Shea Patterson couldn’t leave Michigan without getting another crack at Ohio State

Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson announced he will be returning to the program for his senior season in 2019.

There were a lot of reasons that factored into Patterson’s decision to return, but one of the biggest was Michigan’s 62-39 loss to Ohio State.

Patterson:

- “I’ve been thinking about it for the past month, ever since after that game. I just thought to myself there’s no way in hell I’m leaving this place on that note. Regardless of a draft grade, whatever the case may be, I would never end my career with an opportunity to come back with a loss to that team. That’s the one thing that has ignited me. I think one of the biggest things that impacted me coming back, one of them, was that last game in Columbus.

- “I just felt we worked so hard and had such a good season leading up to that game. I was more upset that I couldn’t do enough to get us a win. I love the guys so much and let down the Michigan fan base, and I just felt like we all did that that day. That just brought a lot of emotions. Anger. I think anger was the biggest one. I hated to lose and even more, I hated to lose to them, especially with what we had in front of us.”

Some people crumble when things don’t go their way, some put a tail between their legs and walk away in shame, but that isn’t what Patterson is doing and for that he should be commended.

It’s clear Patterson feels awful about how things went against the Buckeyes, and it’s good to see a quarterback, a leader on the team, take the blame. However, the loss wasn’t because of Patterson, all three phases shared accountability in the defeat.

Using Shea’s own words, he’s angry about the loss, the loss ignited him, impacted him, upset him, and absolutely hated losing to Ohio State in particular. I’m not sure what Patterson could have said better than what he did, he said everything a fan would ever want a quarterback to say in this type of situation.

The main thing now will be for Patterson to turn that anger into production. Learn from the pain and make it into something positive. In a lot of ways, 2019 begins at the Peach Bowl, and this writer is highly interested in how Patterson performs against Florida.

In 2019 Patterson will get to face the two teams Michigan lost to this season, Notre Dame and Ohio State, at The Big House. Home field advantage, a second year for Patterson in Michigan’s offense, the bad taste in his mouth from losing to OSU and ND might be the proper ingredients to beat these pesky Michigan rivals.