Michigan 29 Minnesota 26 Comment Count

Seth

barron

A wall.

Michigan had their hands on it all game, and it kept slipping through their fingers. Peppers dropped a pick-six after jumping a WR screen. Dymonte Thomas and Jarrod Wilson both dropped interceptions they had two hands on (Dymonte’s was then caught by a Gopher). Jourdan Lewis and Jeremy Clark probably could have grabbed a pair of Leidner ducks they played with Connor Cook-level respect. Thomas also let a perfect Blake O’Neill punt bounce through his hands for a touchback. Each time the Gophers capitalized.

For its part, Minnesota held on like men who don’t know what they’d do with their lives if they couldn’t run around in goofy armor for a chance to win some painted old pottery. On 4th and 5 on Minnesota’s last drive, K.J. Maye had one inch to catch a slant against perhaps the best cornerback in the country, and  didn’t drop it. Neither did his receiver mate Drew Wolitarsky, who on the ensuing 2nd down beat Channing Stribling with a double move and hauled in a pass at the 1 inch line.

With the clock running Mitch Leidner moved his pieces around to set up a winning TD, but the Michigan defense chased him out of his pocket. That left 2 seconds for either a field goal attempt to force overtime, or a play to win. An average team against an average defense should get that QB sneak 9 times out of 10. But Minnesota was no average offense; they had a true freshman at center and other replacements all around him. And Michigan was no average defense. For one, Ryan Glasgow was the guy right over the ball. For two, D.J. Durkin was making the calls.

Glasgow won the battle he’d won all game, the rest of Michigan’s goal line defense closed around him, and together they grasped the life out the old rival. For that they get to hold the Jug again.peppers

While the Minnesotasphere will spend the next week replaying final scenarios (and the choice to play for a field goal at the end of the first half), Michigan fans will try to unpack all of the misfortunes and misplays that almost made the Little Brown Jug miss the flight home from its year abroad.

So much about Michigan has changed since then that it’s hard to remember this is still a team put together by Brady Hoke and held together by Harbaugh’s ingenuity. You can’t blame the old coach for everything, but Michigan’s recent history was all over this game.

Those weren’t all bad things. The interior defensive line was its magnificent self. Jourdan Lewis was. Chesson dropped one earlier but held onto his horizontal touchdown, and Darboh’s hands made sure it was 3 points, not 1, that Minnesota needed from our 1.

Hoke also left Jabrill Peppers, who, finally, was the answer one too many of Michigan’s questions. Need an athletic nickel to neutralize the spread? Peppers. Need a strong safety? Peppers. Cornerback. Kick returner. Punt returner. Running back. Slot receiver. Quarterback?

So yeah, this week we’re going to talk about the Morris-or-bust plan, because early in the third quarter Jake Rudock went to slide, and a defender tried to separate his head from his shoulders. It was the third time (the second was earlier in this game) this season he was clearly targeted with no call.

With Michigan down 23-21 at this point Harbaugh inserted Wilton Speight, whose play was about what you expect out of Wilton Speight. He did finally get his feet under him on the final drive, with his last two passes of the game the touchdown to Chesson and the two-point conversion to Darboh. Let that be the final word on wither Shane Morris.

(Rudock was on the sideline trying to throw after being examined and just about everyone noted Michigan informed the press it was a shoulder injury rather than, you know, making it a thing.)

Desmond Morgan did not have a good game, giving up a long run when he got out of his lane, getting caught too far inside on a long wheel route, letting Brandon Lingen sneak behind him for a long pass at the beginning of the 4th quarter, and letting Rodney Smith shuck him to give up a crucial 3rd and 17.

That and the dodgy score and the Halloween candy had Michigan perilously close to vomiting up a Hoke game in 2015. But they ultimately held it down, and the feeling will pass with time.

Comments

MGoBlue Eeyore

November 1st, 2015 at 6:02 AM ^

...in thinking at the outset that this game would be a solid and easy win by Michigan, especially given our defensive play of the last few games. But, man, Leidner's bullets + a few of the Minnesota runs made me start to rethink the trajectory of the whole season. I'm happy for the win and thankful for the coaching staff's ability to stitch together some semblance of offense with duct tape and dental floss.

I'm also glad that those Minnesota fans wearing the 'ghosts of Michigan's past' costumes got to experience that last second loss. That just felt classless to me.

bacon

November 1st, 2015 at 6:47 AM ^

We again saw adjustments from the coaching staff that were dead on (think first drive on offense on the 3rd quarter) and the defense was stout, but there were more breakdowns than previous games. Plus, some of those plays that Minnesota hit were damn luck. The Rudock injury really put us in a bad spot in that game, but Speight looked great on that last drive and made some great passes. In the end, there was no quit in either team and we came out ahead. I'm not going to worry about the details in a hard fought win on the road vs an opponent that played their hearts out.

CompleteLunacy

November 1st, 2015 at 8:28 PM ^

This is a perfect time to remind everyone that Minnesota gave TCU a good, close game. The same TCU that is undefeated and may very well wind up in the CoFoPo (especially now that Baylor lost its starting QB).

So, I think it's OK to give Minnesota a little bit of credit. The hypothetical Minnesota-Tennessee matchup might be closer than you think.

