Michigan 10, Northwestern 9
De'Veon Smith broke the scoreless tie with 6:49 left in the third on a three-yard plunge, ruining the aesthetic, but this will forever be known as The M00N Game:
#M00N pic.twitter.com/GQcd88rr9a
— MGoShoe (@MGoShoe) November 8, 2014
If it involved futility, this game had it. Northwestern lost on a failed two-point conversion with three seconds left when quarterback Trevor Siemian rolled out, saw Frank Clark, and fell over. That was just the final pratfall in this slapstick, however.
It started right away, with Northwestern taking an illegal formation penalty to negate a third-and-one conversion on the game's first drive. Devin Funchess returned the favor by dropping a third-down pass on Michigan's opening salvo.
The two teams proceeded in such fashion for the duration of the game. Michigan's final three possessions of the first half started inside Northwestern territory. They netted 29 yards and zero points, failing in three different ways: a punt, a pick, and a blocked field goal as the half mercifully expired.
The Wildcats pulled the same trick in the second half, missing a field goal, turning it over on downs, and punting on a negative-28-yard drive on their three possessions beginning on the Wolverines end of the field. The teams finished with a combined 504 yards; 256 for Northwestern, 248 for Michigan.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, Devin Gardner threw a second interception when he stared down Jake Butt, Michigan lost a fumble when Jack Miller's snap bounced off a motioning Devin Funchess, and defensive tackle Matt Godin picked off Siemian after Clark tipped a pass.
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
We should all be thanking Pat Fitzgerald for his fourth-quarter decision-making. After punter Will Hagerup pinned Northwestern just outside their goal line, Siemian engineered a 19-play drive that covered 95 yards, only for Fitzgerald to call for the field goal unit on fourth-and-goal from the four. The field goal cut Michigan's lead to 7-3. The Wildcats had literally just doubled their yardage total in one drive. Under seven minutes remained on the clock. He kicked anyway.
Michigan nearly managed to ice the game on the next drive, chewing up 4:16 and all three Northwestern timeouts on a 54-yard drive that ended with a Matt Wile field goal.
The Wildcats marched right back down the field, cutting the M lead to 10-9 on a three-yard throw from Siemian to Tony Jones. Fitzgerald, slightly more bold than before—or perhaps just wanting the game to end—sent the offense back on the field. Michigan's pass rush had landed home all night, sacking Siemian six times, and they anticipated the Northwestern call to roll the pocket right; Clark shot past two blockers and Siemian slipped in an effective but fruitless attempt to avoid him.
One kneel later, the game ended. Nobody was sad to see it go.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:42 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^
Or the "no more" game - as in "please, no more"
November 8th, 2014 at 7:55 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 8:18 PM ^
The game of INFINITE N00M!!!!
November 8th, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^
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November 8th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^
If Hoke wins out then you know there were some mobsters from Youngstown involved
November 9th, 2014 at 8:20 PM ^
mmmmhmmmm
November 8th, 2014 at 10:21 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^
Can't tell if serious. This is where the "/s" really comes in handy.
November 8th, 2014 at 8:05 PM ^
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November 9th, 2014 at 8:38 AM ^
November 9th, 2014 at 9:37 AM ^
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November 9th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ^
November 9th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
Agreed, but Maryland also hasn't happened yet. If we beat Maryland by double digits and somehow, some way, beat OSU, it will look impressive. I don't think we should keep Hoke even if we pull that off, but it will look awesome.
November 9th, 2014 at 3:52 PM ^
Miami of Ohio can play Florida St. 100 times and they're still not winning a single game.
November 8th, 2014 at 10:07 PM ^
that this is sarcasm?
November 9th, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^
Really glad Fitzgerald turned down the Michigan job.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^
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November 8th, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^
derp - derp - derp - derp
November 8th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^
I think the failed 2-Pt conversion attempt was a throwback pass. The TE was rolling back to the opposite corner of the endzone. Which makes Fitz even more dumb, thinking he had enough time for this to develop, as Beyer was screaming in from the weakside as well.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
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November 8th, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^
November 9th, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
Eh, this was a victory on the road. We looked awful on offense, but lots of games have looked worse. Maybe this defined Hoke era offensive incompetence, but I think even Minnesota did that one better.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
I hope I wasn't the only one looking for someone's bare ass in the first picture.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 8:27 PM ^
how long I looked before realizing what the deal was.
November 8th, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 7:57 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
I love you Greg Matt
November 8th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 10:41 PM ^
November 9th, 2014 at 1:15 AM ^
November 9th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^
November 9th, 2014 at 10:00 AM ^
They just scored 49 on Sparty in Spartyville. I'm scared they will do more damage than that to us.
November 9th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
This offense is HORRIBLE it consistently puts this defense in the worst possible positions. Check the numbers, look at the box scores. We've had 1-2 bad games defensively all year.
He's not a god send or the best, but he's one of the best DCs in the country.
You can't look at the final score and determine how good a defense is...you look at the final score to determine how good a TEAM is.
Duh.
November 9th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
Agreed - this defense is quote good. NW isn't a good team, but anybody is going to move the ball on you a little bit. And even though the offense couldn't hold on to the ball for large parts of the game, the D never gave up. Our defense was dominant today and that made the difference.
November 10th, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^
Looking back at the '97 NC team, the defense was lights-out and the offense under Griese was at least functional and took advantage when the defense handed them gifts. This offense squanders everything and then puts the D right back on the field with short drives.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:49 PM ^
Who wins a staring constest- a zombie or DG looking at a receiver?
November 8th, 2014 at 9:21 PM ^
the zombie moves faster.
November 9th, 2014 at 9:06 AM ^
You two made my morning
November 8th, 2014 at 7:48 PM ^
Prime example of a non-loss. got a win *waves tiny flag, looked aweful doing it to avoid the horror of repeat hoke next year *waves second tiny flag.
November 8th, 2014 at 7:51 PM ^
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November 8th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^
November 8th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^
He's gone. There is no objective argument that we improved this year. It is impossible to argue that Hoke should be back.
November 8th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^
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