As confetti dropped from the top of NRG Stadium eight months ago, a thousand disappointments fell with it.
Rich Rod and Brady Hoke and Dave Brandon and Michigan State and Toledo and TCU and Georgia and Ohio State a million times and “Trouble with the Snap” and “The Spot Will Decide It” and “The Mountaineers Have Just Beaten the Michigan Wolverines.”
All of it – gone.
For those old enough to technically have been around for the last title – but young enough that we don’t really remember it – this championship was the proof we needed.
It was proof that all of this – our beloved team playing our beloved game – is not a fool’s errand.
For nearly three decades, watching this team felt like watching the cursed Sisyphus – doomed to eternally roll the boulder up the mountain, only for the goal to never be reached. No matter the effort, the result was always the same: disappointment. Gravity would inevitably bring the boulder back down and Sisyphus would start again.
Ohio State was as inevitable as gravity for two decades. How many Michigan teams were touted to be The Team to Finally Do It™ only to find that Isaac Newton remains undefeated? Even when Michigan Hassan Haskins-ed their way to victory or Donovan Edwards ruined what needed to be “the best series Jim Knowles has had in his life,” what happened? The inevitable. The buzzsaw that was 2021 Georgia. The closest thing to watching a game on NyQuil that was 2022 TCU. Gravity always wins and Sisyphus begins the pointless task anew.
But Michigan is Sisyphus no longer.
They reached the mountaintop.
The boulder could be shoved off the edge of the mountain into the abyss.
In the strangest turn of fate, the task was possible and the team capable.
And the views are immaculate.
—
It’s been eight months since the national title.
We’re on the cusp of a new season and Michigan looks noticeably different.
New coach. New quarterback. Plenty of question marks.
And yet! Despite the changes, there is a familiarity. A familiarity with the task at hand.
A familiarity with summoning the strength it takes to roll the boulder upwards.
Except Michigan is Sisyphus no longer.
They are no longer familiar with a pointless task – a losing battle with gravity.
They are finally – at long last – familiar with its completion.
They know what it looks like at the top.
They aim to return.
The views are immaculate.
MICHIGAN 34 FRESNO STATE 3
