Michigan 32, Nebraska 29
That was... a lot. In a contest that lasted nearly four hours to finish regulation, Michigan emerged from Lincoln with a narrow 32-29 victory. It was not the prettiest or the smoothest, but it's a win all the same. And it came against a desperate Nebraska program in need of a win and in front of 90,000 angry fans in Memorial Stadium. Cade McNamara said after the game that he believes that many of the past Jim Harbaugh Michigan teams may not have won that game. He might be right.
The first half was a one-sided effort. After a creative Nebraska drive ended on a Michigan defensive stand at the four yard line, the Huskers sputtered on offense for the remainder of the first half. Meanwhile Michigan cobbled together a couple long scoring drives, and took a free three points after a spectacular Daxton Hill interception. A bizarre sequence saw Michigan twice fail to score a TD at the goal line due to video reviews and forced the Wolverines to settle for a field goal, but the Maize & Blue led 13-0 after two quarters. They had out-gained their opposition by nearly 100 yards and were the clearly the better team. Then the third stanza started.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers need to beat somebody they normally don't to get to bowl eligibility after blowing two winnable games against Illinois and Michigan State. They needed to topple either Michigan, Iowa, or Wisconsin, three teams who they have struggled against in recent years, to get to six wins- the mark required to perhaps salvage the Scott Frost era. The Husker coaching staff believed that this night, in front of a raucous crowd, could deliver them the marquee win they needed. They came out of halftime with the game plan to try and win the game.
Haskins had Michigan up early [Patrick Barron]
The third quarter was an offensive coaching clinic put on by Frost's staff. They relentlessly targeted Michigan's youth and inexperience across the defense, getting RJ Moten and Junior Colson (and Josh Ross) to bite hard on a play action TD pass to Austin Allen that went for 46. Then they confused Nikhai Hill-Green on a beautifully drawn up wheel route to Rahmir Johnson that went for 41 and a TD. The Huskers capped it off with another genius screen pass to Levi Falck that resulted in a TD after being handed a short field. Martinez scrambled for the two point conversion and at the end of the third quarter, it was 22-19 Nebraska.
While the defense was getting clocked in the head repeatedly, Michigan's offense had mixed success in the third quarter. There was a strong TD drive that hinged on a Daylen Baldwin 35 yard reception and was then capped off by a Hassan Haskins TD scamper. But bookending that drive was a 3 & out and a disastrous 3 play sequence that ended in Cade McNamara's first INT as a Michigan QB, which gave Nebraska the aforementioned short field.
After falling down 22-19, Michigan had a tremendous gut check drive. A key 3rd down conversion to Erick All got it moving and then Blake Corum finished it off with a 29 yard electric TD run to put the winged helmets back on top. Nebraska came back with their own drive. It appeared to be finished early when a seeming interception passed through the arms of Gemon Green and instead was caught by Oliver Martin for 30. Nebraska's up-tempo play, and willingness to hurry up the snap after making a substitution, giving Michigan little time to get set before the play, paid dividends on an Adrian Martinez read option keeper TD that beat Aidan Hutchinson and gave the Huskers the lead back with 7:08 to play.
Blake Corum broke a long run in a big moment [Barron]
Michigan quickly charged down the field on the back of an incredible Haskins 50 yard run that included a mind-bending hurdle, but the drive stalled out inside the 10 after the boisterous Memorial Stadium crowd caused another Michigan false start penalty. Jake Moody split the uprights to even the game at 29.
The Huskers got the ball back with 3 minutes to go and quickly faced 3rd & 1. They called a Martinez keeper that got enough for the first down, but then Brad Hawkins made the play of the game and ripped the ball free, recovering it himself all in one motion. It was Nebraska's second turnover, and a backbreaking mistake in a big moment that has become all too familiar for Husker fans this season.
Michigan burned all three Nebraska timeouts, but a pair of questionable playcalls on 2nd and 3rd downs lined Jake Moody up for a 39 yarder— by no means a sure thing for a college kicker— with 1:24 to go. Moody, who has proven time and time again to have ice in his veins this season, banged the kick through the uprights.
Nebraska got the football back with 84 seconds to play. A quick 25 yard strike to Samori Toure got the Huskers to midfield in the blink of an eye, but then they ran into resistance. A pair of incompletions set up 3rd & 10. Frost and his staff dialed up a screen pass that Gemon Green played perfectly, stopping Rahmir Johnson dead in his tracks for no gain. Nebraska proceeded to strangely hurry up as if they had no time left, despite there being a full 54 seconds remaining in the contest. The rushed 4th & 10 play landed incomplete as Daxton Hill ran step for step with Toure, and Michigan had survived. Two Cade McNamara kneel downs sealed it.
