Bruce Feldman's account of Sainristil's OSU sideline speech
In the immediate aftermath of the November victory in Columbus, The Athletic's Bruce Feldman tweeted that he had a first-hand account of Mike Sainristil's fiery sideline speech in the intermission before the 4th quarter. He has finally published it, in the context of a deeper look on how Michigan has turned things around since 2020:
“I want all you guys to take a look at their sideline. Look at them!” Mike Sainristil, Michigan’s wiry nickelback and team captain, yelled to his teammates gathered around him, as he pointed across the field to the Buckeyes sideline. “They have their heads down. We know who the f— they are! They are exactly who we thought they are! Let’s keep our foot on the gas. Keep executing. Don’t give them anything. Keep taking everything.
“Y’all wanna win the natty? It starts right now!”
Sainristil’s impromptu speech had his teammates riveted, heads nodding vigorously in agreement. Then linebacker Michael Barrett took his turn to ratchet up the intensity.
“We control our own destiny,” said Barrett as he looked in the eyes of his teammates and pointed at his chest. “We’ve been talking about this s— since January. What the f— we wanna do? Man, this s— is right in our f— hands. Go out there and keep playing and finish that s—!”
Sainristil, still standing above all his teammates with his left hand gripping Barrett’s shoulder pad, brought the entire defense together one last time before he would walk into the Michigan offensive huddle as the players went back onto the field.
“Let’s go! Let’s go! Hey! Hey! D on Me. D on THREE. WUUUUUUN! TWO! THREE!”...
“Sharks can always smell blood in the water,” Sainristil told The Athletic of his speech, “and in that moment, the Buckeyes were vulnerable.”
December 28th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
Chills…
Now lets go finish this shit.
December 28th, 2022 at 9:49 AM ^
I literally got chills reading that. Great comment.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:54 AM ^
I believe that what he actually said, per Feldman, was "finish that s---"
December 28th, 2022 at 6:03 PM ^
Fuck ohio would also have been appropriate
December 28th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
So close to kickoff! LFG!
December 28th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
THIS is the kind of team leadership we've been missing for far too long. Major props to Jim, his staff, and the upperclassmen who led Michigan out of the swamp of underachievement and put us back at the top of the Big Ten.
Go Blue!
December 28th, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
Seconded. It's funny living down here in Ohio all I heard over the past year was how the mighty Buckeyes were going to absolutely destroy us this as a payback for the injustice in 21. And that while they might've overlooked us last year (which is why they they thought they lost) they surely wouldnt make that same mistake twice so buckle up Michigan fan, your team is about to get crushed.
My response was always the same though. I'd tell them "when a team gets their ass kicked for years the winner doesnt think he can ever lose and the loser doesnt think they can ever win. Which is why when anything went wrong for us we immediately crumbled. But you know what? Now we know we can beat you guys and more importantly, you know we can beat you too."
When Sainristil gave that speech he knew Michigan could win. And the Buckeyes across the field knew it too.
December 28th, 2022 at 9:58 AM ^
11 whiners had a series of threads pre 11/26 about how the buckeyes were really, really mad, and they really, really meant it this time, and they were really, really going to crush us.
until they didn't.
bwahahaha. couldn't happen to a more toxic, more deserving fan base.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
I saw a lot of those threads/comments. All I could think was how eerily similar they sounded to me circa 2001.
December 28th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
Well let's hope that means they are about to hit their version of 2006-2015
December 28th, 2022 at 10:18 PM ^
Like a whole lot of us my friend
December 28th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
The Bell's THA was no more delicious than it was the evening of 11/26 while I read the 3Q and 4Q 11W game threads. Pure gold, Jerry!
December 28th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
"More toxic, more deserving fan base"? I can think of one.
December 28th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
Bingo. MSU is toxic, OSU is spoiled/entitled.
Or to put it another way, MSU is the 14 year old son of your neighbor who tortures animals and vandalizes cars because it makes him feel superior to something.
OSU is the five year old throwing a massive temper tantrum in the checkout line because mom wont buy him a candy bar.
December 28th, 2022 at 5:01 PM ^
Exactly because of the example set by Woody, the insane petulant man-child.
And.... my God, they worship that fool.
December 28th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
i will confess that i hesitated on that one, but in the context of spoiled brats ohio takes the cake. sparty is just generally epic low-level intellectual function (ohio has that, too) but without winning much of anything, especially lately.
December 28th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
And to really solidify the confidence swing from OSU to Michigan, we beat their ass in their stadium with chamber of commerce weather. Now you got nothin' buckeyes. There is no way that is a confident football team going into the Georgia game. If Georgia punches them in the mouth early in the 1st quarter, it could get ugly. This is exactly how I expect this game to go.
December 28th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
That's some powerful s_ _ _
December 28th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
It doesn't seem like too long ago we'd have players like Wilton Speight whining about Nick Baumgartner and Zach Gentry going pro early because he didn't like his twitter mentions.
December 28th, 2022 at 8:38 PM ^
Seriously!? I missed both of those. Are these known quotes from Speight and Gentry?
Quite a change in team culture to say the least.
December 28th, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
Noice!
December 28th, 2022 at 9:44 AM ^
Leaders Lead, Buckeyes Bleed.
