The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WOLVERINE WATCH JOHN BORTON The End Of A Dark Era Of The Game Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West! — Aragorn, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King age horde of horrifically monstrous creatures who knew nothing of honor or personal grooming, off in a fictitious land. A But it might just as well have been Brady Hoke, summoning the time-honored Champions of the West to hold their ground. They'd been thrust for too long into a cave of inky blackness ruled by the Dark Lord Tressel and his minions. The school that sold its NCAA soul to right the indignities of 2-10-1 summoned DLT, turned him loose, and asked only that he beat Michi- gan. Those powers that be then intentionally, and repeatedly, looked the other way. For a decade, they got away with it. When the curtain finally parted, just for an instant, a ray of sunlight poured through, turning DLT into a melting, hissing puddle of black ooze. The light also flashed upon his most recent hired henchman, who went up in a puff of smoke, leaving behind only a final pair of unsold gold pants. Of course, that should have ended the darkness, but it didn't, not right away. The remnant from the land of Dissemble, Distract and Deny ven- tured north, seeking a seventh vic- tory in eight tries. (Remember, 2010 never happened. It melted away right along with the individual who cheated to allow it to unfold.) For one terrifying, knee-buckling, mind-numbing moment, it looked like the invaders would prevail. When redshirt sophomore tailback Fitzgerald Toussaint and junior quarterback Denard Robinson scored fourth-quarter touchdowns to finally slay the Uruk-hai, and offi- cials made both touchdowns diabol- ically disappear, darkness seemed 8 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2011 nd so they did. Yes, this par- ticular leader was speaking of a different evil, another sav- to be descending on The Big House. Suddenly, a 41-40 soul-crusher of an "Ohio" victory looked to be un- folding before the agonizing eyes of more than 114,000. But it is not this day. Michigan went all out in this final appearance before the scarlet-weary home faithful. Scores of football alums gathered — on the sidelines, in the stands, and even high above in glass-encased boxes — to urge an end to the blackness. Game-day planners brought out the heavy hitters for a scoreboard display underscoring the impor- tance of the afternoon. Former head coach Lloyd Carr, Charles Woodson, Mike Hart, Steve Hutchinson and Tom Brady all stared intently into the camera and intoned, "This is Michigan." Hoke himself delivered the final word, the big screens in The Big House displaying his emotion-filled original "This is Michigan" from his introductory press conference. That's the same presser in which he banged the podium and insisted the "Ohio" game is the most important game on that schedule. And now, after all those insis- tent words, after all the hours, and sweat, and pain, and planning to back them up, Michigan's fate came down to a final, desperate drive on the part of invaders who had sav- aged a previously stout defense. One could almost smell the sulfur bubbling up from Columbus, as the countdown clock stood still and the scoreboard clock wouldn't drain. But it is not this day. Seniors who came to Michigan for nothing more than a scholar- ship and a chance to play football, and whose greatest profit remained pride and an education, weren't letting this one slip away. Younger competitors, seeking a new day Head coach Brady Hoke made it clear from day one that U-M's annual rivalry show- down with "Ohio" is the most important game on the schedule. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN and the end to their mentors' pain, pitched in. In the end, the Men of the West stood. They rose up and ended the darkness, causing the November sun to shine again. They embraced and shouted, in relief and joy, deep into the night. Somewhere, in a bleak, darkened, shuttered room, the Dark Lord Tres- sel bowed his head and spat. There will be other days, and other challenges. That's as it should be. Not so awfully long ago, the greatest coach the visitors have ever known strode onto these fields of battle, in The Ten-Year War. Michi- gan met that challenge with an in- tegrity-saturated general of its own, and went 5-4-1. Hoke aims to fashion the Wolver- ines into Michigan once again. He's on the right road, and most shat- tered shields have been mended, beginning with a 40-34 victory over "Ohio." Given those gains and a rel- atively level playing field, he'll take his chances on future fights. ❑ Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@comcast.net and follow him on Twitter @JB_Wolverine.