ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Texas Takeover featured cowboy hats and orange blazers, fleets of black SUVs and dozens of orange and white balloons lining the stairs at a posh hotel, where a suite for Saturday night cost more than $2,900.

During Michigan football weekends, it’s not uncommon for the Graduate Hotel in Ann Arbor to be filled with wealthy alumni from both schools. Michigan fans got a taste of just how rich those Texas incomes are when they walked into the Graduate Hotel and saw it decked out from floor to ceiling in Longhorns decor.

Coincidence or not, the company behind the Graduate hotel chain, AJ Capital Partners, lists Cooper Manning as director of investor relations. Cooper’s son Arch — you may have heard of him — is the backup quarterback for Texas. The hotels market themselves to home-team fans, but this weekend, at least, the visiting crowd had the advantage.

Dignitaries spotted at the hotel included Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who stepped out Friday night flanked by a security detail. “Governor Abbott, how are you, sir?” a Texas fan called out from the sidewalk. Down the street, a group of VILs (Very Important Longhorns) were snacking and sipping wine at Sava’s, where approved guests were ushered to the front of the line and escorted through an opening in a giant papier-mâché football.

For one weekend, Michigan fans saw what happens when the SEC’s newest big-rollers come to town. It was shocking, and not just for the fans who’d spent $2,000 on a hotel room. When the scene moved to Michigan Stadium on Saturday, the Texas gala continued.

The No. 3 Longhorns rolled into Ann Arbor and handed No. 10 Michigan a 31-12 defeat, officially closing the door on the Wolverines’ era of dominance. Nothing, not even the aftermath of last season’s national championship, could make Michigan’s performance seem any better. Texas fans were the ones celebrating in the streets, and Michigan was the team cleaning up the mess.

“It’s a loss,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “We haven’t had one in a while. You definitely feel it. Our kids feel it. They feel it more than anybody.”

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Michigan has often been the team that commandeered someone else’s stadium for its own private party. On Saturday, Texas and its fans did the same to Michigan Stadium, where the Wolverines had won 23 straight games before Saturday’s loss.

As Longhorn fans poured into the lower bowl of the stadium, Texas players gathered in the corner of the end zone to sing “The Eyes of Texas.” When they were done, linebacker David Gbenda made a valiant but failed attempt to plant a Texas flag at midfield. The flag immediately fell to the ground, but the Longhorns made their point.

“That was awesome,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “What an environment. What a moment for our players and staff to sing ‘The Eyes of Texas’ at the end with all those orange bleachers.”

The 2024 season ushered in a new world order in college football. Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC, the Big Ten added four schools from the Pac-12, and the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams. With so many changes, games like Saturday’s were destined to have a different feel.

For Michigan, “different” is an understatement. This is a program that has grown accustomed to cruising through easy September schedules, bullying other teams in the Big Ten and playing deep into the postseason. The Wolverines hoped they could continue to do those things, without the easy schedule.

The Week 2 game against Texas was a litmus test to see how Michigan would fare after replacing so many key players from last year’s national championship run, including coach Jim Harbaugh, quarterback JJ McCarthy, running back Blake Corum and a slew of difference-makers on defense. The results are in, and they don’t look encouraging.

“It sucks because you come into this game and you know there’s a lot on the line,” quarterback Davis Warren said. “We’ve got to take a long, hard look in the mirror and see what kind of team we want to be, who we want to be.”

Moore was dealt a heavy hand in his first season as Michigan’s head coach. He lost 13 draft picks and a slew of assistant coaches, but he inherited the high expectations that come with winning a national championship. Michigan fans upset about Saturday’s performance can console themselves by thinking about that championship trophy, and there will be many of them. But that won’t last long. Soon, fans will want to see signs that Michigan is still a playoff-caliber program.

The team that took the field Saturday didn’t look like a CFP candidate. The offense looked overmatched, at least until the fourth quarter when the game was decided. A defense that should be among the best in college football, compared to a similarly qualified Texas offense, fell short of expectations.

Michigan fans have been spoiled by their team’s discipline and consistency over the past three years. The Wolverines were rarely out of position on defense and were always careful with the ball on offense. On Saturday, Michigan threw two interceptions, fumbled a ball and gave up seven plays of 20 yards or more. Moore said many of those mistakes are easily corrected, but anyone who watched the game saw problems that could linger.

Quarterback is one of those problems. Warren’s latest stats don’t look too bad: 22-for-33, 204 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. But in the first half, when the game was still within reach, Warren threw for 49 yards. He’s doing everything you’d expect from a former walk-on, but a couple of years of failed recruiting and a lack of quarterback help from the transfer portal have left the Wolverines in trouble.

We’ve all been reminded many times that a September loss isn’t a dealbreaker in the 12-team CFP era. That may be true, but this one still felt final for Michigan, which fell to a 12 percent chance of making the CFP, according to The Athletics‘s projections. Until further notice, the Wolverines are more likely to fight for a decent bowl game. The fast track to the CFP is reserved for Texas, Georgia, Ohio State and maybe a few others.

Michigan fans can relate to that after all the good times they’ve had. They’ve been in the shoes of the Texas fans who flooded Ann Arbor this weekend, and they know what it takes to build a team capable of the kind of moment Texas had Saturday at Michigan Stadium.

It’s not cheap, but it’s fun.

(Top photo: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)