Wisconsin 24, Michigan 10
A somber scene as Brandon Peters was down on the field. [Patrick Barron]
Michigan led undefeated Wisconsin, 10-7, in the third quarter at Camp Randall Stadium. Then Murphy's Law struck.
First, Wisconsin quarterback Alex Hornibrook shook off a shaky start to thread two inch-perfect throws to A.J. Taylor. The first victimized freshman Jaylen Kelly-Powell, who was on the field replacing injured starting corner Lavert Hill. The second was a touchdown up the seam to give the Badgers a 14-10 lead. Adding to the frustration, the drive only stayed alive due to a third-down pass interference call on Tyree Kinnel despite Hornibrook's throw hardly looking catchable.
Then disaster really struck. Facing third down on Michigan's ensuing possession, Brandon Peters took a hard hit from Andrew Van Ginkel, who stunted up the middle unblocked. Peters, who'd shaken off some huge hits in his last couple games, stayed down. As the team gathered around him, Peters took a cart off the field. According to MLive's Mike Mulholland, he was wheelchaired to the locker room, then transported to the hospital via ambulance. In postgame, Jim Harbaugh confirmed Peters has a head injury; he's expected to rejoin the team for the plane ride home.
That took the wind out of Michigan's sails. Wisconsin struck quickly, with a one-handed catch by Danny Davis setting up a 32-yard end-around touchdown for Kendric Pryor at the end of the third quarter. John O'Korn took over for Peters, and the offense never threatened to score. UW's Rafael Gaglianone eventually tagged on a field goal to provide the final margin.
A.J. Taylor's touchdown catch stood as the winning score. [Bryan Fuller]
Before it all fell apart, Michigan hadn't just scraped out a lead, but missed some opportunities to really put the Badgers on their heels. Wisconsin struck first when Nick Nelson picked up a punt off the bounce and worked his way past some poor coverage for a 50-yard touchdown. Peters had a chance to tie it up on the next series, but underthrew an open Zach Gentry, allowing Natrell Jamerson to recover for a pass breakup.
On Michigan's next drive, an apparent touchdown from Peters to Donovan Peoples-Jones was ruled incomplete, and despite replay showing that DPJ's left foot touched inbounds a fraction of a second before his right landed out, the call stood. On the very next play, Peters fumbled while scrambling for the end zone, and Michigan came up completely empty.
The young quarterback bounced back, though. Peters finally connected on a deep ball to Peoples-Jones, getting Michigan out to midfield, then made consecutive sharp throws to Chris Evans and Sean McKeon to set up a one-yard Ben Mason touchdown plunge. That knotted the score at seven heading into halftime.
After Devin Bush picked off Hornibrook to give the offense great field position, Quinn Nordin snapped his cold streak with a 39-yard field goal to give Michigan a short-lived 10-7 lead. Instead of compounding his prior error, Hornibrook morphed into Aaron Rodgers, and everything went terribly wrong in a hurry.
All other concerns at the moment are secondary to the health of Peters. If he can't recover in time to take on Ohio State next week, the odds stack even higher against Michigan unless Wilton Speight can make a remarkable comeback from his fractured vertebrae. As it stands, optimism for The Game is going to be hard to come by.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 8:44 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:26 PM ^
But this puts Harbaugh at 7-9 against teams with WINNING RECORDS. I would be curious to see the company that puts him in.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:29 PM ^
Wait...ok so are you telling me that a coach is more successful against bad teams than against good teams?
Big if true.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
What exactly are your expectations for a team with consistently top 10 recruiting classes and the highest paid coach? I'm genuinely curious.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
Our current junior (2015) and senior (2014) classes were far from being ranked in the top 10. The '15 class was ranked #37 and the '14 class was #20, but that's including Jabrill Peppers and Drake Harris. The fundamental problem this year is a lack of experience and depth, due to not having that much in the upper classes.
I expected us to go 9-3 before the season - that was assuming no major injuries.
