wins to close out the season, the Wolverines have no chance at accomplishing that. If Michigan does win out, Hoke will still claim the season as a failure, like in 2011, because Team 134 won’t have a Big Ten Championship to show for it.

The new team outlook is a testimony to Hoke’s coaching, his motivating of players and appeasement to the diehard Michigan faithful who still set the bar high. Michigan’s last conference title was in 2004, more than 3,200 days ago. But amid the lackluster twilight seasons of Lloyd Carr’s final three years as head coach and the ugly tenure of Rich Rodriguez, Hoke and his staff haven’t lost sight of what true success means at Michigan. With a Big Ten title out of reach, a "failed" 10-win season isn’t too bad of a consolation.

And with that goal in mind—the possibility of winning double-digit games in a season for the 27th time in program history, Michigan’s win over Northwestern on Saturday kept a significant goal alive, even if it’s not what Hoke and Team 134 had hoped for at the beginning of the season. Beating Northwestern was step one of salvaging a season that appeared to be spiraling toward embarrassment.