Reading through the best teams since 2003 thread, on thing that gets touched on a lot are turning points - when the program could have turned the corner (for the positive) but things just went sideways. We win that game, and everything's different. There are a number of these games that I'm sure we could all come up with, but the one I'll highlight 2011 Michigan, a 45-17 loss.
We were ranked 17, they were ranked 20th, and we'd beaten two top 15 teams in three weeks (sandwiching a loss to a 3-5 Northwestern team, the inconsistencies of the Pelini era) leading up to the game. We put up a fight in the first half, but then Mich found something that worked, and just kept doing it. The lack of adjustments, the willingness to give up... this was for me when the bloom truly fell from Bo Pelini's rose. Bo had had blowout losses (Wis. earlier that year) and head scratching losses (Texas in 2010, ISU in 2009) but this one just left me feeling resigned. Michigan wasn't a great team, but not only could we not beat them, we couldn't hang with them.
If we win, this still wasn't a great team but it changes the phycology of the program. This game would have won the division for us. In the title game we'd have had a rematch against Wisconsin. Wis. was a better team, but strange things can happen in rematches. Just as important, it'd have shown we belong in the Big 10. In year one we win the division and hang some "pelts" on the wall. The national conversation around us is different. We'd have had momentum within the league, and maybe a bit of belief. Instead, I went from thinking "this isn't the year we return to greatness" to "this isn't the coach that returns us to greatness".
We were ranked 17, they were ranked 20th, and we'd beaten two top 15 teams in three weeks (sandwiching a loss to a 3-5 Northwestern team, the inconsistencies of the Pelini era) leading up to the game. We put up a fight in the first half, but then Mich found something that worked, and just kept doing it. The lack of adjustments, the willingness to give up... this was for me when the bloom truly fell from Bo Pelini's rose. Bo had had blowout losses (Wis. earlier that year) and head scratching losses (Texas in 2010, ISU in 2009) but this one just left me feeling resigned. Michigan wasn't a great team, but not only could we not beat them, we couldn't hang with them.
If we win, this still wasn't a great team but it changes the phycology of the program. This game would have won the division for us. In the title game we'd have had a rematch against Wisconsin. Wis. was a better team, but strange things can happen in rematches. Just as important, it'd have shown we belong in the Big 10. In year one we win the division and hang some "pelts" on the wall. The national conversation around us is different. We'd have had momentum within the league, and maybe a bit of belief. Instead, I went from thinking "this isn't the year we return to greatness" to "this isn't the coach that returns us to greatness".