[AFTER THE JUMP: Some concluding thoughts]
It was a team effort tonight [Barron]
In totality, Michigan narrowly outgained Nebraska 459-431. Penalties were similar, six aside, costing Michigan 55 yards and Nebraska 47 yards. Nebraska's 2 turnovers to Michigan's 1 looms very large in the story of the game, though. This was a tight contest, but Michigan was just a little bit better, especially when it mattered.
Cade McNamara didn't have his greatest performance, but he also played in by far the most hostile environment he's ever played in. The interception was costly, but a few throws were right on the money too. There will be much debate in Michigan-land over this bye week about who should start at QB in the coming weeks.
Hassan Haskins was excellent at RB, grinding out key yards on the ground after contact, in addition to his gigantic 50 yard run. That hurdle will live on in GIF's for weeks to come. Blake Corum was not as notable, but his 29 yard TD run came at a big moment. Daylen Baldwin had the most receiving yards for Michigan, but also a couple drops. Mike Sainristil made a sprawling catch on a deep bomb, and Erick All springing open over the middle was key to several massive third down conversions. The offensive line struggled against a talented Huskers' defensive front, especially at guard, where Trevor Keegan, Chuck Filiaga, Zak Zinter, and Karsen Barnhart all saw time. Several false starts came at inopportune times too, but that is understandable given the noise being created by the opposing crowd.
Headin' home happy [Barron]
For the defense, it was a tale of two halves. The defensive line was consistently excellent, getting pressure and stuffing all runs between the tackles. But the LB's and secondary were significantly worse in the second half than in the first. Some of that may have been great playcalling from Nebraska, as well as strong play from Adrian Martinez. Martinez finished 18/28 through the air with 3 TD's, in addition to 38 yards on 8 carries and another TD there, plus the two point conversion. He tested Michigan's edges and QB contain in the second half, and made some great throws. The turnovers will haunt him, especially the fumble.
The fumble in particular had to have been sweet for Brad Hawkins. The 5th year safety still has yet to collect an interception in his career, but that individual play—single-handedly altering the game— makes up for any and all INT's he may have missed in his time in Ann Arbor. A signature moment for a senior leader.
The last individual deserving of recognition on Michigan is Jake Moody. The veteran kicker was money tonight, going 4/4 on his FG's and 2/2 on his XP's. The 39 yarder to win it for Michigan was as high-pressure of a kick as it gets, and he made it look easy. Moody is now perfect on XP's for the year and 8/9 on FG's, and a huge part of the Wolverines' success.
Michigan now heads into the bye week, still undefeated. It has not been perfect football, and there are elements to improve, but it's hard to argue with the results. The Wolverines are 6-0 for the first time since 2016, and for just the second time in the past ten seasons. For a program that fell short of bowl eligibility a year ago, they have already attained the necessary record to qualify for such a game, only halfway through the season.
The Wolverines return to action on Oct. 23 against Northwestern at home, which should be the easiest game remaining on the schedule by a wide margin. The time of that game is not yet known.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
Well it's more that we saw McNamara miss some deep throws that McCarthy is excellent at throwing, but I agree, there's a few very good reasons he's the starter even though McCarthy is a brilliant talent.
October 10th, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
And what throws would those be?
October 10th, 2021 at 9:36 AM ^
I agree McNamara isn't particularly mobile but it's also not like McCarthy is a speed demon; he's faster but he's not going to run away from everyone like, say Lamar Jackson, Denard, or even Martinez. And I think he's a better passer than Martinez, who probably got away with a couple of pick-able throws in this game.
I think the bigger issue with McCarthy is they need to let him pass out there in non-garbage time. He's not enough of an athlete to scream "this is a run" and still make it work.
October 10th, 2021 at 2:15 AM ^
yeah, I think any rational football fan will have been critical of Cade over the start of the season, but the coaches see these guys every day in practice and McNamara has been able to move the ball relatively well the last few weeks. When you're winning games and your QB isn't turning it over or making stupid throws (like the Rutgers game), why make a change. I'm not even sure that int was his fault as it may have been the receiver not breaking off his route under the safety...
October 10th, 2021 at 2:38 AM ^
I thought the INT was a free play because they were offsides (just like on the other one he threw). I couldn't believe they didn't throw a flag.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
Yeah, I thought it was an offsides as well. It wasn't a great throw but it definitely seemed like even the defense sort of thought it was a free play as well.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:43 AM ^
In real time I thought Nebraska was offsides (they actually were a couple more times but it went uncalled), and it seemed like McNamara might have been trying to go deep there as a result. I do think that was a dangerous throw in that situation but I agree it did seem like a bit of miscommunication.
