For years Michigan football coaches have chanted same mantra:
Big Ten Championship, Rose Bowl…
Big Ten Championship, Rose Bowl…
But things have changed. The Rose Bowl is no longer the exclusive domain of the Big Ten and Pac Ten conferences. Now Included in the BCS rotation, the Rose Bowl periodically becomes the home of the National Championship game.
And it’s time for Michigan to change with the times. And it doesn’t mean that the Big Ten Title is any less desirable but there’s now a higher goal.
Other Michigan teams regularly aim for a National Championhship and manage to win their conference title along the way.
No softball team east of the Mississippi river had evert won a National Championship. It didn’t stop the Michigan softball team from aiming year in and year out for a National Championship. Did they treasure their Big Ten Championships? Sure, but there was a larger goal, one that they were able to achieve despite participating in a sport dominated by warm weather schools.
Does the Michigan football team lack the same gumption to shoot for the highest goal available?
True, football does regularly lose players early to the NFL which hampers the Wolverine cause. But no sport have been ravaged by early departures worse than Michigan hockey. But every season coach Red Berenson leads his team in an attempt to capture a National Championship. It doesn’t matter how many freshman need to play critical roles during the upcoming season.
The goal is the same…National Championship or bust. And it doesn’t dim their desire for a conference championship.
Does the Michigan football team lack the resources available to the hockey team?
Of course not. The only thing lacking is an acknolwdgement that a National Champinship shoould now be the goal every season.
Two Titles, National & Big Ten…
Two Titles, National & Big Ten…
It’s time to re-examine and the lore of Michigan football history. The Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl were the goal because that was the ultimate goal available for most of Michigan football history. The goal has been moved, it’s time for Michigan football to expand its vision.
This isn’t a betrayal of Michigan tradition. The “Leaders and Best” should aim for the highest goal available.
After all you can’t hit what you’re not aiming at.
