The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503142
26 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2023 FOOTBALL PREVIEW Turning The Tide Jansen certainly does. He fought victori- ous battles with the Buckeyes in 1995-97, the last of that trio culminating in a na- tional championship for the Wolverines. Shortly thereafter, he witnessed Michigan slip into an unprecedented slide in the se- ries, and he holds little back when it comes to hailing the two-year turnaround. "As a fan, if you go back to '21, and you were in the stadium, the fans rushed the field," Jansen recalled. "You could see and feel how much that meant to the fans, to stop that 17-year bleed. Even though it was a one-off, it was ONE, and it felt like the tide was turning. "The team had to reinvent the wheel. How are we going to beat Ohio State? The way Urban Meyer transformed Ohio State with recruiting, offensive style, and all of the five-stars, the receiving room, the quar- terbacks, the edge rushers. How are they going to recreate the wheel and figure out and break the code of beating Ohio State? "Well, they did that. And it was with great defense — especially red zone defense — and being absolutely true to their iden- tity. Their identity is smashmouth, physi- cal football, that nobody thought would be the recipe for beating Ohio State. They stuck with it, and it worked." It wasn't supposed to work, two times in a row. Especially not in Columbus. But Jansen noted the Wolverines injected some extra flourish to the mix last fall. "They added some flair, with those passes to [junior wideout] Cornelius John- son, and to [freshman tight end] Colston Loveland," he noted. "All of a sudden, it's not just smashmouth. They did that at the end to secure the victory, but they knew at some point they were going to have to take the top off the defense. They were able to do that. "They were able to do that in a couple of different ways, and that's what gives you the belief that this competitive style of play for Michigan against Ohio State will work. I say competitive, because you can't go into that game every year and think, hey, it's the [John] Cooper era, or it's the Urban Meyer era. It's going to be a back-and-forth. "You hope you win more than you lose. You expect to win more than you lose. But to be competitive every single year, that's where Michigan is. Right now, in the last two years, they're up 2-0." Jed Donahue insists he knows why. Donahue is most closely associated with Penn State these days, as a broadcaster on the PA Sports Network. But the man who covers Penn State for a living also carries a deep respect for Michigan, along with undeniable OSU credentials. His uncle played for Woody Hayes from 1951-54, competing alongside a pair of Heisman Trophy winners and for the '54 national title squad. Donahue himself got his baptism in The Game as an 8-year- old in 1968. His parents attended Ohio State, and they took him to the 50-14 blowout that set the stage for the iconic 1969 contest in Ann Arbor. "I didn't realize you lost to Michigan," Donahue quipped. "That happened the following year. My parents went, and I watched it on TV. I was like, what's this? THIS isn't supposed to happen." Yo u n g B u c keye fa n s m i g h t h ave thought the same the past two years. But Donahue saw the Michigan of old rise up Behind a dominant offensive line, Hassan Haskins (25) ran for 168 yards and 5 touchdowns against Ohio State in 2021. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL "You look at the way both the offensive and defensive lines have controlled the line of scrimmage. That's the biggest difference." JON JANSEN, FORMER WOLVERINE AND NFL LINEMAN, CURRENT U-M RADIO ANALYST