Ohio State 31, Michigan 20
[Patrick Barron]
Michigan did not lack opportunity, or talent, or coaching. They just lacked a quarterback.
The Wolverines jumped out to a 14-0 lead, held Ohio State to negative-six yards in the first quarter, got 5.5 yards per carry out of their running backs, and had receivers running wide open through the Buckeye secondary all afternoon. The defense forced JT Barrett to be a one-dimensional runner, kept OSU's star quarterback under constant pressure, and eventually knocked him out of the game with an apparent knee injury.
With Brandon Peters and Wilton Speight watching in street clothes, however, John O'Korn missed far too may of those open receivers. When including sacks, O'Korn averaged only 4.1 yards per dropback. His only turnover came at the worst possible time. With 2:47 on the clock and Michigan down four points after a missed Buckeye field goal, Kekoa Crawford settled down underneath OSU's safeties for what could've been a significant first down. O'Korn read the play differently and chucked a deep ball directly to OSU's Jordan Fuller.
"It was an option route," said O'Korn. "[Crawford] did the right thing. It's all on me."
[Eric Upchurch]
There were plenty more reasons the Wolverines lost. The second quarter featured a momentous change in fortune when Josh Metellus let an easy inteception fall through his hands; two plays later, JT Barrett—with, perhaps, an assist from whatever official was in charge of watching Mo Hurst—scrambled 21 yards to make it 14-7.
Michigan's ensuing drive ended with a 23-yard change in field position after an illegal formation penalty negated their first attempt at a punt. KJ Hill returned the next one to midfield—again, with a potential penalty overlooked—and Barrett needed only three plays to tie the game on a 25-yard pass to Marcus Baugh.
The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, though Ohio State took a one-point edge thanks to a blocked extra point. That loomed large when Sean Nuernberger hit a 44-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. It loomed less large when O'Korn threw the interception.
With an average quarterback performance, Michigan wins this game. The gameplan couldn't have reasonably been better; any criticism of Harbaugh or the coaching staff about this game can be mocked with impunity. When it came down to it, Harbaugh couldn't throw the ball for his quarterback, and that proved to be the difference.
"The hardest part for me is you come here to win this game for the senior class and we couldn't do it," O'Korn said with tears in his eyes, before again putting the blame on himself. "It's the worst feeling in the world."
Better days are ahead. This one's still going to sting for a while.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:13 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:13 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
Good recap. It sucks to lose. I know people will scream about this being unacceptable and all that bullshit, but it was a game Michigan could have won with better QB play, and they didn't. John O'Korn played up to his abilities, and it just wasn't enough. It's nobody's fault, and on to the bowl game and get ready for 2018. I agree the team has a bright future, and at some point this string of bad luck (and atrocious refereeing) have to turn. OSU hasn't been the better team the last two wins, and much like MSU's recent run this feels like one team getting snake-bitten moreso than OSU being their dominant self like they were against RR and Hoke.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
I mean FFS they've got to be one of the top 3 most spoiled fanbases in the country with absolutely no real down stretched in decades. Seems like they're due to botch a hire and have 3-4 down years.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
OSU had some bad luck. Dropped a very catchable pass where David Long was beat. High snap lost a bunch of yards. Barrett injury. Missed FG.
We didn't really need "luck" to win this game - just needed O'Korn to hit a few easy passes that he missed, notice wide open receivers on a coule other plays, and not throw a terrible interception. Metellus holding onto the ball would have helped too.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:09 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
At a certain point given the known entity that JOK is, why not run out Malzone or even McCaffrey. I am sorry, but in my mind I would burn a redshirt or six to beat OSU.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:35 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 6:26 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:38 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
My great American novel will be entitled If Not for John O'Korn.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
I tell myself ahead of time. I warn myself. I cajole myself not to get upset, not to get my hopes up, not to get set up for disappointment, not to let the inevitable unlucky bounce or bad call piss me off. Now I just wish I didn't feel at all. Heart goes out to the players. Throw another log on the fire.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
JOK is a AAC backup who lost his job at Houston to a WR. He is barely a D1 QB.
Here is what happened: IN 2015, Harbaugh saw that our QB situation was dire. Alex Malzone and Speight were 3 * prospects that were Borges' QBs. Shane had shown little ability and Rudock was a Iowa Transfer because he lost his job.
