Michigan Football: Burying Demons of Past 4 Years

As the seconds wound down on Michigan's utterly complete 45-17 victory over Nebraska Saturday, you could be excused from thinking about different moments in the past.  One of the beautiful things about college football is how closely intertwined the past and present feel.  Maybe it is the small sample size—just a handful of games a year—or an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia that draws all of us back to our days as college kids, but in no other sport is this moment we are in now so easily identified with some time in our past.

On Saturday Michigan fans found it easy to look back in time, back to 1997 when an undefeated Michigan team led by Charles Woodson and the rest of the fearsome defense split a national championship with the last of the great Nebraska teams.

Or back to 2006 when another undersized but shifty running back was willing his way to extra yards in a flurry of churning legs and lowered shoulders.

Or back to any of the games in the Lloyd Carr era or before when a ranked Michigan team took on another ranked Big Ten team only to control the game from start to finish with stifling defense and a rushing attack that refused to quit.

In fact, the only thing Michigan fans weren't thinking about as the time ticked away Saturday was the dark four-year period of Michigan football that preceded this.

From the lofty expectations never reached in 2007 to rock bottom in 2008 to the two-year defensive collapse that followed, all of that was far from the minds of Michigan fans who simply wanted to spend some time remembering what this feels like.

In many ways, Brady Hoke's first season as a Michigan coach has been one long referendum on the failure of Rich Rodriguez as the coach of Michigan.  Every defensive success a strike against Rodriguez and Greg Robinson, every offensive stall an indictment of the ability of Hoke and Al Borges to adapt their ideal to reality.

This isn't fair to either man.  Just as Hoke is winning with Rodriguez's recruits and a roster that is finally approaching sufficient depth, Rodriguez failed in many ways that exacerbated his rapidly devolving tenure.

Even as the wins piled up this season it was hard to divorce yourself from that feeling, "I've seen this movie before, and I don't like how it ends.

"The high flying comeback against Notre Dame.  Been there.

"The scorching September stats for a Michigan quarterback.  Done that.

"The trail of mediocre opponents vanquished—check—and the strong opponents that proved too much—check."

Every step of this season called back not to 1997 or 2006, but 2007 and 2010.  Until Saturday.  For the first time in a long time Wolverine fans could finally move past the failure of the last four years.  There is no more worry about what this win means in the long run.  No more parsing the defensive lapses or offensive miscues.  There is no more crushing doubt about the special teams.  This game was the first time that Michigan has completely dominated a ranked opponent since the 2006 season—the first time since then that a win was simply a win in and of itself.

For an afternoon there were no more questions about where the program was or where it was coming from.  Michigan simply won, and won big in the fashion that fans hadn't seen since before most Michigan fans even had any concept of questions of "where is the program" or "where is it coming from."

The Wolverines aren't Back, but that doesn't mean they Aren't Back, either.  This season could still yield 10 wins and see the Wolverines drop to seven wins next year (the schedule ramps up considerably with away games against Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Nebraska as well as a season opener in the JerryDome against Alabama).  Back as Michigan fans define it—Big Ten titles and BCS bowls—is still a few years off.

But, for one day in November, Michigan got to feel what it is like to actually be Back—or more appropriately: what it feels like to just Be—if only for a little while.

One more win and the Wolverines will get to remember a different time.  It was 2003, and there wasn't a darkness that rose from the south and hung over Ann Arbor.