A deep dive into the most painful Michigan football losses of the modern era: from heartbreak in Columbus to the chaos against TCU, ranked with humor, trauma, and just enough hope to keep watching:
Welcome to Michigan Musings! Every Monday – at least until the start of football season – this will serve as your prime source for all things Michigan Wolverines ; a weekly digest featuring thoughts and commentary on (mostly) the top stories from the week that was. Similar to a newsletter (Brewsletter?), this will feature an assortment of stories and opinions from football to basketball to hockey to pop culture and everything in between.
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let’s dive in.
Modern Michigan Football Fan Pain Scale
Pain is the essence of being a sports fan. From blowouts to game-winners to missed calls, the pain of being a sports fan is something you unknowingly sign up for when your parents put you in your first Block M onesie. It’s a part of the deal. But without the pain, the joy of winning wouldn’t feel so good.
However, until the team wins, it’s like you’re walking around with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Sports Disorder) and are always expecting the most heartbreaking outcome.
Despite being the winningest program in college football history, Michigan fans are well-versed in the agony of defeat. The 1994 Miracle at Michigan, 2006 at Ohio State, 2007 Appalachian State, or even the less talked about 2008 eye sore against Toledo instantly come to my millennial mind. There are more (several more) examples, and every supporter will have a unique list of anguish that has defined their fandom over the years.
Today, let’s look at the five most painful Michigan losses since 2015. These are the losses that are usually remembered in a single moment or phrase. Similar to Red Sox fans cowering at any “Buckner” mention until ‘04, or Bills fans still shuddering at the sheer mention of “Wide right.”
These are the losses that have scarred Michigan fans the most over the last decade, but are also the reason why the recent national championship run was so sweet.
Let’s revisit the pain.
5) Michigan State: 37 Michigan: 33 (2021)
It’s hard to remember the magnitude of this game given everything that’s transpired since. Michigan and Michigan State met as undefeated co-leaders of the Big Ten, in a clash with both teams ranked inside the AP top-10 for the first time since 1964.
Jim Harbaugh was on borrowed time facing the flashy, rising coaching star, Mel Tucker. Yes, this is a real sentence.
Michigan led 10-0 in the first quarter, 30-14 in the third quarter, and 33-30 with 9:20 left in the fourth. It didn’t matter. Time and time again, Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker would break free and trample over the bodies and hearts of the Wolverines. Walker finished the day with five touchdowns and just shy of 200 yards, although it somehow felt worse.
This game also featured the familiar rivalry staples of an annoying trick play (40-yard, fourth-down completion to Jalen Nailor) and frustrating unforced errors (the fumbled exchange between J.J. McCarthy and Blake Corum).
It was a memorable day for the Spartans in East Lansing, but the game ultimately meant nothing in the grand scheme of the season. The Wolverines would rebound from this loss and win every remaining game of the regular season, including beating Ohio State for the first time in a decade and winning the Big Ten Championship.
Pain level: Your girlfriend publicly dumps you in high school. It sucks, but there’s still plenty of time until prom.
4) Michigan State: 27 Michigan: 23 (2015)
Michigan had not beaten the Spartans since 2012 and had only won once since 2007. But now Harbaugh was in charge, and everything was about to change. Or so we thought.
After dropping their first game of the season to Utah, the Wolverines had rattled off five straight wins, including three straight shutouts. Michigan was ranked No. 12 in the country and the undefeated Spartans were seventh. All eyes were on the biggest game at Michigan Stadium in four years.
The game was an old-school Big Ten slug fest with both teams trading blows. On paper, the Spartans were out-gaining Michigan by more than 150 yards and should have been running away with it. But Michigan’s bend-don’t-break defense had limited Michigan State to 3-of-13 on third down, 0-of-4 on fourth down and only 21 points with less than two minutes remaining.
Following a turnover on downs by the Spartans, Michigan needed 10 yards to win the game. Ten yards to break Michigan State’s most dominant run (the Spartans had won six of the past seven meetings) of the modern era in the rivalry (post-1969).