Harbaugh did whatever he could to get some QBs to campus. However, JOK just never could get it together. At some point, he needs to get it together, he is a 5th year senior and 23 years old.
The future looks bright. Peters had great flashes and McCaffrey is getting a lot of praise. I don't think coaching so far is the issue in respect to QB's.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
i would be surprised Morris is worse than Okorn. Morris at least has a strong arm and okay accuracy.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:11 PM ^
Morris completed 55% of his passes with a 2:1 TD:INT ratio in the MAC. When he was here, he showed the same inability as O'Korn to hit easy short passes. As lousy as O'Korn was/is I don't think Shane is an upgrade. Just a different flavor of subpar.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
There is solid evidence to believe that Shane would of done better out there today. I agree.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:25 PM ^
there isn't.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:57 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
Why wouldn't we just burn Caff's redshirt? Does anyone think he's staying here for 4 years? Like does anyone?
November 25th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
I dont think the coaches can be blamed for O'Korn's poor play. Its so apparent that he just doesn't have what it takes to play in Harbaugh's system. It wasn't only the poor read on the INT. He also stumbled backwards on 2&1, mishandled a decent snap, rolled back into pressure multiple times (when the coaches gave him the roll-out he needed) and missed a number of open receivers.
I love all our players, but I think I can objectively say O'Korn is not a very skilled QB and I dont think there's much we can do to change that.
And I can't even really blame Harbaugh for "recruiting" O'Korn, since O'Korn really just provided depth behind Speight (and sort of Peters).
November 25th, 2017 at 4:44 PM ^
You are spot on with that Blue_Bull_Run. Harbaugh needed a QB just in case and he took Okorn who looked great year 1 at Houston. We'll have plenty of solid QB options next year.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:15 PM ^
That a fifth year senior can miss open play after open play. It is like every tenth pass he throws a great ball into tight coverage but the rest of the time it is like his brain is not functional. Wide open plays that are obvious from couch and he just won't pull the trigger or sails the ball out of reach. He was given the opportunity that he must have wanted since coming here: to prove the skeptics wrong and win a game for the ages and just fails at an epic level. Even after half a dozen or more missed passes he still has a chance to win the game and throws the interception to seal the loss. Someone described it on Twitter as soul curshing. If it feels like that for fans, what must it feel like for him and his team mates?
November 25th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
The coaches put him a position to be successful on multiple occasions and he just wasn't able to do it. Calling the right play at the right time is a sign of good coaching. Whether O'Korn being simply unable to pull the trigger on many passes and miss wide open receivers on what appear to be simple passes is a sign of bad coaching, I have no idea. You could question why they believed O'Korn was a clear #2 but I don't know how much blame is on the coaching for a QBs extremely poor play. It's not like he's trying to fit the ball in a tight window. Is O'Korn just a practice champ that chokes during the game? He just seems unable to execute simple plays.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 6:08 PM ^
that is exactly right in a nutshell, Harbaugh needs to have good QB play starting next year, no excuses!
November 25th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 6:30 PM ^
Turns out losing tackles doesn’t matter when they are allowed to hold without impunity.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
Great Post Ace
This loss is going to sting, as it should. However, I have confidence about the future of this program with McCaffrey or Peters leading the way.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
I haaaate saying "wait till next year" for like the 15th year in a row, but there's a lot of reason to think Michigan should leap forward in over the next 2 years. A ton of our huge contributors this year were freshmen and sophmores
November 25th, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:52 PM ^
That's true but there's a very vocal section of this fanbase that has been complaining whenever that phrase has been used this season. If this game helps some of them come around then this offseason will be way more bearable.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
The coaching might have been okay from a game plan standpoint, but it gets a big FAT F for player and position development. We didn't field a competent QB all season, our O line is a swiss cheese of revolving players, and we can't punt or place kick at C-level competence. Nor can we setup a kick or punt return.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
He missed the PAT and significantly affected the game plan. We could have just trailed 3 pt and don't need to throw a stupid play action with option route from a WR. bad play calling. don't know why coach call those play with such bad QB accuracy.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
His kick was fine. An OSU player got around the left side of the line to block it.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
Is it QB development? Maybe. Is it that we hired an NFL guy to be a passing game coordinator and confused the hell out of all our (already average) QBs with an overly complicated passing attack? My money's on that
November 25th, 2017 at 6:27 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
It's a bunch of young kids playing their asses off. Can't be too upset. Try again next year.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
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