War is not football, and football is not war, but having done both, they sometimes look like one another.

 

In 778 AD, King of the Franks Charles, (later known as Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, First Holy Roman Emperor), led his army across the Pyrenees and into Islamic dominated Spain. His goal was to create a buffer between his Frankish Kingdom and the Umayyad Caliphate that dominated most of modern day Spain. The eldest son of the first Carolingian king Pepin the Short, Charles bore the pressure of expectations and the weight of leadership from a young age. Up until this point in his career, King Charles has experienced a long series of victories. As hard fought and close run as they might have been, his talent and success on the field was indisputable. The campaign into Spain however, would prove to be an exception.

Entering the Upper March of Spain, King Charles realized the situation was not as he had predicted. Without a deep dive into 8th Century Umayyad/Abbasidian politics, suffice it to say that the assumptions King Charles had made about the type of battle he would face were incorrect. He faced long sieges he was unprepared for and could not afford that required his army to be in Spain longer than his tenuous grip on other rebellious regions could tolerate. One of these regions, the rebellious Saxons, rose in rebellion and forced King Charles to withdraw his troops after some moderate, but extremely costly successes in Spain.

It is here that his mistakes began to compound. Instead of simply withdrawing north to the safety of his kingdom, King Charles decided to inflame tensions with both his former “allies” in Zaragoza and the Basque on his way out. By sacking their cities to attempt to pay for his campaign and make any re-invasion easier, and making hostages of their leaders, King Charles dug his hole deeper and deeper as he faced the most dangerous part of his trip: the path through the Pyrenees.

Modern Day Roncevaux Pass

 

The disaster that resulted in the subsequent Battle of Roncevaux is quite literally the stuff of legends. The lightly armed and armored Basque villagers were no match for the juggernaut that was the heavily armored Frankish Army and their shield wall: in the open fields. But Roncevaux pass was not only narrow, it wound around the mountains preventing King Charles from bringing the great size of the Frankish Army to bear. The Basque cut off the Frankish rearguard (which held all the captured treasure) and began peppering the Franks with spears from behind trees under the shadows of the setting sun. In the Frankish rearguard stood a nobleman named Roland. Roland was a warrior (not from the land of the midnight sun) but Roland knew that if he surrendered, then this tactic would play out up and down the line of the Frankish Army until none of it remained. So Roland stood with his warriors and battled the Basque for hours in the Roncevaux Pass. Through the night the sounds of battle echoed through the Pyrenees. King Charles himself stood and listened as part of his once great army battled to the end.   How exactly Roland fell is unknown, and the legends of the subsequent millennia are not to be believed, but what is known is that Roland, a seasoned and experienced warrior, stood his ground, faced his death, and did his duty to the last.

Roland’s story was forgotten in the shame of defeat, until it was included in the “Matter of France”. An epic story on par with today’s pre-woke LOTRs, intended to create a national culture, and inspire men to great deeds. Roland’s story inspired Carolingian Kings, and Crusaders for centuries passed the Roncevaux Pass to pray to the spot where he fell. Still today in a Europe which eschews traditional warrior culture, statues of Roland still stand over 1,200 years after his death. Roland’s bravery in the face of certain death inspired millennia of warriors. The lesson was clear. You can not always control the cards that fate deals you, but you can meet them with courage, and you can fight with every ounce of your soul.

 

We saw things yesterday we had seen all season, and things that boggled the mind. From too-cute Red Zone play calling to a Rimington Award winner and a 5 Star QB messing up the snap. We watched the Michigan Defense give up 38 points, and the “take care of the ball” Michigan Offense give up 13 more. We saw replays go against us, again, and questionable targeting calls (Joe Bolden would like a word). It was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish, but one thing we didn’t see was Michigan give up. It would have been easy for JJ to sink into a shell like some former Michigan QB’s after essentially giving away double the margin of defeat on pick six’s. But he didn’t. He picked himself up and kept throwing downfield and between his legs and arm kept Michigan in the game.

It wasn’t just JJ. The Michigan defense looked exhausted and defeated and like they couldn’t stop a middle school team, but when Michigan desperately needed a stop, they reached deep and pulled one out. They could have folded after TCU got one first down on the last drive, but they didn’t. They held. Despite the utter befuddlement of the last offensive play, you saw a Michigan Linemen scoop the ball, have the wherewithal to get it to Donovan Edwards, who had the brilliance to try a forward pass to a Michigan Tight End who had his head up, almost expecting it. Three young men, simply refusing to let the season die. Simply refusing to accept the fate the cruel football gods had dealt them as long as there was a second on the clock and the slightest life in their body.

When I was in school, I saw a Michigan game end in a loss when Chad Henne fell down on a last second pass. Just bootlegged out, slipped, sad fall, game over. This was not that. We often try to fit macro narratives out of single data points. The narrative of Michigan football will go on in the media, the fans, and the opposition fans forever. It won’t ever stop. But one thing that I am proud of is that I will always be able to say that at the end of the game, when the situation seemed hopeless, that those Michigan Men never quit, and despite the losses that we all take in life, they fought until the very end. Go Blue.