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    • The Michigan Wolverines are not afraid of defeat at the start of the second half
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    The Michigan Wolverines are not afraid of defeat at the start of the second half

    Caradoc Wyn Posted on

    Ann Arbor — Michigan’s flight home from Washington was quiet, with some players sleeping after the night game and during the long trip while others reflected on the first half of the season.

    The Wolverines, ranked 10th before their first road game of the season, had not lost a Big Ten game since Oct. 30, 2021 at Michigan State. Since then, they have won three straight Big Ten championships and the 2023 national championship.

    But this Michigan team, with a new head coach and mostly new coaching staff and other personnel, is not that version of the Wolverines. The Wolverines are now ranked 24th after losing 27-24 to Washington and are 4-2, 2-1 in the Big Ten this weekend. They return next Saturday to play at Illinois.

    Their focus is on how they can bounce back in the second half of the regular season. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore told the players after the loss in Washington that they still controlled their destiny and needed to win. The Wolverines play games against Oregon and Ohio State in their last six games, as well as Illinois and Indiana, which have seen an uptick this season.

    “It was a moment of reflection, and that led to a week of reflection, and it’s about how we can take this loss, this adversity, and come out of it better,” safety Quinten Johnson said of the Wolverines’ flight home. “It wasn’t a moment where we all had to sit back and cry or think about what was going on. It was something, we took it all in and after 24 hours we washed it through and felt better.”

    Johnson was asked if it was hard not to think too much about the first six games and what happened at Michigan. The Wolverines are now on their third quarterback as Jack Tuttle is expected to start at Illinois, and while their passing game has struggled – they rank 129th with an average of 115.0 passing yards per game – their pass defense has also been problematic. Michigan ranks 114th in pass defense with a yield of 259.8 yards.

    “It’s as hard as you want to make it for yourself,” Johnson said. “It’s not something that anyone in this building thinks about or shy away from. At the end of the day, the facts are the facts. We’re 4-2, but that’s how you’re going to react.

    “Are you going to use it as an opportunity to grow and develop and find ways to improve or are you going to let it ruin the season? That’s something coach Moore said in Monday’s meeting: ‘Don’t let Washington beat you twice.’ That’s the step a lot of guys have made and that’s how we’re going to attack the rest of the season.”

    The stakes are different this season with the expansion to a 12-team College Football Playoff. Another loss should kill Michigan’s chances, so it’s all about winning. That’s the big picture though, and this team’s mantra is to approach every game with the goal of winning 1-0.

    “I think the only thing is we can only worry about tomorrow,” Moore said on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show Monday night. “All we can worry about is really today, and getting better today, and then every week it’s a week-long season. Don’t worry about next week because when you watch college football, chaos is everywhere. Everyone has to play against everyone, and these games will be ubiquitous. The Vandy-Alabama game, no one would have ever imagined that. For us it’s literally just about taking care of the game we have to play and then worrying about the next one and putting everything we can into that game and then it’ll be on End work.”

    Defensive lineman Rayshaun Benny said the plan this week is to hit the reset button. Moore said after training earlier in the week, he would give the players Friday and Saturday off before returning to game week preparations.

    “It’s a completely new start to the season,” said Benny. “Just roll after it. … Not necessarily a new season, but most importantly, our season is not over yet, no matter what everyone else says or how they want to see it. We know our season is not over yet. Anything can happen. We just have to keep playing good football.”

    For a program that hasn’t suffered many losses over the last three seasons, Benny said it’s important not to allow this spiral to occur.

    “The most important thing is to keep everyone focused because not everyone is used to losing,” Benny said. “So we’re trying to get everyone back on board so we can get our focus back, so they understand we still have more games to play.”

    Edge rusher Josaiah Stewart, who leads the team in sacks, said no one on the team doubts the Wolverines’ determination and ability to bounce back in the final half of the season.

    “We don’t walk around sad and with our heads down,” Stewart said. “We still have a lot of football to play. I’m just working on getting better.”

    The path forward isn’t easy, but Johnson said he’s starting by spending more time at the football facility and focusing on details. That means watching more movies and working harder. He also said this is a time of self-assessment and deciding what each player can do to improve the team as a whole.

    What the Wolverines know is that they have to find a way to bounce back from two losses with six regular season games remaining.

    “You’re a fighter or you’re not,” Johnson said. “The only way to really move forward is forward. At the end of the day, you can see many what-if scenarios and how you react to this and that. You examine who you are as a person, look in the mirror and see what you can do to become better.

    “It’s a lot about looking inward to see what we can do as a team to get better, rather than looking at the opponent to see what we would do later in the week.” It’s the same strategy as two years ago, recent years, three years ago, four years ago. It’s just about looking within and figuring out how to get better from it.”

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