On first down, running back De’Veon Smith gains five yards (“Halfway there, oh baby it’s in the bag!”). Smith picks up two more yards on second down (“Three yards–NINE FEET–that’s it, keep pounding!”). On third down, Smith only manages one yard (“…It’s okay, we can run the clock down to… Ten seconds, punt the ball, and call it a night.”).
What happened next no one could have predicted. Ten seconds, fourth-and-two, and four words that rival the four letters “O-H-I-O” in terms of annoyance: “Trouble with the snap.”
Michigan punter Blake O’Neill bobbled a low snap, tried to recover, but instead whipped around and flung the ball to Michigan State’s Jalen Watts-Jackson, who rumbled 38 yards into the end zone as time expired.
The pain was so sudden. So shocking. It didn’t feel real. It still doesn’t feel real. The only reason it checks in lower is because the stakes weren’t that high. Yes, the 2015 team was fun, but even with a win, Michigan probably still loses big to Ohio State and still finds a way to play Florida in a bowl game
Pain level: Busting open a piñata on your birthday, but instead of candy, your little brother runs in wearing a Rey Mysterio mask and kicks you in the balls. There will always be other birthdays, but you’ll never forget the sudden shock and pain of this one.
3) TCU: 51 Michigan: 45 (2022)
Following a one-sided loss to Georgia the year before, Michigan returned to the College Football Playoff undefeated and better than ever. Even without Heisman-contending running back Blake Corum (Corum was lost for the season with a knee injury in Week 11), Michigan looked like a juggernaut entering the postseason, destined for a rematch with Georgia in the National Championship. And the only thing standing between the maize and blue and redemption was the 7.5-point underdog TCU Horned Frogs.
TCU was a fun, plucky team that snuck into the postseason after an overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship. A Cinderella team that had survived close calls against Oklahoma State and Baylor, but a team no one was giving much credence to, including the Wolverines.
On the first play of the game, Michigan ran its bread-and-butter duo play with Donovan Edwards for 54 yards. It was about to be a long night for the Fort Worth Frogs. Until it wasn’t.
From goal-line fumbles to weird trick plays to untimely coverage busts to multiple pick-sixes, Michigan felt hell-bent on getting in its own way. And despite their best efforts, the Wolverines had enough moments of brilliance that the second half of this game was one of the most entertaining halves of the college football season (for a neutral fan).
It was an endless merry-go-round of success and failures that ultimately stopped on the latter.
The loss was incredibly frustrating because it was completely uncharacteristic of the team fans had watched for the 13 previous games. It had been one year of looking forward to this moment. One year of preparing for the inevitable Georgia rematch. One year of hyper focus on one single objective just to have it ripped away at the 11th hour due to self-inflicted wounds.
The game was an abject disaster, a complete collapse; however, born from it was the greatest team in Michigan history. The loss still hurts, but without the pain from this night, is the greatness of the 2023 attainable?
Pain level: Having the once-in-a-lifetime best date with your dream girl, but suffering from… “Performance issues” that night. Sheer frustration and embarrassment after a life’s pursuit; thankfully, there was another date to rectify the situation the following year and alleviate the pain of the memory.
2) Ohio State: 62 Michigan: 39 (2018)
Michigan entered this game on a revenge tour. Winners of 10 straight games, ranked fourth in the country and favored by 3.5 to 4.5 points (depending on the sports book) on the road against Ohio State. Nothing could stop them. The Wolverines were one win away from facing (read: beating) Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship and earning the program’s first trip to the College Football Playoff.
The rallying cry of “Our Year” had circulated. This was the year. Michigan was ready, and Ohio State was “down.” Down being the Buckeyes had lost a game — a blowout 29-point loss to Purdue in Week 8 — and had just survived a one-point overtime victory over Maryland the week before. This was finally it!
(Narrator: It, in fact, was not it.)
The box score would deceive you that this was a close game in the first half. Michigan only trailed by one point after the first quarter and by five at halftime. However, anyone watching live knew the Wolverines were hanging on more than holding their own, and in the second half, they lost their grip.
