For the Michigan Wolverines — especially senior tailback
Mike Hart and senior quarterback Chad Henne — this season certainly has not
gone according to plan.

Heading into the season as the fifth-ranked team in the
nation and favored to win the Big Ten title, the Wolverines were humbled early
by consecutive nonconference losses at home.

Nearly two months later, Michigan is enjoying an eight-game
winning streak and is ranked 12th in the current Bowl Championship Series
standings.

"I think it just shows the type of people we have on this team, the type of
character we have on this team and the type of guys coaches recruit here," Hart
said at a Monday press conference. "Everyone is ready to go, no one quit, and
everyone is ready for that chance to get out there."

Despite
the team's slow start this season, Hart has run wild, amassing 1,119 yards on
200 carries. On pace for over 2,000 yards through seven games, Hart also broke
Michigan's all time rushing record in the Wolverines' sixth game of the season.

Unfortunately
for the senior, that pace was slowed when he was forced to miss games at
Illinois and at home against Minnesota due to a right-ankle injury suffered in
the first half against Purdue.

"Yeah, injuries messed up a lot of
things, you know. It's part of the game, but I’m just worried about this team
winning this championship," Hart said. "Those are all individual things; my
team has won every game since I’ve been out so that’s really all that matters.
If we would have lost and I was injured, that would have bothered me more. As
long as we’re winning, I’m fine."

With Hart's ankle injury and the
slow start for Michigan, his decision to return for his senior season was
called into question by some. For Hart, the decision was made based on the
return of fellow seniors Henne and offensive lineman Jake Long.

"It
was a decision I had to make," Hart said at Big Ten Media Day this summer. "I
wasn’t 100 percent leaving, it was more seeing what senior quarterback Chad
Henne and fifth-year senior Jake Long were going to do and what this offense
was going to do if I came back."

Hart has not been the only high profile
Wolverine to miss time due to injury this season.

Henne has been forced to sit out
three games this season with two different injuries in addition to missing time
in three other games. Most recently, the senior quarterback missed the
Minnesota game with a shoulder injury.

"I
would never picture this would ever happen since never having an injury in
three years, never missing a game," Henne said. "It’s been a difficult path,
but we keep fighting. There have been a lot of great guys that have stepped in
this year and done a great job."

In the absence of Hart and Henne,
the Michigan offense did not miss a beat. Freshman quarterback Ryan Mallett and
sophomore running backs Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor have stepped up when
called upon this season.

"It’s
great because you never know when your number is going to be called. Guys come
in and make their mark," Henne said of the Wolverines' patchwork offense.
"[Against Minnesota], Carlos [Brown] and Brandon Minor come in and both had 100
yards rushing. It definitely gives us confidence that we can get it done."

With
the season winding down, Hart and Henne returned last week to take on Michigan
State in East Lansing. After going down 24-14 in the fourth quarter, Henne
rallied the Wolverines with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes.

"I
don’t know, it seems when it’s a close game like that, Chad steps up, and he
does a great job," Hart said. "A lot of us have never seen him play through
injury before; you know when he plays through injury and still performs like
he’s not injured, that’s just great, that is tough."

As
strange as the beginning of the season was for Michigan, the Wolverines are in
a very familiar place with only two games remaining — at the top of the Big Ten
standings.

Michigan
and Ohio State are currently in a virtual tie for first place in the conference
with matching 6-0 records in Big Ten play. With the two set to square off Nov.
17, the Big Ten champion will be crowned in the next two weeks.

"We knew it would come down
to the last three games — Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State — when we
looked at our schedule at the beginning of the year," Hart said. "We knew that
this point of the year was going to decide our season, so we know these last
two games are going to be real tough."