Michigan vs. Akron: Game Thread

We get twelve of these a year, guaranteed. Twelve games where Michigan trots out onto the field for 60 minutes of football. Thirteen if they do well enough, and a fourteenth if things go really well in conference now.

Akron isn't much of a football team. The Zips have been bad for years and could continue down that same path for many more. The defense looks ineffectual and the offense impotent. But this is another red X on the calendar (or blue, if you like Brady Hoke have completely gotten rid of the red in your life and now opt for blue markers for your calendar marking-off).

This may not be the most important game of the season — it is probably the least important — when it comes to that thirteenth and fourteenth game we are hoping to see, but for a whole bunch of kids on that team, this is the Super Bowl.

It'll get ugly early if everything goes according to plan, and you might be tempted to have another beer and wander away from the TV. That would be a mistake. In doing so, in taking this one lightly, you could be overlooking some of the most important players on the team that you've barely heard of.

The first and second year players getting their first taste of extended game action, a dress rehearsal before a career that shifts to center stage in a year or two. The seniors that show up, day after day to practice and film review and weight lifting sessions at times when you lie comfortably in bed, look at the clock, and roll back over because its too early; the seniors that won't play outside of garbage time the rest of the year. Finally, the walk-ons, who are doing all of this while simultaneously racking up student debt like the rest of us did, playing to play the game and be a part of this team. Team 134. All of it.

If everything goes according to plan it won't be dramatic, but keep your eyes glued to that TV for all 60 minutes. Today is as much about Michigan Football as last week was.

Go Blue. Go Team 134.