The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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as a team,'" Skene said. "'And I don't care what you say you're going to do next year, as an individual or as a team. Every year is of itself. Every team is of itself. What you do here and now is all that matters. It has no effect on what's going to happen next year. Just because you play this season and have a good year is no guarantee that you're just go- ing to magically be better next year.'" That's doubly true when an offensive line, tight ends, fullbacks and power personnel have to be restocked, without the benefit of free agency. The Wol- verines are on their second offensive coordinator in the effort to flip the right switches on that side of the football, and for the second straight season hover around the .500 mark. No one, a decade ago, could have envisioned them looking up at the two kings of a Big Ten East Division, that duo involving their fiercest rivals. No one could envision them with one win in the last six games against the Spar- tans going into the 2014 contest, one in the last 10 versus the Buckeyes. It's transition trauma, beyond what even the most strident voices for con- tinuity at the end of Carr's reign could have forecast. Marcus Ray, former U-M safety and proud owner of a pair of Big Ten championship rings and a national title ring, pointed out that the Wolverines haven't lost to nobodies this season. "Utah has proven that they're pretty good," Ray noted. "Michigan gave them a pretty decent game, or fight. Notre Dame is pretty good. Brian Kelly is coaching his butt off, with all the adver- sity and guys getting suspended, he's finding a way to win. He beat a Stanford team that's pretty good. Minnesota can make some noise in the West." That's a problem, though. If the Wol- verines are to be what they were, and what they want, they can't be in fights to the finish with the Gophers, or Rut- gers, or a host of other Big Ten (now 14) teams that aren't going to win the league. U-M made strides in not experiencing anxious moments with the worst teams on their schedule. But that's still a long way from Hoke's stated annual goal. "You have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat, just like Ohio State does, just like Michigan State does," Ray said. "They're not going to lose to anybody they're not supposed to lose to. "You can't lose to Toledo and App State. You can't let Akron have you by your throat with four seconds left. You just can't do that. You have to beat those teams, and then you have to go and take what you want." What they want involves what they once had. That's proving tougher than imagined to grasp. "Michigan State has the champion- ship belt," Ray noted. "To be the man, you have to beat the man, whether it's in their house or whether it's in your house. But you'd better get back to it. And if you can't beat your two rivals, Michigan will never win the Big Ten championship." That challenge, once not worth a mention, will only continue to echo. ❏ Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @JB _ Wolverine.