96 days until Michigan football: Surviving a close call
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
Michigan football ran through the 2022 season without much resistance as it made a push for a second-straight Big Ten title. The Ohio State game was looming, but they still had to get through a physical matchup with the 7-3 Illinois Fighting Illini in the 96th game of the Jim Harbaugh era.
Michigan got on the board first in the opening quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run from Blake Corum to go up 7-0, which was one of two scoring plays for both teams in the first half. Illinois tacked on a 29-yard field goal with 4:03 to go in the half.
Corum injured his knee – which would ultimately cost him the rest of the 2022 season – right before halftime, which was deflating for a number of reasons. U-M also exited the third quarter down 17-10 with morale low among Wolverine fans hoping for a miracle.
Thankfully, Michigan was able to get three Jake Moody field goals in the fourth quarter, including one with 9 seconds remaining, to walk out with a 19-17 victory.
“It’s the mental discipline of our team, as you know. I mean these are character revealers,” Harbaugh said after the game. “Some people call them character builders, I call them character revealers. And it all a lot of it starts in the weight room. Ben Herbert and his staff, I mean, the attention to detail, the many workouts that our guys go through they are conditioned mentally and physically.
“Those workouts not only carve the body but they shape the mind. And ton of credit to them. Ben and his staff and all of our coaches. And just the way this team is. There as together a team and it’s not anxious, it’s not nervous they don’t play in fear. They don’t flinch, they’re not angry. They play with joy and gusto every single time they go out there. You can tell, this is one we’re really, really happy about and proud about.”
