EAST LANSING, Mich. — Players described a somber locker room at Spartan Stadium in the wake of Michigan’s 37-33 loss to Michigan State on Saturday.
The loss not only hurts on a personal level, marking two years in a row the Wolverines have now lost to their in-state rival, but will do serious damage to a potential College Football Playoff bid moving forward. Michigan is no longer unbeaten (7-1) and is expected to drop in the rankings when they come out later today.
“Big game. Two physical teams clashing,” starting offensive lineman Andrew Vastardis said. “Not the result we wanted. They made plays, we made plays. We made mistakes, they made mistakes.
“Just when you tallied it up at the end, they got the better of it.”
Michigan lost despite an impressive day offensively, tallying more than 550 yards that netted Jim Harbaugh’s team a 16-point second-half lead. But just as they started to get comfortable, the Spartans and their Heisman Trophy contender running back Kenneth Walker III (197 yards, 5 TDs) struck — outscoring Michigan 23-3 down the stretch, with Walker scoring three of his five rushing touchdowns in the final 19 minutes of game play.
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“It’s big,” linebacker David Ojabo said, when asked if the loss was a “gut punch.” “It definitely means a lot to us. It’s a rivalry. But we’re going to use that as more fuel going forward. The season’s not over. It’s not nearly over. We’ve just got to keep rolling.”
That message from Michigan’s players was a consistent one after the game — one fueled by head coach Jim Harbaugh, who urged the team afterward to “stick together.” Remember, it was Harbaugh earlier in the week who called Saturday’s tussle in East Lansing a “playoff elimination” game, heightening expectations for the winning team.
Now, his team is 7-1 after an extraordinary start to the season — one that saw the Wolverines score victories on the road at Wisconsin and Nebraska and start the Big Ten season 4-0.
“I still think we’re in contention,” defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said. “We still have all of our goals in front of us. It was a tough loss, but one I think we can bounce back from.”
While still true, Michigan has an uphill road to climb to back into College Football Playoff talk. The first CFP rankings will be released later this week, giving us a better idea of how steep the road will be.
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But conference-wise, the Big Ten is still wide open — especially with so many one-loss teams and Penn State (Nov. 13) and Ohio State (Nov. 27) still left on the Wolverines’ schedule.
“This one stings — but we have to respond,” quarterback Cade McNamara said. The response will have to begin Saturday against Indiana (7:30 p.m., FOX), the only remaining winless team in Big Ten play.
It was 2018 when Michigan dropped its season opener to Notre Dame and went on to win 10 straight games and reach No. 4 in the rankings. Obviously this loss comes later in the season, providing less time for the Wolverines to stake a case for anything more than a trip to the Big Ten title game, but the players can hope, right?
“It’s not the way we wanted it to go,” Harbaugh said. “The players played hard — and now they’re going to have to strengthen their resolve.”
Said Vastardis: “We’ve gone through it already. Last year was hell. And we’ve grown from that: Trusting each other. Pushing each other through adversity. We’ve to keep stepping forward. Keep pushing. Keep fighting. Keep clawing.”
