Michigan 14, Wisconsin 7
Lewis caught this, somehow. [Patrick Barron/MGoBlog]
A normal recap would probably fixate on Wilton Speight and Amara Darboh totally redeeming themselves. Jourdan Lewis did not make a normal play.
On Wisconsin's last-gasp fourth-and-ten, Lewis made an interception that ranks up there with Charles Woodson's against Michigan State. Yes, that one. Running full speed in man coverage against George Rushing, Lewis appeared to leap far too early on a deep shot down the middle. He hung in the air, kept his eyes on the ball, and plucked it backhanded out of the air, somehow pinning it against his body to keep it off the turf.
"I've seen Odell Beckham Jr. do that. It looked like that kind of play. The most impressive thing about it is he jumped a little early," said Jim Harbaugh. "He was able to hang in the air and make a spectacular play."
Was Harbaugh upset given Lewis could've improved M's field position by simply batting the ball down?
"I'm really glad [he caught it] because it was a spectacular, spectacular football play."
Field position be damned, Lewis's incredible play allowed Michigan to run out the clock in a stressful, mistake-filled one-score win.
Despite dominating the yardage battle, 349-159, the Wovlerines were locked in a 7-7 game midway through the fourth quarter. Three missed field goals, two by Kenny Allen and one by replacement Ryan Tice, were partially to blame for the tight score.
"We'll have a little kicking competition this week," said Harbaugh. "It'll be an opportunity for Ryan Tice. Hopefully we make them next time." He added that freshman kicker Quinn Nordin is injured, which explains his absence the last couple weeks.
Some of the blame also fell on Speight, who'd been scattershot for most of the afternoon and forced a ball to Jake Butt that got tipped and picked off to set up UW's only score, a perfectly thrown wheel route to Dare Ogunbowale. Darboh was also partially culpable after dropping a potential third-down conversion on M's opening drive of the fourth quarter.
[Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
On the very next Wolverine drive, all was forgiven. On first down from the Badger 46-yard line, Darboh got a step on corner Derrick Tindal down the sideline. Speight uncorked his best throw of the day, hitting Darboh in stride for the eventual winning score.
"It was perfect," said Darboh. "Wilton put a perfect ball in and I just had to run underneath it."
"I saw single-high one-on-one with Darboh." said Speight. "That's probably the best thing as a quarterback you can hear: one-on-one with Darboh."
Speight capitalized. That was all the defense needed. Two punts and Channing Stribling's second interception followed to give Michigan the ball with 3:24 left at the Wisconsin 45. Harbaugh clearly felt comfortable putting the game in the hands of Don Brown; the Wolverines ran three straight times, then Allen pinned the Badgers at the own eight-yard line.
"It was a game ball for Don Brown kind of a game," said Harbaugh.
Brown's defense finished the game emphatically. Jabrill Peppers stoned a swing pass to Ogunbowale for no gain on first down. Pressure from the D-line forced a low pass from Alex Hornibrook that Robert Wheelwright couldn't haul in on second down. Ben Gedeon raked the ball out of Troy Fumagalli's hands to force an incompletion on third down. Then Lewis did his combination Woodson/Beckham impression.
While self-inflicted errors made the score too close for comfort, Michigan survived their first truly tough test in their first game that was close wire-to-wire. It was tough to sit through. It also provided the opportunity for an all-time highlight.
I'll take it.
October 1st, 2016 at 7:55 PM ^
Champagne!
Onward and Upward!
October 1st, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^
thrill him at all?
October 1st, 2016 at 7:55 PM ^
Champagne!
Onward and Upward!
October 2nd, 2016 at 5:53 AM ^
I'll take the negs. That's better than Woodson's MSU int.
Just so fucking skilled and on-point. Excellent football.
October 1st, 2016 at 7:57 PM ^
I remember when Hoke offered Channing Stribling (at a camp I think) we weren't sure how he'd play out. I'm so glad we have number 8.
October 1st, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^
Yeah, especially since that other CB we'd never heard of and had low 3-stars is out for the season after turning out to be an incredible find!
Starz, amirite?!?!? The only valid way to determine a HS player's worth.....
October 1st, 2016 at 7:57 PM ^
SUCK IT WISCONSIN!
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:00 PM ^
People keep saying Jourdan Lewis should have knocked it down. Honestly, I'd rather he pick it. It's not like it was an easy "catch it or knock it to the ground" gimme interception situation. I have seen multiple instances where a DB jumps for that ball and tips it into the air and the WR catches it on the run. Just intercepting it is the safer play.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^
If he'd knocked it down, we maybe could have scored again, but we'd have missed out on sheer awesomenesss. I'll take the awesomeness.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^
I think that's pretty much how Jim responded, too. The look on his face was a little relief with a little chagrin about the field position, but in the presser he just said, "But otherwise we wouldn't have had that awesome football play."
October 1st, 2016 at 8:15 PM ^
It was a spectacular interception. But I thought that defensive backs are taught to knock the ball down on 4th-down plays. As for going for the interception being the safer play--I'm doubtful. Too many memories of a Kordell Stewart throw that a UM defender tried to intercept, with Michael Westbrook catching the ricochet in the endzone; ugh.
October 1st, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^
Yeah, we beat that team like 2 weeks ago dude, give it a rest......