October 10th, 2021 at 5:50 AM ^
Believe it or not, M was up 19-7 with 3 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:39 AM ^
Yeah, that was a crazy sequence. I think they said Nebraska scored 15 points in something like 55 seconds of gametime.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:40 AM ^
Spot on bronxblue.
October 10th, 2021 at 9:32 AM ^
Yeah. An all-american DE and maybe another all conference DE versus two very bad tackles and one holding call? Those guys must've been getting mugged all game
October 10th, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^
A couple of times I saw them do a wrestling claw from behind and no flag, it was pretty fucking blatant!
October 10th, 2021 at 11:37 AM ^
Word.
It honestly feels to me like the staff here (at MGoBlog, Seth excepted) is intentionally trying to feed the "qb controversy" flames to get more interaction, which I really hope that isn't what's happening here. I've never felt like this place was "one of those" type of sites, but I'm starting to feel that way.
JJ isn't ready, and Cade has played good responsible football.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
Thrilled with the win but disappointed that once again, MGoBlog crashed after an exciting game. Wasn't the server supposed to be upgraded so this wouldn't keep happening?
October 10th, 2021 at 1:31 AM ^
Disagree. MGoBlog crashing is like the team touching the banner. It’s part of the Michigan Experience. Makes me feel like I’m part of something special!
October 10th, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
I'm pretty sure Frost was crying as he was walking off the field. Amazing scenes.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
One of the more crazier games in recent memory. At the end of the day, the team found a way to win when they were down. Said earlier that Moody might be important in a game or two this year and tonight was the first. We have two weeks to digest everything so I'll just enjoy the 6-0 record for now and let others fight it out whether Cade still deservers the Cyan circle or not.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:18 AM ^
More crazier
October 10th, 2021 at 4:44 AM ^
cyan cade Mac namra is a free king joke
October 10th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
You should take comedy lessons or something, your attempt at wit is very poor.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
There was no issue in this game that could not have been predicted in preseason to become an issue at some point in some tricky road game or another. Defense isn't perfect? Yeah. Our QB throws a pick? of course that was going to happen.
This isn't a perfect team. This is the kind of game that is very losable, and honestly doesn't say that much about the growth of the team if the final score goes the other way.
And yet... Michigan won. Michigan made key plays on offense and on defense. Jake Moody is a weapon at kicker. Players are making key plays, like Corum and All and Dax and Hawkins. The 2-minute drill looks competent.
This was a guts win. A tossup game, and Michigan made the plays to win it.
There's time to fix some of the other stuff. In some ways this team is what it is.
But what it is... is currently undefeated.
October 10th, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
See Alabama. And we ain't Alabama.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:40 AM ^
This was one of the best officiated games ever, IMO. Lots of reviews in the first half, but they ended up being the right calls. In the second half, there were few penalties and the players decided the game.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:42 AM ^
Go check on a Nebraska blog. They said the officials gifted Michigan 24 points.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:51 AM ^
Michigan literally had to call all a timeout just to get them to look at a spot that was off by 2.5 yards. Also Nebraska's tackles were getting away with a ton of holding. Honestly the on field officials were god awful but it was both sides and almost everything was corrected on replay. The only legitimate gripe they could have is if the PI call was a catchable ball.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:19 AM ^
That was the worst spot I've ever seen. Somehow no one in the officiating crew noticed that Haskins wasn't down and they just decided he'd been stopped for no gain? Thank heaven for replay.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:26 AM ^
I mean it is also one the replay official should have been buzzing down immediately, it should not have took UM having to use a timeout initially, etc just to get it looked at.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:30 AM ^
It was so bizarre that I honestly thought they used the old spot because of the penalty that wasn't and forgot. It was just strange.
Lots of strange reffing in the game on both sides. We got lucky at times; so did they.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
I can think of one as bad c. 2016
October 10th, 2021 at 9:16 AM ^
God dammit. Why couldn't we have had O'Neill?? (His crew actually did a good job on PSU-Iowa.)
October 10th, 2021 at 1:24 AM ^
So the fans are blaming the officials and letting Frost off the hook? He looked like a doomed man after the game. Only Rich Rod crying on the sidelines looked worse.
October 11th, 2021 at 8:12 AM ^
Didn't Chris Ash cry, then blame it on the rain?
