Three times during his meeting with the media Monday, quarterback Tate Forcier said how important it is to get Michigan’s seniors to a bowl game.
“Being a leader of the team, you can never send your seniors out empty handed, and that’s something I don’t want to do,” Forcier said. “A lot of it’s on me, how I play and how I motivate these guys.”
Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier says he understands the need to play well in the final two games of the regular season. (Photo: Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com)
If Forcier plays like he did early in the season, when his heroics helped Michigan (5-5, 1-5) to comeback wins over Notre Dame and Indiana, the Wolverines will sneak into a bowl with a .500 or better record.
If he plays like he has most of the past month, when youth and inexperience have contributed to turnover problems and inconsistency, Michigan will spend its second straight December at home.
Forcier showed signs of snapping out of his October funk in last week’s 38-36 loss to Purdue.
He threw his first touchdown pass in more than a month, 43 yards to Roy Roundtree, and looked less skittish in the pocket than he has at any time since Big Ten play began.
When he lost a fumble in the third quarter on an errant option pitch that opened the floodgates for Purdue’s big second half, he responded by leading a six-play scoring drive that ended with his own 6-yard touchdown run.
“I think he had more positive moments than negative moments in the last game,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “He's still very much a work in progress. He still has to learn a whole lot. Again, we all have to be patient.
“I told him this last week, because he's a freshman, I got to ask you to perform and act and be older than what you are. If he's 19 years old, you have to act and play and behave like a 21-, 22-year-old. That's easier said than done.”
Forcier said the game has started to slow for him mentally after 10 college starts.
“I’m trying to do what I was doing at the beginning of the season," he said. "That’s getting the athletes the ball."
He’s also getting healthy.
After missing time last month with a concussion and sprained throwing shoulder, Forcier practiced fully each of the last two weeks. He suffered a setback Saturday when he twisted his left knee in the third quarter, but Forcier said he'll wear a protective sleeve the rest of the season and play through the injury.
"It's that time of the season where even if you’re hurt you just have to play through it and it’s kind of what I’m looking at right now," Forcier said. "We got to get these seniors to a bowl game."
Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
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