Go Blue!
December 28th, 2022 at 9:54 AM ^
“Go out there and keep playing…”
One play, series, and game - at a time.. the next snap is on Saturday. Go Blue!
December 28th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
So much bleeding in that fourth quarter the Red Cross should have been there for a blood drive…
December 28th, 2022 at 4:48 PM ^
I hope OSU didn't win the Blood Battle because of that.
December 28th, 2022 at 9:59 AM ^
That’s a team captain, my friends
December 28th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
That's a Michigan Legend right there. It was legend time, and Sainristil made maybe the greatest defensive play I've ever seen in a college game. In 45+ years of watching college games. Then he made THAT speech. You just can't heap enough praise on #0 for me.
December 28th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
Some people are zeros. Some people are heroes. Some people, like Mikey Sainristil, are both!
December 28th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
Charles Woodson and his MSU interception says “Hi!”
December 28th, 2022 at 2:34 PM ^
As does his interception in the end zone when he baited the OSU QB (Jackson?) to throw the ball and kill a drive that was going to get points.
However, we are going back 25 years to plays made by a legend who won the Heisman. So, you know what, just forget it. He has made his point.
December 28th, 2022 at 3:43 PM ^
AND, he's coming back next season.
December 28th, 2022 at 5:49 PM ^
The sentiment is spot on, Clarence, but the timeline is backward. He made the speech first, between Q3 & 4, and then went out and made that play fairly late in the game. Clutch play after delivering a Captain speech!
December 28th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
Exactly. And this is why I've always felt like captains are overrated. I never minded the Rich Rod (or was it Hoke?) way of appointing them after the season. I wasn't for it, but I wasn't outraged either and it made perfect sense to me.
Leaders are going to lead, regardless of a designation or classification.
Some "captains" do this. Others leave their team before the season ends and shit on everyone on the way out.
All them captains...but these are the leaders.
Huge difference.
December 28th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
Some Captains transfer to Iowa and kick the dog on the way out...just sayin.
December 28th, 2022 at 8:41 PM ^
MaizeBlueA2,
Brilliant observation! I’m going to share your thought with an old M qb friend of mine who has spent his life after football coaching corporate leaders.
December 28th, 2022 at 9:59 AM ^
Now I'm ready to run through a wall! I'll read that whole article when I get time later today. For now, I'll leave you with this gem from a Buckeye at work today: "you guys were handled until the 4th quarter"... It was just 5 plays, other than that OSU had "handled" Michigan on Nov 26. They've bought into the Knowles/Day spin on their crappy, soft team.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:02 AM ^
Va, do you realize the following? If you take away every Michigan scoring play and drive in the game against the Buckeyes, not only does Michigan lose, they are shut out! Ha!
As for me, I love the 3-3-5 defensive scheme. Don’t change a thing…. It’s perfect…
December 28th, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
If you take all the points Michigan scored the last 2 years and give them to Ohio State, then they "hung 100" on Michigan!
December 28th, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
that still leaves your brain-dead ohio fan (but i repeat myself...) with no explanation for their grand total of 3, count 'em, 1,2,3, 3 points in the second half.
December 28th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
One for each punch he took in the snoot. In his PJs. At an airport.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
Let's see what they say when Georgia beats them by 40. That team in Columbus is weak, soft, and has no business being in the playoffs. I'm expecting that game is over by halftime.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
The "5 Plays" Narrative has to be one of the dumbest concoctions a fanbase has ever dreamed up. But honestly, I want more of them to believe it. I want that belief to go all the way to the top. A misdiagnosis of what happened in last year's 42-27 beatdown, lead to arrogance, miscorrection and this year's 45-23 beatdown.
Looking forward to next year's 48-20 beatdown in Ann Arbor as Ryan Day inches ever closer to "hanging 100" on Michigan.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
It's not just their fanbase. It started with the media narrative and it since been accepted as The Truth.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:51 AM ^
Nija, the media is such a factor. Just like their mantra - before the game. If the Buckeyes lose, they should still be considered - or get in (as they, in fact - backdoored their way in). But, if Michigan loses, they shouldn’t be considered.
What garbage is that approach / perspective.
Heck, I think Utah is more “deserving” to be in the CFP than the Bucks. At least Utah won their conference, defeating another media darling - and “very pretty” team.. USC.
December 28th, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
Don’t do anything different, Bucks! It was just five lucky plays—stay the course!
December 28th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
Ohio spent the off season preparing for snow but the weather was perfect.
Their plan fell apart from the start.
December 28th, 2022 at 11:06 AM ^
The reaction to JJ McCarthy's good-bye wave after the game even beats if M had gone for 2 points after the last TD. Much more class reacting to an M victory in Columbus than the prior OSU "in your face" act years ago.
December 28th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
If trends hold, it will be 48-19 next year...
December 28th, 2022 at 1:05 PM ^
And fresh off the Twitter presses... Jim Knowles is on board with 5 plays.
Honestly, this makes me so happy. "We're better than them. We're a roster full of five stars! Basically we won that game if you take away the plays where they scored."
This somehow passes for critical thought in Columbus.
December 28th, 2022 at 3:11 PM ^
This was my favorite response.
