So that’s that. No more winning streak and no more undefeated Big 10 season. Yes the Big 10 title is still on the line next week but, for right now at least, it feels a little anticlimactic. It does help a little that the Buckeyes went down at the hands of the Illini, but still … 

This loss was a little hard to take.  Even with Mike Hart and Chad Henne on the sidelines, the boys still had a shot to bring this one home.  Down just 2 points with 5 minutes to go, there was hope.  The defense had started to step it up and big ol’ “Uncle Mo” was wearing maize & blue.  Enter Ryan Mallett stage right.   

I realize that he’s just a freshman but at this point of the season I think we can honestly expect a little more.  You have to assume that a good deal of time during the week he gets reps with the first unit in practice.  Knowing that Henne has a gimpy shoulder the coaches are preparing Mallett to take over the reins at any given time.  Aren’t they?? I’m sure you’ll agree that it looks like this young man has regressed since the earlier part of the season.  He looked pretty good against Notre Dame, but that is turning out to be no real feat this season.  Against Penn State though he was pretty good and the Nittany Lions are bowl bound with the same 8-3 mark as your Wolverines. So I ask you …. Where did that Ryan Mallett go?  

Right now we have a kid that looks like Bambi on 696 during rush hour.  If he’s not taking 20 yard sacks or chucking one down the field on a wing and a prayer then he’s arguing on the sidelines with his teammates and coaches.  Some of it is inexperience to be sure but a lot of it has to do with what’s going on between his ears. I’m not a huge fan of Lloyd but you just can’t convince me that an 18 year old kid whose college career has spanned a grand total of 11 games can possibly know more about what’s going on than Lloyd Carr.  Or Chad Henne.  Or Mario Manningham.  Or Jake Long.  You get my point. If this young man is going to lead the next iteration of Wolverines then he better get right during the off season.  He has all the physical tools but it doesn’t look like there is much else there at the moment.  The proverbial “million dollar arm and two cent head” scenario.  

Certainly you can’t lay all of this loss at his doorstep.  There is plenty to go around.  The defense couldn’t stop the run or create turnovers.  In the 8 game streak this unit made a living off of creating turnovers and when they couldn’t come up with anything on Saturday it certainly hurt. As for stopping the run, that was just plain sad.  PJ Hill, the big Badger stud, was on the sideline and wasn’t a factor.  Lance Smith, the #2 man, got hurt in the first half and didn’t return to the game.  That left it up to Zach Brown, the 3^rd stringer, to run it down the throats of the boys in blue.  If you had been told that the Badgers would be down to their 3^rd string tailback by the end of the game I’d be willing to bet that you’d have put a few hard earned bucks on the mighty Wolverines wouldn’t you?  Yeah me too.   

It is what it is though.  The Big 10 title and a trip to Pasadena await the winner of “The Game” next Saturday.  Watching the Buckeyes fall by the wayside does help a little though doesn’t it?  I don’t know if I’d like the chances very much of them coming to Ann Arbor undefeated and #1 in the country after what I saw in Madison this past weekend.  Now it’s a different story.  You have to wonder what the mindset will be of Little Jimmy’s boys.  The big enchilada is gone for them now.  No repeat invite to the National Championship. No chance of another undefeated season.  

Will they be ready?  Will they come to play?  I’m willing to bet the farm that they will. Even with the losses incurred this past weekend, it still comes down to this day in November.  Just like it does every year.  Just like it should.  

Let's take a quick look at a few Novembers over the course of my life: In 1977 I was 8 years old probably out riding my bike.  In 1987 I was 18 and just getting used to college life. At 28 in 1997 I was about to be unemployed.  Here we are in 2007 and I have a new house, family, and life that I'm still learning about.  Just like anyone else, my life has changed a lot in 30 years.  What's the point you ask?  

Even with all those different experiences there is one thing that is the same in my 38^th November as it was in my 8^th,   Michigan is playing the Buckeyes for the Big 10 championship.  Around these parts that is as much a November tradition as turkey and pumpkin pie.  **Cliché alert** The more things change; the more they stay the same.  

Once again Ohio State is the toast of the college football world.  This year the boys in blue are looking like "The Little Engine That Could" with 9 wins in a row.  Who has the more momentum coming to A2 this week?  Hard to say.  What's going to happen in the house that Yost built?  Even harder.   You and I both can make a case for this one going either way.  If you're being honest and not just a slappy for either team then I don't think you can see it any other way.   

OK.  That's good enough.  That's all the credit I can give the Bucknuts and still live with myself.    

What has to happen for Michigan to win?  The basic stuff to be sure.  Gotta be able to run the ball, gotta be able to stop the run, limit turn overs, blah, blah, blah.  Just in case your eyes are starting to glaze over with that stuff, let me give you something to think about.  For Michigan to win this game someone you don’t expect to do it will have to step up and etch their name into Wolverine lore. A few brief examples:  

• How about the one that really got it all rolling?  1969.  The so-called greatest team in college football history comes to town to play a Wolverine team that got trounced a year earlier.  I say so-called because they ran into the buzz saw known as Barry Pierson. 3 interceptions and a 60 yard punt return later and the 10 Year War was on!
• I'm sure that you remember Jim Harbaugh and his guarantee in 1986.  You remember that the Wolverines backed up their brash QB on that day.  Well your heart wouldn't remember it quite so warmly if that All-Everything J wideout named Jon Kolesar doesn't haul in the 76 yard game winner in the 4^th quarter.
• How could you forget one of the greatest performances in The Game's history?  1995 Tim Biakabutuka rumbles for 313 yards and Michigan upsets an undefeated Buckeye squad 31-23.  Of course you remember that.  But …do you remember a young freshman making 2 interceptions that day?  The last of which sealed the fate of the Buckeyes as they drove for a potential game tying score? You don't remember him?  Well then surely you recall Charles Woodson's punt return in 1997 but that's a story for another time.
• Speaking of that 1997 contest, I'm definitely glad that Woodson got a pick in that game too.  Otherwise, they may not have started throwing to the other side of the field.  They don't do that and the great Andre Weathers doesn't pick one off and return it for the game winner.

There are others and I could go on and I'm positive that you could as well.  However, the point is a simple one.  It's going to be the  "other guy" that will probably win this one for the Wolverine Nation.  You're going to get production from Henne, Hart, Manningham, Crable, et al. That we know.  

Does Adrian Arrington grab a couple for scores?  Does Donovan Warren take this day to introduce himself to the country the way that Charles Woodson did in '95? Could Greg Mathews return a punt that makes the difference?  I don't know who it's going to be, but it will be someone just like that if the job is to get done this coming weekend.   

Someone will have step up and be better than they are even if it's for just one moment.  Someone will have to be bold enough to place their names among the greats that have graced this program.  It seems simple enough to say, but it is monumental to actually accomplish.  Make a name for yourself in this game and you will become a legend.   

And (if I may borrow a phrase) heroes never die, but legends live forever …

And, as always .... GO BLUE !!!!