Michigan Turning Focus To Ohio State After Ugly Loss At Home To Maryland

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ANN ARBOR (CBS DETROIT) - Michigan wanted to send its seniors out with a win Saturday, wanted to give them one last victory in Michigan Stadium. Instead, Maryland won, 23-16, and the Wolverines dropped to 5-6 on the season.

Sophomore running back Drake Johnson did not sugarcoat his feelings about the loss.

"I'm hurting after this game emotionally because I've been with these people for going on three years, and you see how much the game means to them," Johnson said. "You see how much the game influences their lives, seniors I mean. You see how much work they put into it. It's not just the lifts. It's the extra stuff, the extra treatment, the coming in at 6 o'clock in the morning when you don't even need to. Those are the things where you're like, 'Wow, this person's really committed,' and it just hurts seeing something like that happen and having [it] end this way.

"It just sucks to watch," Johnson added, "and sucks to have happen."

Head coach Brady Hoke echoed those sentiments but eventually turned the page on the loss.

"Obviously we're really, really disappointed," Hoke said. "The 12 guys who are graduating, 12 guys who are playing their last games, we always talk about playing for them, coaching for them, and we just didn't execute at times when we had opportunities ... We've got the greatest rivalry game in college football, in my opinion, coming up, and that's what we're going to focus on."

The Wolverines nearly upset the Buckeyes last season, but this time around, a lopsided win by Ohio State seems even more likely. Center Jack Miller said, however, that excitement about playing Ohio State has not been dampened by the struggles the Wolverines have endured this season.

"We're not playing for a whole lot, I think, like they are," Miller said. "They're trying to get a bid into the playoff, but I think games like this are what this rivalry's built on, when one team's kind of probably going to be a big underdog going in. All three kids in here right now [him, Jake Ryan and Joe Bolden] are Ohio kids, and I can tell you it'd be pretty sweet to go in their backyard and get a win."

Miller quickly dismissed the notion that Michigan's primary motivation next week will be spoiling Ohio State's hopes of contending for the national championship.

"It's not about that," Miller said. "It's about us trying to go out on a good note, and for a lot of Ohio kids - I don't know how many we have on the team - that's a pretty nice way to end the season.

"They are playing for a lot, and we're not - that's no secret," Miller added. "Would it ruin their season? Yeah, but that's not the goal, to ruin their season. The goal is to go out on the right note."

With a win against the Buckeyes, the Wolverines could also salvage hopes for a bowl game. Miller said postseason possibilities are not what Michigan is focused on.

"All that big-picture stuff, I don't know," Miller said. "Obviously at the end of the year you'd like to say [we] didn't have a losing record, went to a bowl game, all that, but we're just trying to beat Ohio and let the chips fall where they may.

"Any time in these rivalry games, that stuff can happen," Miller continued. "I think the underdog always brings their 'A' game and gives it their all because you've got nothing to lose, and in our case, there might not be tomorrow for us, so guys are going to give it their all, and sometimes things go your way. You prepare really well, which I know we will, and good things can happen for you."