Outlook For The Michigan/Ohio State Game

Things are looking up, aren't they?

Earlier today Michigan associate athletic director for football Dave Ablauf let the media know that Michigan would be back in action in some capacity with a short, succinct text.

"Medical has cleared the team to begin limited workouts."

That obviously doesn't mean that The Game is on, but it is a small step in the right direction.

Wolverine Digest received another to-the-point message indicating that the game may actually take place. A high-ranking Michigan administrator was asked for some time for something unrelated to football, to which he replied, "I can't [participate] because of getting ready for the Ohio State game."

Again, that's not necessarily a guarantee that the game is a go, but it seems to be a positive development.

Of course, there are those who think that everything indicating that Michigan is working hard to make sure the game is played is all being done for appearances. Sort of a, "Well, we really tried to make it happen but the pandemic just wouldn't allow it," type of thing from Michigan.

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit suggested that Michigan might wave the white flag rather than take on Ohio State, to which athletic director Warde Manuel fired back, calling the comments "embarrassing" from one of the Big Ten's own.

I'm not saying that is what's happening, but would you blame anyone at Michigan for at least having the thought? 

However those discussions might go, there are some reasons why Michigan shouldn't play. Ohio State opened up as a 30-point favorites for The Game, which is conservative in my opinion. The Wolverines are hurting from a roster standpoint in a game they wouldn't win at full strength anyway, so why play? It's been reported that true freshman Dan Villari may have to start at quarterback for the Wolverines, which, yikes, and Ohio State is also dealing with a decent number of positive COVID cases as well. The entire college football season is starting to feel a little loosey-goosey down the stretch and everyone is throwing out the term "asterisk" anyways. As for the Harbaugh contract situation, dodging a potentially huge beatdown has got to appeal to him and the administration. Losing by 40 or 50 points would certainly add fuel to the "Fire Harbaugh" fire, which he doesn't want, and would dump even more pressure on Manuel, which he and the administration don't want. Whichever angle you look at it from, it probably makes more sense not to play.

Brendan Gulick of Buckeyes Now isn't overly optimistic that the game will take place either, but he does know that Ohio State is going to do everything in its power to play and appears to be ready.

"At the moment I’m not hearing anything other than the Buckeyes are currently healthy enough to play this coming weekend," Gulick said. "Obviously Ohio State has some guys dealing with the virus, but right now they are below both the 7.5% and 5% thresholds the league established."

Obviously the Buckeyes have a little more motivation to play given the six-game minimum required to play in the Big Ten title game and potentially the College Football Playoff, but the Michigan coaches and players certainly would rather play than not, even if they are massive underdogs. 

At the end of it all, here are my thoughts...

1. I want the game to be played. I like watching Michigan football and football in general, and would always rather have games than not. 

2. I never want Michigan to lose games. I'd much rather Michigan be 6-0 getting ready to battle OSU for a shot at the Big Ten title and a seat at the playoff table than sitting at 2-4 ready to be dominated by the Buckeyes. With that said, an ugly loss might force a hand, which I think is necessary. I can't really say, "I hope Michigan loses badly so Harbaugh gets fired," so directly because it goes against how I feel about Michigan and peoples' livelihoods in general, but that might be what it takes to get changes that so many see as a necessity.

3. I don't think that Michigan would intentionally opt out just to keep Ohio State out of the big games, and I definitely don't think they should. But if there are several legitimate reasons not to play, and a substantial number of players are suffering with the virus on both teams, cancelling one game isn't exactly the worst decision in the world, even if the outcome screws OSU on a technicality. I know a lot of Michigan fans might like that approach, but I don't. I grew up playing and coaching sports and that's lame. Period.

4. Regardless of if the game is played or not, I still think Harbaugh needs to go. He hasn't gotten it done and there's nothing he can do at this point to convince me that he can get it done. If he does get an extension, and gets a year to prove himself and kills it, I'll eat crow and cover the team in a very positive light because I call it like I see it. I just don't see that happening.