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 5:43 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:49 PM ^
Richt will get exposed soon enough. That is not an elite team. In fact, remind me a bit of us last year.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:25 PM ^
You said that last year...
November 18th, 2017 at 5:37 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 7:41 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 2:35 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
I had high hopes that our highly paid head football coach could LEAD his team to a victory today in a big game. Silly me.
The game plan—if such a thing even existed—was awful. You’d have to be blind not to be able to see that our running game between the tackles couldn’t work against Wisconsin’s D. Yet, time after time, we ran the ball up the middle with minimal gain. Earth to Coach Harbaugh: if something isn’t working, do something different!
This man is totally unimaginative. If your offensive line is young and not as good as your opponent’s defense, MIX IT UP! Put in a play or 2 or 10 that’s different. An option, a quarterback draw, something, ANYTHING. Maybe, just maybe, you can catch your opponent off guard. You want to win, don’t you? Or do you?
And then there’s the highly vaunted defense. You’re playing a good team with a good quarterback. Put some pressure on him. And, it might be a good idea to explain to your defensive backs that every once in a while, it might be useful to turn the heck around and see what the quarterback is doing with the ball. This is the ELEVENTH game of the season, and you’ve got guys making rookie mistakes. I love it when you get a nice sack and jump up and down like you just won the Powerball®, but then don’t give up 18 yards on a pass on the very next play. Where is the discipline? Yeah, good defense for the first half plus, but then break down. Hard to watch.
Harbaugh continues to disappoint. He’s not creative, he doesn’t have his guys prepped with the right mindset to WIN, and his team continues to make way too many mistakes.
They will lose next week AGAIN to the team down south, and that’ll be it for another crappy year. I wish I had a job where I could make lots of money and deliver mediocre results. Must be nice.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:27 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
Michigan's fan base as easily become the one i loathe the most.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:33 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 6:13 PM ^
Always have been, Chuck. Always have been...ditto with basketball.
November 18th, 2017 at 8:08 PM ^
are not the fanbase.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
Yeah, you need to be able to make big plays in these kind of games, and we aren't.
Nor do we try enough.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:32 PM ^
wtf happened?
November 18th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:38 PM ^
It absolutely blows my mind how reporters and announcers continue to not mention the obvious! Does anybody really believe that Wisconsin won the game that we saw today? I mean as a fan of Michigan Football and CFB I have been trying to stay positive all season long especially after that BS OSU game last year. I have watched every game this season and in almost every game we have absolutely been destroyed by officiating. Now I understand that missed calls go both ways and that’s part of the game but this is something different. Harbaugh has obviously pissed off the NCAA and the B1G with the way he does things and that’s fine. What is not ok is the fact that they are literally sabotaging us at every turn.
I do rosters for NCAA 14 for a community on Operation Sports and meet all kinds of fans throughout a season and it really makes you a better fan when you dive so deep into the world of CFB. That being said my love for Michigan Football and CFB is a very strong one. I mean I am literally at the point that I feel boycotting the NCAA all together is the only route and that kills me to feel that. For the fans on here who say the officiating is in our heads you are full of shit and should probably hit the reset button on your brain. I mean once or twice it’s a damn shame when you get hosed by officiating. We are literally talking about almost every game this season. I mean anything beyond whatever the fuck that was last year against OSU is enough for somebody to be like ok this is enough and what the hell is going on.
Somebody from a position of power needs to say or do something! I mean instead we set by as mindless sheep while we watch the fuckin refs exploit our team and absolutely crush them over and over. Imagine how much the B1G or CFB would care if us as fans completely boycotted the B1G Championship or the National Championship. This will never happen because sheep were meant to follow but eventually something has to give or somebody has to say something.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:49 PM ^
Spun Matellus or whoever around. And the PI
That was so far away from being caught? Ridiculous. Happens every week. And overturning calls? Never goes Michigan’s way. We got one today so I can’t say never, but we are due for some referee love. Unfortunately- we will see Ohio get all the close calls next week to help them even more. B1G officiating needs an overhaul- tired of seeing more flags on boys in blue rather than even across the board.
November 18th, 2017 at 8:14 PM ^
for us to boycott the NC or the B1G championship games. What does that even mean?
What I don't understand is why we stay with this conference. 100 years of history doesn't matter anymore. Largest alumni network on the planet and our games are always top rated. We are the B1G cash cow and Delaney is some smooth MF cause he pockets the cash we bring him and looks the other way when Speight and Peters are taken out by dirty hits.
This is an honest question. If it's a dumb question then someone enlighten me: What the hell gain is there staying in this conference?
