This one will sting for a while, for Michigan's seniors in particular. Their coach, Jim Harbaugh, is building a program in Ann Arbor, and he will get his shot at the College Football Playoff soon enough.
Yet for seniors like Taco Charlton and Chris Wormley and Jourdan Lewis _ NFL-level talents all _ this season was it. It was their chance to compete for a national title only two years after finishing 5-7.
Instead, they'll settle for the Orange Bowl, a place they would've jumped at when they signed on at U-M under Brady Hoke four years ago. As consolation prizes, it's not a bad one. But it's still a consolation.
Because they believe, as does their coach, as did the College Football Playoff committee for part of the season, that they are one of the four best teams in the country. Heck, the committee did its best to lay out a path for the Wolverines when it unveiled its rankings on Nov. 20. It sure felt like the committee wanted U-M in the final four.
It was easy to see why. When the Wolverines were healthy, they looked like the second-best team in the sport, behind Alabama. The NFL draft next spring should back this up, at least in terms of talent.
All that talent, though, wasn't enough. The Wolverines needed one more play. One more catch. One more stop.
They had chances to do each of those things in Iowa City, Iowa and Columbus, Ohio, the sites of their two losses. But before you start blaming the refs, know that in each game, U-M had a chance to make the play to win.
Maybe learning how to do that is part of the process, part of the psychology required to navigate the upper echelon of the sport. Think about it this way: A year ago most of these same Wolverines _ with the exception of starting quarterback Wilton Speight _ entered the Ohio State game only hoping they could compete with the Buckeyes.
Erik Magnuson, U-M's offensive tackle, admitted as much during the run-up to the game in Columbus two Saturdays ago. He flatly stated that, in the past several seasons, he and his teammates weren't sure they could beat Ohio State.
That changed this year. Even after stumbling in Iowa City, Iowa in early November, Magnuson and his fellow players knew they were good enough to compete. Not only that, they thought they were going to win.
Don't underestimate how much that matters.
If you're a Michigan fan and you're still hurting after the loss in Columbus, this is a good place to heal. U-M didn't just polish off its brand and regain some of its buzz and blast its way back onto the national football landscape, it learned how to compete, even if it's still learning how to win.
Whatever else Harbaugh has done _ and he's done plenty _ it's the installation of confidence and swagger that remains most important. Last season, this program would've been thrilled with a chance to play Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Then September happened. And October happened. And the expectation changed along with all those impressive wins.
In that way, missing out on the College Football Playoff is bitterly disappointing for Harbaugh and his players and his staff. It was right there, a few inches away, and it slipped from their fingers.
Now it's time to prove this year wasn't a one-off, a hard-to-replicate bounty of all that senior, NFL-bound talent. Here's guessing this is just the beginning for Harbaugh, and that in most years getting to the Orange Bowl will feel like a letdown unless it's part of the Playoff semifinals.
That's how it works in Columbus and Tuscaloosa. That's the goal, too, in Ann Arbor.