October 10th, 2021 at 1:32 AM ^
They're absolutely nutters. Aside from the bad DPI that led directly to a TD, they have no room to complain about the refs giving Michigan the game.
I mean FFS Harbaugh had to call a timeout before they'd even consider going to review for a spot that was fully 3 yards off and resulted in a 1st down. But yeah sure, "the fix was in". Right. OK.
I am glad they mostly got out of the way in the 2nd half though, because it was excruciating to watch in the 1st half.
October 10th, 2021 at 4:31 AM ^
On top of that, three consecutive calls were overturned in Nebraska's favor. I've never seen that before.
Officiating was poor, and often inexplicable. Both teams, and the game of football itself, suffered.
October 10th, 2021 at 12:56 AM ^
That was one of the most incompetently officiated games I’ve ever seen. Two calls were made that no one has ever even heard of. It went both ways so I don’t think it changed the outcome, but the amount of reviews required and the confusion was incredible. I hope that crew never officiates another BIG game.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:04 AM ^
I have seen the penalty they called on Nebraska before, there are just certain things you can't do as a defense presnap. But I agree I have no idea how anyone could think the on field officials were not atrocious. They literally marked Haskins 2.5 yards back of where he was on the one play. And then the replay official apparently didn't even want to look at until UM told them to. And then it took forever on the review when it should have one look and done. That whole first half was a how many times can we incompetent enough on the field to waste a ton of time on reviews clinic.
October 10th, 2021 at 9:24 AM ^
I’m not 100% sure, but I believe that the Nebraska delay of game pre-snap call was the same type of penalty that Seth -2’ed the refs for missing last week vs. Wisconsin.
October 10th, 2021 at 10:46 AM ^
Gotcha. That makes sense.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:27 AM ^
to be fair, wasn't the delay of game (defensive trickeration or whatever) the call that was made when Don Brown yelled "Move!" and that clearly should have been called on Wisconsin last week when they were jumping at the OL?
Apparently you can't clap when you're on defense and they clapped so ok. Weird call, but we've seen it before. Agree with the incompetence though. Really bad by the officials, although luckily I would argue evenly bad.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:07 AM ^
I am thankful they didn't review the Sainristil diving catch. Looked like the ball hit the ground, he lost control briefly, then he recovered it. Great effort on his part to make the catch, though.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:26 AM ^
Not true. He did juggle it as he was tumbling, but it did not hit the ground, and was a catch
October 10th, 2021 at 1:28 AM ^
Ball never hit the ground on that play.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:54 AM ^
I agree with you. I was shouting to McNamara to snap the ball to avoid the review after
October 10th, 2021 at 1:19 AM ^
This has got to be sarcasm. This game lasted 20 hours because they failed to make obvious calls on the field and thumbed their buttholes until the review buzzer chimed in.
October 10th, 2021 at 10:49 AM ^
No kidding. I thought Grists head was going to explode when they picked up the flag on what was going to be a holding call.
Joey Galloway was saying this morning that he thought they should have blown the whistle on the Martinez fumble. Galloway sucks and I definitely thought he was still moving forward.
October 10th, 2021 at 10:58 AM ^
Joey Galloway was saying this morning that he thought they should have blown the whistle on the Martinez fumble. Galloway sucks and I definitely thought he was still moving forward.
I don't think anyone would have complained much if they had called it dead, but likewise can't see the complaint when they didn't.
October 10th, 2021 at 1:53 AM ^
The DPI on #13 near the goal line was a questionable judgement call, but it's nice to get a break for once as these are always iffy and we've had many called against us, that's for sure. I think we kicked a FG afterwards anyway.
We lost an easy TD after Cade tripped and kneeled before handing off to Haskins, but they got that right and I can't dispute any of the other replays, they were just sloppily executed. The one thing they did almost botch was the Haskins first down that Harbaugh had to rant and rave about, call a TO, etc, to get a replay. But they did get the play right in the end.
October 10th, 2021 at 9:30 AM ^
You can't see if the ball was in the air at the time the Nebraska player literally STOPS Henning's route. If the ball was in the air ... it's a no brainer PI call. TV replay wasn't helpful ... though I'm certain they had an angle that would have showed the entire field.
Go Blue!
October 10th, 2021 at 7:28 PM ^
We did not kick a FG. We were already up 6-0, the penalty put us inside the Nebraska five, and Haskins punched it in the very next play with nine seconds left on the clock.
October 10th, 2021 at 4:09 AM ^
Officials mostly sucked. They missed a bad defensive offsides on Cade’s pick. Clear as day.
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