November 18th, 2017 at 5:41 PM ^
of the hockey game last night. Michigan looked at least as good if not better than Wisconsin, had a bunch of early opportunities to score but couldn't, and then the game got away from them late.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:41 PM ^
of the hockey game last night. Michigan looked at least as good if not better than Wisconsin, had a bunch of early opportunities to score but couldn't, and then the game got away from them late.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^
I totally agree...we needed to do whatever we could to score early in the football game when the student section was EMPTY.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^
I think lots of us are in a bad mood about this. It's not going how we wanted it to go that's for sure and I'll make the argument that the only year that Harbaugh has overachieved was year one, and that includes that stupid MSU game. Last year was underacheving, and this year is kinda just under if you ask me.
By year three Harbaugh should be winning some games that Michigan is not "expected" to win. If you're that good of a coach it should happen, but we have yet to see one of those.
Another note, and it might not be popular, but when the people who run the site are trashing the people who come here the most, and tell them not to @ them with game opinions, etc is poor form. I get that a lot of people are frustrated but everyone needs to hold it together, especially those who are running this place.
November 18th, 2017 at 8:49 PM ^
If this was Harbuagh's 6th year then it might be reasonable to expect that the #2 QB would be so close to the starter that he could step in and have the same chance to lead the team to victory. Unfortunately it's Harbaugh's 3rd season and he only and a very few weeks to recruit in his first season, so maybe we, from a recruiting perspective, should consider this his second season. It's unrealistic to expect that the team would be winning games in which they are underdogs given the circumstances.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:54 PM ^
An accurate point.
I am all in because I know Peters can play. So we are fine for 2018.
We just need our Sophmores to get 1 year old, stronger and bigger. Same for the Freshman.
We also jettison a few more of the Hoke guys who were good but not high upside and 2018 should be exciting IMHO.
The OL should be better. A few of those "highly ranked" OL will be ready for 2018. LBs will be much faster. Only major loss is Hurst and looks like Soloman will get it done.
ONLY ONE POSITION WORRIES ME. Safety. We need one of these DBs to actually play to ranking at Safety.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
You are absolutely right A2toGVU.....our players do seem focused on doing their jobs and it is rare that someone really MAKES A PLAY. This is a great observation and it is very concerning.
When we do score, it is a pushing, grinding affair. Almost never a playmaker torching the opposing defense. Our offense is so incredibly clunky. I feel like our typical scoring drive looks like this:
1) we find ourselves in 3rd down situations alot
2) we get downfield by barely getting first downs,
3) our scoring drives often have some penalty yardage in them,
4) we are currently running a high percentage pass offense that runs short timing routes. Only we cannot get the high percentages.
5) There is often a pass that looks like it could have been picked.
6) When we finally get to the goal line, we will get stuffed twice before scoring on third down.
We lack the playmakers who make it look easy. Everything for this offense is HARD.
Wisconsin had a few guys make big catches in spite of tight coverage today. Those catches allowed them to convert 3rd downs and ultimately score on drives. In the same situations, Michigan had guys drop balls.
November 18th, 2017 at 7:09 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 5:57 PM ^
Wisconsin is getting blown out in the BIG Championship.
Not freaking over today but Coach has to start winning some games "he ain't supposed to win."
You are not a Good (or even Greaet Coach) if that does not start happening effective 2018.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^
IMO Jim is just over thinking things and its causing the team to not be in sync. He wants to apply NFL schemes to over power other teams but it is not woking. College kids especially young ones respond better to simplicity than complex stuff. I know everyone want Drevno and Pep out but that will ruin consistency in the programm and scheme. I think Jim and the rest of OCs need to start looking really hard this offseason and figure out the flaws of this team.
November 18th, 2017 at 7:02 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 7:08 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^
It will get better each year as the program builds. The backups will not be freshmen, they will be sophmores, juniors, or seniors that already understand and have experience in the system. I think they need to stay consistent and keep building the entire program.
I am not happy with saying wait until next year, but it will get better. I don't expect them to be world beaters next year either, but they should win a few none expected.
2019 will be the season that it all will be apparent. Clemson under Dabo Sweeney took time to build as well and we are in the same position.
November 18th, 2017 at 8:09 PM ^
MSU has the same record as us and just lost to OSU by 45 last week. Experience makes a difference.
November 18th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^
I've said before I think part of the aspect that is making things tougher is running his offense full NFL style. He's asking college WR's to run an NFL route, his QB to make an NFL throw, and then WR make an NFL catch.
Don Brown summed it up perfectly the other day when being asking about his defense. The reporter said his system would never work in the NFL because of whatever reason and his resposne was along the lines of "well I don't coach in the NFL, I coach in college".