November 18th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^
Yes, let's fire the guy who's won 28 games in three years, after having turned around San Diego, Stanford and the 49ers so we can join Tennessee in the Quest for Jon Gruden.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
We should have kept brady hoke, he won 26 games in three years and thats only two less than 28 so he was pretty good too? Wrong. He has not won the games he should. He deserves one more year, if it is not good then we should get les miles.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
Yes, because obviously Brady Hoke's track record is the same as Jim Harbaugh's.
And of course, since we're all complaining about the offense, Les Miles is just the guy to solve those problems.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
Hoke also turned around two programs.* Do you post like 100 times a day or are you another unrealistic fan who doesn't realize that we haven't been good since 1997? You have wayy too many mgopoints lol
November 18th, 2017 at 7:22 PM ^
Harbaugh isn't going anywhere. You'd have to be from an opposing fanbase to advocate for that.
November 18th, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 10:02 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:43 PM ^
Apparnatly, you use no logic at all. Hoke was on a severe downward spiral, pure and simple. If you can't see that, and compare Harbaugh to him, then I don't know, man. You need to take the next few plays off.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:43 PM ^
Apparnatly, you use no logic at all. Hoke was on a severe downward spiral, pure and simple. If you can't see that, and compare Harbaugh to him, then I don't know, man. You need to take the next few plays off.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:33 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 9:34 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 2:14 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 7:01 PM ^
Fuck. This post is dumb. Harbaugh on the hot seat. What the fuck is wrong with you?
November 18th, 2017 at 8:47 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:29 PM ^
I would like for our OL to stop getting our QBs killed
November 18th, 2017 at 11:56 PM ^
some cases, it's the RB's.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
I am sorry to say we saw today what we have seen from this team last 3 years.
1) Inability to take advantage of teams with the deep ball .. with it wide open.
2) Critical penalties
3) Special Teams let downs
4) D gives up huge plays at the worst times.
5) REFs seem to make some head scratchers. From the DPJ TD to the PI.
6) Unless we over power, WE NEVER OUT SCHEME.
Lots of growing up to do at Schemmy starting with the Coaching Staff IMHO.
November 18th, 2017 at 11:59 PM ^
were two really bad PI calls on Michigan.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:31 PM ^
Harbaugh is just Hoke in a different cloak. Losing record against winning teams, losing record against rivals, and a losing record on the road against ranked teams. When will the MGoSheeple see this?
November 18th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
He can destroy terrible teams at least. So we got that going for us, which is nice.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
You, Sir, are a true Ayn Randian free thinker, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 6:34 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 7:20 PM ^
I've read your drivel on politicals sites. Reddit anyone?
November 18th, 2017 at 9:13 PM ^
Insulting the board because we don't appreciate your dizzying intellect?
Hoke was a good DL coach who wasn't cut out to be HC material. Do you remember his final 5-7 season here? Harbaugh is rebuilding, which is vastly different than taking over a functional operation! (Something that people who whine about what OTHER TEAMS do should consider...) It takes more time to fix systemic issues than it did for the system to break down.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
They had better be much better. The schedule next year is tougher. At ND. At MSU. Home against PSU and Wisconsin. At Northwestern. At Columbus against the refs and OSU.
BTW, it's so fair that we get Wisconsin three years in a row.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:15 PM ^
It's six years in a row.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:22 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
Our dudes run their bodies through the ringer week in and week out for this University, and we can do nothing but respect them for that. Hats off to Wisconsin on the win. Hats off to our men for the effort. Take a minute, cool down, and enjoy the rest of the weekend with your family and friends. Go blue
November 18th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
Yep
and who is 4th on the depth chart at QB?
A few dozen 3 and longs (after run for 1, drop pass) will probably knock out O'Korn.
You know, forget screens and quick TE crossing routes because we have an NFL OL...
November 18th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
Unless they want to burn Dylan's redshirt Malzone would probably be backing up JOK if Speight and Peters are out.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
Fin.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
O'Korn is super bad. Sorry but let Malzone play.
November 18th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
What makes you think Malzone is going to come out and do any better there?
November 18th, 2017 at 4:44 PM ^
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