The Buckeyes led by as many as 30 points in the fourth quarter while mercifully putting up 567 yards. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins looked like prime Daunte Culpepper, raining down six touchdowns while repeatedly picking on corner Brandon Watson.
Ohio State’s 62 points didn’t just set a rivalry record for the Buckeyes, but it was and is the most regulation points ever scored against Michigan. The Wolverines’ season felt like a complete waste. Who cares about 10 straight wins and a revenge tour when you’re blown out in the most important game of the season?
In this moment, it felt like Michigan would never beat Ohio State again. And instead of inspiring the next great Michigan team, this loss kicked off a downward spiral that would culminate in the worst season in program history two years later.
It was a really dark day for the Wolverines.
Pain level: Working your ass off only for your CEO to hire his entitled, dip shit 21-year-old son to the position you’ve aspired to for 15 years. And then his son fires you.
1) Ohio State: 30 Michigan: 27 (2016)
Michigan was a WAGON in 2016. Despite a flukey, weird loss at Iowa, this team was a juggernaut that pulverized opponents. The Wolverines beat the Big Ten West champions, the Pac-12 South champions, and pummeled the eventual Big Ten champions )Penn State) 49-10.
Entering The Game, Ohio State also had only one loss, but the team had looked vulnerable throughout the season. The Buckeyes escaped in OT in Madison; survived by four at home against Northwestern; picked off a two-point attempt by three-win Michigan State to hold on to a one-point victory the week before facing Michigan.
Ohio State was ranked second in the country, and Michigan was ranked third. If Michigan wins, it faces (Read again: beats) Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship and advances to the College Football Playoff.
The stage was set for an instant classic, and the game, by in large, delivered. It was a back-and-forth affair with each team seizing and ceding momentum. Ohio State would deliver a haymaker, and Michigan was ready to return fire. The Buckeyes would unload body shots, and the Wolverines would stand their ground.
Sixty minutes was not enough to decide this one, and neither was one extra period. As the game entered its second overtime, the Buckeyes trailed by three and faced a fourth-and-one.
Wasting no time, head coach Urban Meyer hurried his team to the line to snap the ball. Quarterback J.T. Barrett took the snap and headed downhill on a split-zone carry. The Michigan defense flooded the line of scrimmage, and right at the marker, defensive back Delano Hill collided with Barrett, knocking him into edge Chris Wormley.
From the naked eye, J.T. was short. From the zoomed-in Zapruder film version, Barrett was short. However, the officials saw it differently at the moment and upheld the call on replay. One play later, Ohio State running back Curtis Samuel galloped into the end zone for a walk-off double overtime victory.
SADFASDVADFD!!!!!!!!
The outcome didn’t just feel unfair; it felt like Michigan was cheated. Robbed at gunpoint at the crux of their supposed moment. It felt like Henry Hill was going to jump down from the witness stand and say, “It didn’t matter, it didn’t mean anything…” and explain why Ohio State would always come out on top in the rivalry.
Mind you, this was a team that, despite three losses, finished with the second-best scoring defense and the sixth-best scoring offense in the Power Five. For comparison, the undefeated 2023 Wolverines finished with the best defense and the 10th-best scoring offense in the Power Five.
This was the team that was supposed to right the wrongs of a previous generation and finally topple the evil empire. But instead, Luke was shot down before he could fire two Proton torpedoes into the Death Star.
Pain level: Watching your favorite movie until someone bursts into your house and shoots your dog.
Never say never, but it’s hard to imagine another loss like this. Michigan could always lose on a game-winning field goal as soon as the clock hits midnight on New Year’s Eve after back-dooring their way into the national semi-final, but even that may not hurt as bad as this.
But without this pain, Chris Fowler’s Rose Bowl scream of, “MILROE’S STOPPED!” wouldn’t feel as exhilarating. And THAT feeling is why our parents gave us the Block M onesie and why my son will get one, too. Just don’t hate me for the pain until then.