The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1504445
24 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2023 2022-23 YEAR IN REVIEW BY JOHN BORTON S ome hoped and dreamed that Michigan football 2021 was a fluke. Then came 2022, and cer- tification that the crew in the winged helmets fully intends to remain the awakened giant. Jim Harbaugh unleashed a second straight version of Michigan mayhem, one that roared undefeated through the regular season, smacked down Ohio State in its own Horseshoe, retained the Big Ten title in a rout, and once again made the four-team College Football Playoff. In do- ing so, the Wolverines rocketed back into prominence, gaining growing attention as a national title contender for the com- ing season. There's no doubt that Harbaugh's Michigan football reset has arrived and that the 2022 crew deserves the distinc- tion by The Wolverine staff as Male Team Of The Year in U-M athletics. The lasting memory? Most harken back to a late-November afternoon in Colum- bus, Ohio, and Michigan's second-half dominance leading to 75- and 85-yard lightning bolt touchdowns by junior tail- back Donovan Edwards. The 45-23 disassembly of Buckeye dreams put the sweet stamp of success on a season to remember. "What's going to stay with me is watching Ohio Stadium empty with a few minutes left in that ball game," offered Doug Karsch, voice of the Wolverines for the Michigan Radio Network. "The last time Michigan won there, the Wolver- ines were running out the clock, late in the game. Drew Henson ran in a bootleg for a game-sealing touchdown, and the Ohio Stadium press box announcer left his mic open accidentally and said, 'I feel this one's slipping away.' "What was it, 22 years later, the next time it happened? Let's just say when Donovan Edwards made his second long touchdown run, that entire stadium could feel it slipping away." Michigan fans could feel the Wolver- ines sliding back up atop the Big Ten and standing among the very best in the na- tion. "It was a completely different feeling from the year before, because A, it was down there, and B, I think they saw that game as returning to their rightful place in the order of the Big Ten," Karsch said of the OSU faithful. "The overriding feeling that will stick with me is the fourth quarter of the Ohio State game. It was a very definitive stamp and an exclamation point on the changing of the guard. It was the return to competi- tive balance in the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry." A definitive stamp, culminating a regular season that began with areas of uncertainty. Junior quarterback J.J. Mc- Carthy — who threw for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns in Columbus — wasn't even the clear-cut starter at the onset of the year. The battle between McCarthy and Cade McNamara, who led the Wolverines to their first Big Ten title since 2004 and a breakthrough against the Buckeyes a BACK 2 BACK Michigan Football Doubles Down On Ascension Michigan's starting offensive line — (left to right) tackle Karsen Barnhart, guard Zak Zinter, center Olusegun Oluwatimi, guard Trevor Keegan and tackle Ryan Hayes — celebrated a dominant performance at Ohio State and later won the Joe Moore Award as the nation's best O-line unit for the sec- ond year in a row. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY MALE TEAM OF THE YEAR