We sure love to downplay all non-MSU and OSU oppenents around these parts.

rkjjeep

November 1st, 2015 at 8:11 AM ^

I may need to find a new heart doctor........but I prefer the close games to watching them get humiliated like last year.    Remember  MN beat them in AA last year.  On the way back to greatness they will travel thru just barely wonness.   GO BLUE

mgoblue98

November 1st, 2015 at 11:38 AM ^

On the 1st and goal play Michigan got good pressure on Leidner, but I thought James Roos also made a great play.  Most of the time that throw back is wide open even with pressure.  Ross got into the tight end and chucked him hard at the LOS and then stayed right in his hip pocket on the route.

blueak

November 1st, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^

His performance certainly wasn't what I'd expect it to be. He showed poise and gave us the winning td and 2 point conversion. I'll take that from a back-up QB every day. And even if he was an Al Borges pick, he came with a recommendation from Steve Clarkson, so there is that, too. C'mon, give the kid some credit.

Goose1724

November 1st, 2015 at 10:27 AM ^

Good teams win ugly games. Minnesota was inspired and probably played their best game of the season. We didn't play our best game. We won. We're 6-2. Focus on next game. Speight under center??

juliesklx

November 1st, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^

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chgoblue

November 1st, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

This game was frankly embarrassing, and reminds me - yet again - of why I hate "bye weeks" - if you lose before a bye week, you've got two weeks to stew about it, whereas if you've been winning, it derails your forward momentum. Sure, Minnesota was really fired up because they wanted to win won for Coach Kill, and sure, Michigan hasn't been a great road team for several years. But when your #1 rated defense makes Mitch Leidner look like a top NFL prospect (over 300 yards passing!) and gives up nearly 150 yards on the ground, it has played very poorly (even accounting for lucky breaks). After all, Leidner is no Connor Cook, and Minnesota's offense has been stumbling most of the year. Plus, we still have the same problems with iffy QB play, RBs who have a hard time getting yardage against stout run defenses, and LBs who are not fast enough. I sincerely hope that this game will serve as a wakeup call, esp. for the defense. Otherwise we may give up lots of yards and points to Indiana, Penn State, and Ohio State. Also, unless there are significant improvements in the next two weeks, I think our prospects of winning those last two games are pretty slim unless the seemingly dominant Michigan team of previous weeks reappears.

Sten Carlson

November 1st, 2015 at 7:39 PM ^

Embarassing?  No ChiTown, LAST year's LBJ Game -- with Cobb running roughshod over our allegedly elite rush defense, starting Morris, the concussion, and losing the Jug -- was embarassing!

However, I agree with you concerning the bye week thing.  But, this game was ALWAYS going to be a "trap game" even before Kill retired suddenly.  Can you really add the caveat of "even accounting for lucky breaks"?

Those "lucky breaks" included a long TD pass in which Michigan's (and one of the nation's) best DB's was in PERFECT position to break-up (and possibly intercept) a properly thrown ball.  What about the 20+ yard tipped reception on which Dymonte was, again, in PERFECT position but let it slip through his hands.   There were other should-have-been interceptions, and Leidner summoning some freakish abilty to make NFL throws into PERFECT coverage. What about Peppers' almost pick-6?

From what I saw -- and I missed Michigan's turnover because Oklahoma State couldn't stop scoring on Texas Tech -- Michigan SHOULD have handled Minnesota fairly handily if only one of those plays is made.  If Michigan's defense makes two, or more of them, the crowd dies down, the Gophers stop believing, and it's an easy coasting win for our guys.

But, they didn't make them and thus Leidner got more time with the ball in his hands, and with all the emotion of the night, grew in confidence and played far better than he's ever played in his life, or eill ever again.  It was a weird flukey game -- night games on the road often are.  Now, add in the LBJ Rivalry and the whole Kill situation, and as I said, this was a Extreme Trap Game.

Don't be embarrased by this game dude!  Look at it like coach is -- as the first very close, tough, emotion filled game (and a road game at that) that the guys have won.  They had every chance to feel sorry for themselves and let Minnesota's emotion dampen their will to keep fighting.  But they didn't let that happen.  They fought to the LAST PLAY and won!  (I wonder if coach made it clear how important the LAST play of the game is?)

Just like tough losses steel the spine, so too do hard fought come-from-behind/could-have-quit-but-didn't wins.  Show some respect to Minnesota and what they're going through.

I am beaming with pride for Michigan right now!

Go Blue!

RJWolvie

November 1st, 2015 at 12:56 PM ^

Ranking: drop to 20, I'd guess as 16-19 basically all win better, 20-24 basically all lose. And I think that's about right, for where we are in the coming-back process




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HimJarbaugh

November 1st, 2015 at 6:14 PM ^

Wow, I am surprised at some of this sentiment. This may have been the best win of the season so far. Minnesota had home field, at night, after the Kill thing, a COMPLETELY different offensive gameplan, and all kinds of things bounce their way yet Michigan still wins. They actually had to play from behind and put up a last second defensive stand. They haven't had to do that this season.

Right now don't care about what this does for stats, rankings, perception, or anything else. They won. A guy some thought would transfer before this season was 3/3 with a TD and 2 pt. on a game-winning drive after starting his career 0 for 7. It's bizarro 2012 Nebraska. In a way, it's also bizarro two weeks ago.

At the end of the season, beating Minnesota by 3 will probably not be a blemish in the ranking or bowl pairing resume.

schreibee

November 1st, 2015 at 9:47 PM ^

You're right AND RJMAC right after you is right too!

It WAS a great win, come from behind, inspirational D stand at the goal line, some of the best offensive play calling we've seen in years...

And yet, we were also so lucky to win that game. Minny wasted 17 seconds on 1st & goal and then declined to go for the tie - "at home" where prevailing wisdom says you play for the tie.

So many many people get to be right with this game - great win, bring the Jug home, Speight heroics, howzabout that Jabrill!

AND...very disconcerting performance by the D, team outhustled & frankly out coached until the final 19 seconds, bodes ill for the future.

So enjoy the win & fear for the future. It's all valid and I'm feeling good today!