There is a reason why basically of the teams, including the really successful teams run a version of the spread. Harbaugh needs to truly understand that he is coaching the college game and adapt to that rather then continuing to do things like his did at San Fran.
November 19th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^
First year receivers are rarely productive in college or the pro's. Even Calvin Johnson had a poor first year with the Lions. It takes time to develop. They will get better moving forward and Michigan will reap the dividends.
Pro style does work in college, but takes a little more time to develop than the spread. Once the personnel (first time starters and backups) are firmly established, you will see consistently winning teams moving forward.
I will admit I wish that they had a more creative offensive staff, but understand what they are trying to build.
I have wanted a defensive coordinator like Don Brown forever. A defense that is aggressive on every down. I can handle getting beat once and a while playing that way. Now I am looking for the same mentality on offense.
November 19th, 2017 at 9:29 AM ^
MSU has two factors in it's favor over UM. They have a power running backfield that can grind out tough yards. I like Evans and Isaac, but they go down quite easy on first contact. Our best back is Higdon, who keeps his legs going on contact. The other factor in their favor is a better QB in Lewerke. He is mobile and gritty. The combination helps them extend drives.
It comes down to a couple of critical positions as the difference. Deveon Smith was a big factor in UMs success last year. The pounding style wears down a defense the way that UW did yesterday to Michigan's defense.
November 18th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
1) Harbaugh is the best coach we are going to get. I am not sure about some of his supporting cast, however.
2) Our team is very young and our scheme is very complex. These things do not mix well.
3) Our defense is very, very good, but prone to spectacular breakdowns. Probably because we have young players. Nontheless, they only gave up 17 vs Wisconsin.
4) Injuries are badly affecting this team. In addition to the people we have out, Rashan Gary, Karan Higdon, and a host of others are playing hurt. Brandon Peters may now join this list.
These are statements of the obvious and some of you may write all of this off as excuses, but all of this is true.
Next week may be horrific. Our defense will play well, but will give up at least 21 points to a strong OSU rushing and deep ball attack. At the same time, our offense will have diffculty denting OSU's defense even if it fires on all cylinders.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:33 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 8:19 PM ^
Other than the PSU game this defense has been surpassing expectations this year.
I know we all want them to pitch shutouts, but a defense only allowing 14-17 points in college today is nothing to sneeze at.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:11 PM ^
Oh yeah, he has to fire Drevno and Pep. It isn’t working
November 18th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
November 18th, 2017 at 6:49 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
our 3 losses were by a total of 5 points and all could as easily have been wins. The only game since JH has been in Ann Arbor that could be described as an ass-kicking was PSU this year, and sometimes those things just happen. Urban Meyer's team got beat worse by Iowa which was promptly annihilated by UW. It may be that UW is far better than OSU. We will see in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, the only comments I have agreed with are those that focus on our inability to make plays. Every pass that a UW receiver really needed to catch was caught. Every pass that one of our receivers really needed to catch was dropped. (And DPJ needs to be coached to get the field side foot down a little quicker, as that is what reallly successful receivers are able to accomplish.) Every time (and there were not many) a cut was there, the UW back made the cut. There were cut lanes for Evans, too, but he ran into the pile or allowed someone touching his foot to knock him down.
I hope a year of coaching and growth will help our receivers. I hope a year of coaching and growth will help our backs.
But yesterday, we were without our 2 best RBs (Higdon and Isaac), our 2 best OL (Newsome and Onwenu), our starting QB, our top 2 WRs (Black and Perry (played a little but obviously not 100%) and Eubanks, and then Peters went out.
The other comment I would make is that sometimes a team has to respond to an injury like the dirty hit on Peters by getting so fired up that they become an unstoppable force. That clearly did not happen. It seemed as if we allowed adversity to beat us. Coaches can use that kind of dirty play to fire up the team without advocating any kind of retaliation other than playing even harder.
November 20th, 2017 at 11:11 AM ^
> The only game since JH has been in Ann Arbor that could be described as an ass-kicking was PSU this year
2015 Ohio State
November 18th, 2017 at 6:30 PM ^
We were sunk by Wisconsin converting three third-and-very-long (more than ten yards) plays in the most critical moments of the third quarter. Good on them as my stomach churns just rethinking those missed opportunities to make them punt.
November 18th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^
So far things are pretty much as expected. We won most of the games we should minus MSU. We haven't gotten our signature win against a ranked team. We've suffered quite a few injuries that our roster is not ready to handle yet. This will improve over time. We get almost everyone back next year minus Cole, Hurst, and Kugler. Plus we get Eubanks, Black, and hopefully Newsome back. I just hope we can find an answer to the RT position next year. This year should build some strength and toughness, particularly for the freshman and sophomore classes that hopefully will pay dividends for the next few years.
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