If hopes remain high within Schembechler Hall, skepticism is climbing around it. Cynicism and criticism aren't far behind. Michigan entered this season unranked for the first time since Jim Harbaugh's first year in charge. They are widely pegged to finish fourth in the Big Ten East. A lopsided win over Western Michigan won't smooth everything over, and the players aren't pretending otherwise. Nor is Harbaugh.
"I told the team in the locker room after the game, 'We’re not going to fall in love with our stuff, because we can get better,'" Harbaugh said after Michigan's 47-14 win in Saturday's season-opener.
That said, this was the first step in leaving last season behind. This was Michigan's first chance to divorce itself from the team that failed to win a single game at home, that zombie-walked from one week to the next, that raised serious questions about Harbaugh's future at his alma mater. The Wolverines plunged into 2021 on Saturday, like they couldn't wait to wash off 2020.
They piled up 335 yards on the ground, led by sophomore Blake Corum. Cade McNamara was efficient through the air, and five-star freshman J.J. McCarthy made the best throw of the day. The new-look defense had more looks than the old one, and bottled up an offense with the potential to pop. The Wolverines showed speed -- sometimes even in space (!!) -- which is one way they can leave the past in the dust.
"There was a lot of naysayers going into this game that didn’t think we were going to come out here and do what we did or do what we do this season," said Corum, who finished with 133 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns. "So it was really important to make a big statement today, and I feel like that’s what we did."
Harbaugh wouldn't call it a 'complete game' when asked, because nothing's ever finished in the first week of the season. But this was Michigan's closest thing to a full effort in two years. Cornerback Vincent Gray, who showed his own speed on a pair of pass breakups, said the players found fuel in the flak they took this summer, fair or not.
"We were highly motivated to go out there and execute our game plan," he said. "All the noise that we heard all offseason, that helped a lot from a mental standpoint to get us ready for everything this season."
A lot more is coming. No. 20 Washington will be here next weekend, and that's when a statement would count. Michigan thought it made a statement in last year's opener, beating a ranked Minnesota team on the road, only to say nothing at all for the rest of the season. Statements only matter in September if they echo in the months ahead.
"That’s a big thing," said Gray. "We haven’t done anything yet."
"We haven’t done a damn thing," said star DE Aidan Hutchinson, who delivered Michigan's lone sack of the day. "We’ve all moved on and we’re ready for Washington. We’re not content with this at all."
Hutchinson was wearing a pair of aviators as he spoke. The black lenses hid his eyes, a bit like the coverages new DC Mike Macdonald disguised in the secondary. Saturday could have been a glimpse into the rest of the season for the Wolverines, or a mirage we've seen before. If any statement was made in the opener, it was that it's worth waiting to see what comes next.