October 2nd, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
Stewart and Westbrook still play for Colorado?
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October 2nd, 2016 at 1:50 PM ^
Given the position he was in, trying to knock it down might just have popped it in the air and a possible Wisconsin td. Besides, the ball sort of stuck in his hand. Bringing it on was just a natural movement.
October 1st, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
I am happy with whatever but I will bet dimes to donuts that play comes up during the NFL combine and draft and that Lewis at least has to address his decision with some teams during the interview process.
I also think we are going easy on him because we like him, and I am ok with that too.
October 2nd, 2016 at 7:07 AM ^
Don't think so. JD made himself some money yesterday. Not too many players in the country can make that play. He was also very good in run support late in the game. There are alot of great cover corners that won't tackle.
As far as the the 4th down pick goes, I see more of those in the NFL than in college.
October 2nd, 2016 at 6:48 AM ^
avoid a PI call. JD did push off a bit before the ball got there. I saw the receiver complaining to Coach Chryst after the play and it looked like Chyrst said something in return like, "He caught it. What can you argue about? He was going for the ball."
October 2nd, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
He actually said he was surprised that he came up with the ball and thought it hit the ground.
October 1st, 2016 at 7:59 PM ^
In awe of that catch. My poor heart can't handle the stress!
Easy game next week to make up for it though.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:02 PM ^
I stood in front of my tv for the entire 4th quarter.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:05 PM ^
As good as Woodson's and maybe a more critical play, given the game circumstances.
Pretty nice throw and catch on the final TD. Love Stribling. He has always been one of my favorites.
October 1st, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^
I think it was a better catch than Woodson's, but it was only a better catch because he made a mistake in jumping too early and had to catch it on the way down with amazing concentration. Woodson did exactly what he wanted to do and the other team was helpless to stop him. So, all in all I still give Woodson the better football play because it was also an amazing catch, but without any mistakes.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:07 PM ^
I'll take the win, but man leaving 9 points on the field in a defensive slog like that is inadvisable
October 1st, 2016 at 8:14 PM ^
Kickers need to work hard at improving every week like the rest of the team. Though it can be a mental thing with kickers...
October 1st, 2016 at 11:41 PM ^
It's such a high variance position. Maybe it's hard to get back in rhythm when you get so few reps throughout a game
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:08 PM ^
That picture up top is amazing. I love that you get a good look at the Jumpman logo on the glove.
October 1st, 2016 at 11:13 PM ^
wohveer ngeged you, i'm assmuing it was a msiktae, fat/durnk finegrs. i've been tehre (or mgiht be three rgiht now)/s
October 2nd, 2016 at 6:58 AM ^
Haha-this is a great MGoComment.
(And I was kind of wondering who would neg the earlier comment, which wasn't exactly a scorching hot take.)
October 1st, 2016 at 8:09 PM ^
I was at the game, I couldn't tell, was there no safety back on 4th and 10 on that Lewis pick? Gotta be a blown assignment. Here has to be a safety back on that play?
October 1st, 2016 at 8:14 PM ^
Thomas was deep on that play but he went to double the guy McCrsy was covering
October 1st, 2016 at 11:42 PM ^
Seems like helping McCray is the right choice
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:12 PM ^
These are the games Championship teams win. Horrible offense, even worse Special Teams and the defense single handedly wins the game.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^
Horrible offense is a bit excessive. We had 360 yards against a great defense. With any sort of kicking game we would've won this game comfortably.
October 1st, 2016 at 11:43 PM ^
Yeah, special teams was horrible. Offense was ok to goodish
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October 2nd, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
I've gotta disagree. Special teams put lots of field in front of Wisconsin all afternoon, and the return game was okay against stiff coverage. Placekicking was bad.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
If we make the kicks, it's 23-7. 23 points against a top 10 defense in iffy weather, I'll take just about any day.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:12 PM ^
Move on to the next. (that was stressful)
October 1st, 2016 at 8:19 PM ^
Great win! I'm glad Coach said he was happy for Lewis because on the TV it looked like he was a bit angry. But that could've been because the kicking issues led to a much closer game than he wanted.
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^
I thought that look was relief! I've never seen Harbaugh so tight on the sidelines, so intent on trying to call the right thing. Not even in the Super Bowl against his brother did he look that intense the entire game.
October 1st, 2016 at 9:28 PM ^
Well, in the Super Bowl he had the opportunity to have a relaxing 45-minute game of catch during the 3rd qtr.
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:28 PM ^
Glad to have Mone back!
The kickers gave me 3 heart attacks.
Sucks to be Hornibrook, he'll be packed in ice for a while.
October 1st, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^
I love the game. I love the school. I love the team. I love the tradition.
Winning doesn't hurt, either.
Despite any and all flaws, that was an all time classic.
The defense...they are men. And the offense got it done.
GO BLUE.
October 2nd, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
are dudes.***
October 1st, 2016 at 8:38 PM ^
Ugly game. Lots of things we can improve on but happy we got the W. Game really should not have been that close. Oh, and Jourdan MF Lewis is a stud.
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October 1st, 2016 at 9:05 PM ^
happy, especially with those defensive stats.
October 1st, 2016 at 9:42 PM ^
23?
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October 2nd, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
Dying
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October 1st, 2016 at 8:39 PM ^
Newsome going down is a huge loss. No way to overstate that
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