The football booster of Michigan is real, just like this team

Winovich had been on the program for four years. Neither he nor his teammates held much in terms of inheritance.

"I'm just frank here," said Winovich at the time. "As a Michigan football player, I can not say many things" we did "."

Winovich returned to school for his fifth season with something to prove.

Her roommate, Shea Patterson, left a bad situation for Ole Miss for an early career. He too had a lot to prove.

Coach Jim Harbaugh refitted his offensive team during the off-season and tried to find new ways to save a unit that sometimes seemed rudderless.

At one point, honesty met the reality and Wolverines' external anxiety meter stopped working. For eight months, they worked behind closed doors. They listened to speeches stating that the Harbaugh era was a flop. They learned that they were the fourth best team in their own division. The calendar was too difficult. They were not ready.

Things are different now.

All these words are restored in the many mouths from which they came, including mine, with an implacable ferocity and overflowing bragging. You do not like it? Do something about it. You do not want to hear about it? Change the channel.

This is not a revenge tour.

It's a crusade.

"Your benchmarks are changing – your expectations for yourself and for your team (change)," Winovich said after the Wolverines' 42-7 loss to Penn State on Saturday, to a total of 8-1. -0 in Big Ten plays. "Your expectations are changing.

"It's the best way to say it."

Every week there are questions in my inbox about trap games and the possibility of the other shoe slipping on what has quickly become a booming football season in Michigan with aspirations. of champion.

Michigan fans have spent a decade being burned by this. They are worried, rightly so. Whenever hopes went up, the inevitable draw was cruel.

The gradual decline of Brady Hoke.

Release a last-minute strike against Michigan State.

The spot in Columbus.

Sink in the orange bowl.

To be defeated at Penn State.

Find a tight base in the Outback Bowl.

Watch the momentum of recruitment fades because of everything.

Listening to other fan bases makes fun and pushes, pokes and teases.

Finally, the other shoe always falls, right?

This time, I'm not so sure.

Seidel: Michigan is now the favorite to win the Big Ten. Something else a disappointment

Josh Uche of Michigan fires Trace McSorley of Penn State during the first half. (Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

Michigan's trust is overwhelming. In 2016, the Wolverines thought that they were good and for the most part they were. But they have entered the last three games of the season with a number of offensive questions and no proof of performance against a high-level opponent.

This team has just traveled easily through parts of Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State. Physically dominant in the three games and ready to talk to anyone who wants to listen to it later.

Trust is real, but more importantly, play on the field.

No one in Ann Arbor has been more critical than me of the Michigan offensive line in recent years, and it was justified. The Wolverines saw two quarterbacks go to the hospital last season and spent years trying to find enough consistency in advance to be able to play the physical football brand that they covet. desperately.

Now?

The reversal orchestrated by the new coach of the offensive line Ed Warinner has been stunning. Michigan rushes for 233 yards per game against the Big Ten opponents. Penn State was the defense against the most popular Big Ten race that started Saturday's game, and Patterson was barely touched.

If there is currently a better offensive line in this conference, I would love to see it. When did anyone say that for the last time about Wolverines? I'll wait until you dust off a calendar.

The number of Harbaugh calls has been exceptional. Patterson's efficiency rating of 157.1 continues to soar. Karan Higdon is 37 meters away. Donovan Peoples-Jones went from a sports perspective to a refined weapon with seven touchdown shots.

And we have not even reached that defense yet, with a group giving 216.2 yards per game and a ridiculous 3.7 yards per game.

Michigan enters its last three games – against Rutgers, Indiana and Ohio State – with the look of a playoff contender and a team dedicated to proving to anyone who doubted his abilities that he was completely wrong .

I had doubts and they were based on evidence.

I have no more doubts. It's also based on evidence.

Michigan is confident and impetuous and is not afraid to let it know the country.

More important, though? Michigan is really good.

The rest of college football is starting to understand it too.

Analysis: Michigan Ranks: Distinctions for Penn State's Dominance