INSIDE THE FORT: After-the-fact intel on how Michigan beat Ohio State, latest on NFL decisions, more
TheWolverine.com’s Chris Balas and Clayton Sayfie bring you the latest Michigan Wolverines football intel ahead of the team’s Big Ten championship game matchup with Iowa.
We start with some behind the scenes, after the fact intel on Michigan’s win over Ohio State, including some of what went into the preparation (that started back in January). Then, we shift focus to Michigan’s game against Iowa and what we’re hearing on that front, before discussing some NFL decisions, going in depth on the Hawkeyes with an insider in Iowa City and more.
CLICK HERE to read the Inside The Fort or view an excerpt below.
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Inside The Fort Excerpt: Michigan Football Intel
CLICK HERE TO READ THE INSIDE THE FORT
We’ll get to the Hawkeyes in a minute, but we promised you some final intel on Ohio State and what went into the beating Michigan put on them …
First off, this is the year head coach Jim Harbaugh finally seemed to ‘get it’ on what had to happen in preparation for the Buckeyes. We’re not saying Michigan wasn’t completely prepared in previous meetings (especially defense — more on that in a minute). In fact, the Wolverines outplayed OSU for much of the game and deserved a better fate in 2016, and the 2017 game plan was outstanding. The Wolverines also put up 39 points in 2018 but were playing from behind most of the game.
The 2021 preparation, in our strong opinion, started in meetings between Harbaugh and Warde Manuel in his staff before the season.
“Warde flat out asked, ‘what are you planning to do to beat Ohio State?’” two sources closest to it recalled. “They were talking about his contract and the plans going forward, and it was clear what needed to happen.”
Harbaugh told them of his plan to bring back more ‘Michigan guys’ like Ronald Bellamy and Mike Hart — guys who lived, breathed and understood the rivalry — and that there would be more emphasis on ‘The Game.’
Those are facts. In our strong opinion, he also started focusing more on ‘football players’ who were more concerned about the team, the team, the team than what might happen on their next stop — guys willing to get a first down or die trying on third down rather than stepping out of bounds, or sitting for days to protect their NFL dreams.
We heard about the culture change this spring, but we were skeptical. We’d heard talk before. And as much as we wanted to believe it … well, fool me once …
But it happened, and it started with the quarterback — redshirt freshman Cade McNamara.
“I’ve never seen a guy more committed to his team,” one close to the program said. “He was in there watching film all the time when he wasn’t in class.”
