In the Peach Bowl, the Wolverines will seek their first 11-win season since 2011.
ANN ARBOR — While Michigan searches for answers following a 23-point loss to Ohio State in its regular-season finale, there’s one common theme among many of the players.
It’s time to turn the page.
Players returned to the weight room on a part-time basis last week, and will return in earnest this week in preparation for Florida, their Dec. 29 Peach Bowl opponent.
“People were down,” senior safety and defensive co-captain Tyree Kinnel said. “We’d rather be practicing, getting ready for Northwestern. But it happens. We’ve got to move on from it.”
Disappointment permeated the Michigan roster following that 63-39 loss to the Buckeyes on Nov. 24, one that not only snapped the seventh-ranked Wolverines’ 10-game winning streak but dashed any hopes of playing for a Big Ten championship and getting into the College Football Playoff.
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All season long, players and coaches, head coach Jim Harbaugh included, made it known what the goal was. An eight-win season in 2017 wasn’t good enough — and they felt they had the pieces, including a No. 1-ranked defense, to contend for a national title this year.
Instead, Michigan was relegated to another New Year’s Six bowl against a familiar non-conference face, the second such appearance in the last three seasons under Harbaugh.
