The Wolverine

January 2023

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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22 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2023 Senior nickel back Mike Sainristil made perhaps the play of the game with his fourth-quarter pass break-up on Ohio State tight end Cade Stover in the end zone when the score was 31-20 in Michigan's favor. OSU had to settled for a field goal. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL SCRIPT FULLY FLIPPED Michigan Flexes On OSU Again — In Columbus BY JOHN BORTON J im Harbaugh paused slightly at the inquiry, always wary of anything hinting at a comparison. In the end, sheer joy and pride won out. Would the Michigan football historian in you rank this among the Wolverines' best-ever wins in Columbus? "Humbly," he began, with quiet assurance. "We'd say that. It's definitely right up there, as one of the greatest wins. We've had a lot of good ones in 143 years." Millions of Michigan fans across the nation and worldwide weren't so humble. When your team has fully exorcised a demon lingering for the better part of two decades, hallelujahs are allowed. Conventional wisdom insisted the Wolverines weren't supposed to go into Columbus and win — much less win 45-23, before a shell- shocked gathering of 106,787. Most of them arrived expecting to witness a revenge-saturated public execution. After all, Michigan hadn't won a football game in Columbus in more than two decades, since Drew Henson pranced in the game-clinching touchdown on a naked bootleg in 2000. Plus, the Wolverines' 42-27 victory in Ann Arbor 12 months earlier provided limitless motivation for the Buckeyes, who soaked up 365 days of reminders from locals. Not to mention the fact that Michigan suddenly, shockingly, entered the game without junior tailback Blake Corum, who ap- peared on his way to a Heisman Trophy. Corum rushed for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns this season but injured a knee a week earlier against Illinois and — despite giving it a brief try — simply couldn't go against the Buckeyes. In his stead, sophomore Donovan Edwards looked to step in, with a significant cast on his injured right hand. Classmate J.J. McCarthy faced his first-ever start at quarterback against Ohio State, in a place where Tom Brady, Chad Henne and Denard Robinson couldn't post a victory. These Wolverines didn't care about any of that. Senior defensive back Mikey Sainristil put it best. "We want to be the top dogs of the conference," he insisted. "We want to be a team that's not looked at as, 'Michigan doesn't deserve to be in this place, that place.' I was in the training room over the week, and I saw an ESPN headline say, 'Is Michigan capable of playing Ohio State?'

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