Michigan players, coaches excited and ready for final stretch of 2021 season

The 2021 regular season is dwindling as we get closer and closer to crowning conference champs and playoff births. For the Michigan Wolverines, both of those things are still in play.

After Michigan State lost to Purdue last weekend and still has to go to Columbus to play Ohio State on Nov. 20, Michigan essentially controls its own destiny in the Big Ten East. Could Michigan State come away with a win at Ohio State? Absolutely. However, it is more than likely if Michigan wins the next two games, the Big Ten East is going to come down to The Game on Nov. 27. Everything is on the table, and the Wolverines are excited.

“Yeah I’m excited,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said when asked about the opportunity his team had. “Excited for the next game, today’s meeting, today’s practice. Excited to have a good day.”

The players are excited for the opportunity as well. There has been a lot of talk from the team this year about how they are different than past Michigan teams, and they’re still eager to prove that.

“This last stretch is the most important three games,” offensive lineman Trevor Keegan said. “We’ve got to lock in, hone into our assignments, hone into watching film. It’s all on us, and that’s what we like. Doing stuff on our own time. Watching film, coming early to watch film, taking care of our bodies more. We’re going to need everybody to be able to make a run, so as long as players are healthy, studying film, doing extra work, we’re going to be just fine.”

The closing stretch of the season for Michigan features road games against Penn State and Maryland before wrapping things up at home against Ohio State on Thanksgiving weekend. The Wolverines will more than likely be underdogs in two out of those three games, as they currently sit as one-point underdogs against Penn State and likely won’t be favored against Ohio State either.

It will certainly be no easy task to run the table and win the division, but the opportunity is right there.