The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/835590
26 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW best shape of his life and taking others along with him. A host of Wolverines talked about the work they put in leading up to the season and how it carried them through. Griese also stepped forward to gather the receivers and defenders for work on throw- ing and executing a host of other preparation elements away from the coaches. Along the way, he secured Carr's trust. "He got into great shape," Carr said. "At some point, I called him in. I said, 'You've earned the right. You've earned this chance.' I wanted him to know I had confidence in him going in." Griese and the Wolverines around him had reason both for confidence and an angry moti- vational edge. Woodson uttered the blunt goal summary of "Just win" in the spring, but oth- ers were convinced Michigan just wouldn't. One national headline writer issued a sum- mertime taunt: "M Stands For Mediocre." Big Ten writers doubled down when the league gathered in Chicago for its annual preseason football meetings. "These guys were confident, competitive people," Carr noted. "One thing that really motivated us was when we went to Chicago for media day. They picked us to finish fifth in the Big Ten Conference. "These guys have pride. They wanted to change the direction that we were going." It didn't take long. Signs Of Something Special Colorado stormed into Michigan Stadium for the season opener, ranked No. 7 and No. 8 in the two major polls. The Wolver- ines were No. 14, but stood ready to deliver a message resounding throughout college football. They conveyed the worst treatment buf- faloes encountered since the 1800s, pum- meling head coach Rick Neuheisel's crew, 27-3. Harried Colorado quarterback John Hessler endured three sacks, completed 15 of 40 passes (37.5 percent) and fired four interceptions. "We got our tails whipped," Neuheisel acknowledged. The Wolverines, meanwhile, delivered a message about its defense and its physicality on both sides of the football. "At the end of that game, you looked around and you were like, 'You know what? We just dismembered this team,'" Jansen recalled. "They were a good team at the time. We looked around at the end of that game and thought we could have something special here." An iconic photograph emerged from the contest, depicting Jansen pancaking a hap- less Colorado defender, whose obvious flex- ibility kept him from snapping in half. Sports Illustrated published it, underscoring Michi- gan's dominance. "I remember that play," Jansen said. "I re- member everything about it. That will conti- nue as a special memory for me, just because there's a photo of it." But the captain knew, just like his team- mates, that this group experienced special moments before. It exerted its will in previ- ous seasons against some of the best teams in the nation. Sustaining dominance always proved an- other matter. "It showed us what we were capable of," Jansen said of smashing Colorado. "I've had a lot of coaches tell me, 'If you can do it once, the expectation is you can do it every time.' I really felt like after that game, we realized this doesn't have to just be a one- time thing. "This isn't just beating Ohio State at the end of the year because it's a rivalry, which we had done the two previous years. We looked around after those years and thought, we did it against Ohio State. They were the No. 2 team. Why can't we do that every game?" They got a reminder of why they couldn't, following a 38-3 beatdown of Baylor. But somewhere in the Wolverines' 21-14 clif- fhanger win over Notre Dame, they also summoned up a sense of why this season could be different, even amid mistakes. They made plenty of them against the Brian Griese tied a season high with three touchdown throws against Washington State in the Rose Bowl and was named the game's MVP. On the year, he completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 2,293 yards and 17 scores against just six interceptions. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN