Believe. This is it, this is the year everything was supposed to come together for us, and it will. We all remember exactly where we were for the Miracle in '94 and we will remember exactly where we were when we KNEW The Rise was real! They are giving us NO chance in this game, the media, the fans and more than likely the Wolverine players and staff. They will overlook us and we will make them pay!
Will it look pretty? At times, no. Sefo will be our leading rusher, JMac our leading receiver. Lindgren and Chev have an entirely different scheme for this game. Their defense gets rattled early by our tempo, they are not used to this pace, we finally show up against a team on the road and that longing, that feeling we have all wanted to feel for the last 11 years starts to creep in when we lead 14-9 at halftime. The same halftime score in '94. Yes, the Fighting Leavitts keep them out of the endzone in the first half. Believe my friends! Believe!
On the first play of the 2nd half Sefo throws a pick 6 and Michigan comes out scores 17 unanswered in the 3rd, sound familiar? Of course it does. The doubt creeps in like it has so many times for so many years. So many heart breaks, what else is new. We've become accustomed to this, we know this feeling all too well.
The 4th quarter begins and we score two 40+ yard field goals behind Diego "Don't call me Mason Crosby" Gonzalez. Time is running out and we are down 26-20. Michigan has the ball at midfield. Here we are again. But hey, we showed up, we didn't quit. We got that "moral victory" ... again... right? On to Oregon with at least a little confidence.
THINK AGAIN. DMac comes off the edge on a 3rd and 6 with a minute left and strip sacks Speight, and none other than Addison "don't call me B.J Beatty" Gillam recovers right in the middle of the "M". Michigan fans will forever be angry at Harbaugh for not running it and pinning us deep.
We got the ball back with :47 seconds left. Offense rushes on the field. Sefo gets sacked on first down, with no time outs he spikes it on 2nd down. 3rd down is a completion to Bobo to the 23 yard line with 7 seconds left. Kelley snaps the ball, Sefo scans the field, nothing is open. He rolls right and takes off and for a split second all of our hearts sink, he gets hit at the 5 spins off the defender and.....
Believe my friends.... our pain, this love we have for this program that has tortured us time after time for more than a decade, everything we have endured, this suffering, this maybe next year, maybe our next coach......
Gone.
Its real.
The Rise is real!