Cade McNamara, Andrew Vastardis focus on improvement, Big Ten title after win over Ohio State

On3 imageby:Anthony Broome11/29/21

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Michigan football beat Ohio State and heads to its first Big Ten Championship game vs. Iowa on Saturday. The recipe was laid out from the start with the Wolverines vowing they would play a physical, smart brand of football in 2021.

That vision and identity came to a head on Saturday. The Wolverines rushed for 297 yards and fed the Buckeyes a steady diet of run after run in the 42-27 win.

“After watching the film, very proud of our guys,” graduate senior center Andrew Vastardis said on Monday. “All the work we put in during the week and the whole year focusing on that game really came to fruition and showed out on Saturday. We executed very well. Still, some things to fix. Always continue to critique ourselves and try to get better. Couldn’t be happier with how we executed and that goes across the whole team, not just the line.”

Michigan pulled off the unthinkable this season a year removed from a 2-4 COVID-impacted campaign. Calls for head coach Jim Harbaugh’s firing ran rampant, even after he agreed to return on a reworked contract. Preseason prognostications called this a 7-8 win football team.

Vastardis said the expectations inside the football building were the only thing that ever mattered.

“There was a lot of noise outside,” he said. “On the inside, we trusted each other and the coaches from the top down and stayed together to get as good as we can. We’ve continued to do that the whole year. The goals are still out in front of us and we have a tremendous opportunity this week. The goal is to keep preparing the way we have been with the utmost intensity and attention to detail. That’s just got to continue, not just for this season but hopefully as a legacy in the future for all Michigan teams. It’s been a great bond, great practices, great everything this year. That speaks to our goals compared to outside talk and how we want to go about executing that.”

Vastardis has led an offensive line that has been one of the most cohesive and impressive units in college football. Michigan third-year quarterback Cade McNamara has a season’s worth of starts under his belt and has played a lot of football. He has never been part of anything like the shredding of the Buckeyes that took place this weekend.

“Other than the Washington game, I don’t think I’ve ever seen or been part of an offense with such a dominant offensive line performance,” McNamara said. “That’s just a testament to the amount of work and the mentality shift in that room that [offensive line coach Sherrone Moore] preached to those dudes. Just the execution level. These guys are confident in what they can do and we’re confident as a group that we can follow their lead and drive this offense.”

The attention to the trenches and details preached by Moore help set a foundation for what Michigan’s offense was going to become. McNamara said their execution goes beyond Xs and Os. It starts with their identity.

“Since the beginning, we put an emphasis on the type of run game team we want to be,” he said. “The level of physicality, the gap schemes, even just the simple zones and coming off the ball. We have plays in our offense that are called ‘mentality plays.’ It’s not as much about the scheme as it is the level of intensity we’re going to come off the ball with. The game that we realized the potential of this group was Washington. The way we were able to manhandle those dudes was at a level that I have never seen.”

The offensive line has done its job, but it has also protected a leadership figure on the team in McNamara. All he has done all season is to simply run the offense. But what he brings to the table has been much more than that.

“Cade’s grown tremendously as a leader this year,” Vastardis said. “His preparation has always been one of his hallmarks. His film study, practice and attention to detail have always been high. From that, his confidence in being a leader and vocalizing it has been a tremendous asset. Not only that, but the bond and the leadership on this team have really responded to his voice, too.”

The Ohio State game was a crowning achievement for the 2021 Wolverines. Michigan has been starved for a championship contender and that begins with taking care of business in The Game.

Now that the mission was accomplished, McNamara and Michigan are focused on turning the page to championship football.

“Beating Ohio State is definitely one of, if not the pinnacle, of my career,” he said. “Just being a part of this team is an honor. For us to finally get over the hump of beating Ohio State, means so much not just to me but the rest of these guys. As we continue to go into this week of preparation, we’re going to watch the film today and as soon as today is over, that game is over as well. We’ll come back and appreciate that game after the season.

“For the time now, we have to beat the Hawkeyes and take home a Big Ten Championship. There’s not one dude on this team that has a ring. That was one of the goals that we wanted to achieve this season and now we have to go on and achieve the next one.”

Michigan football’s title bout with Iowa kicks off at 8 p.m. on Saturday night from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The game will be televised nationally via FOX.

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