Michigan 20, Northwestern 17 Comment Count

Adam Schnepp September 29th, 2018 at 10:05 PM

[Fuller]

It’s not just that they came back to win, it's how quickly things turned in the beginning. Michigan had the braggadocio to take the ball after winning the coin toss; they were then hit squarely in the face, took a nasty shot to the body, then took another one to the face. These were not the kind of hits that come together over a long stretch to wear someone down. These were the kind that rock you to your core, that are designed to get you to pack it in and move on.

They didn’t, though. It took those three shots to jar much productivity out of Michigan, which gained –1, 1, and 21 yards on its first three drives. But on the fourth drive, Michigan was able to find success with both the conventional (a handoff to Ben Mason on 3rd-and-1, Karan Higdon’s violent running up the middle) and the bizarre (a play featuring jet action with Ambry Thomas followed by a faked handoff to Higdon and a flipped ball to Donovan Peoples-Jones on an end around, which resulted in DPJ outrunning The Gaz up the sideline and 25 yards).

That drive didn’t do much to cleanse the palate, as both teams played hot potato with offensive futility on the next four drives. Northwestern’s offensive line had difficulties throughout the game, particularly with heart-consuming Chase Winovich and his defensive line compatriots. The line pushed Northwestern to 3rd-and-13 on their fourth drive only to be granted a fresh set of downs on a Lavert Hill hold. That fresh set didn’t matter, as it ended with Winovich running down a play from the backside and Winovich bulling back a lineman and diving at the legs of Clayton Thorson as Kwtiy Paye unloaded on him.

Michigan, which ended the day with 11 penalties for 100 yards, saw 4th-and-3 from Northwestern’s 41 on their fifth drive turn into 4th-and-8 when Zach Gentry moved early. On their next drive, a 15-yard Shea Patterson run was wiped out on a Jon Runyan hold, flipping 1st-and-10 to 2nd-and-20. Nico Collins caught a quick pass from Patterson and ended up with 17 of the 20 necessary yards, but he stayed in bounds, allowing the clock to dwindle. Collins caught a pass on the next play as well, but his toe was out of bounds and Michigan’s chance to cap the half with optimism went out with it.

Until Pat Fitzgerald stepped up to the plate, that is. Fitzgerald wasted two of his timeouts trying to…ice Will Hart? Maybe? No, that’s not a thing. He wasted the timeouts anyhow, ran one play after receiving the ball, then let the clock run out, giving Michigan the biggest, best gift you could ever get Don Brown: halftime.

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[Fuller]

Northwestern had the ball six times in the second half. On those six drives, they scored zero points. In the third quarter, they ran the ball seven times for two yards and passed two times for 22 yards. In the fourth quarter, they rushed five times for –11 yards and passed four times for 43 yards. Brown and his safeties adjusted to Fitzgerald’s All Slants offense while the defensive line continued its dominance irrespective of personnel; Rashan Gary was injured in the third quarter, and his absence opened the door for increased rotation from some of the younger linemen. Kwity Paye looked capable, generating pressure often and finishing with two TFLs and two sacks. Michael Dwumfour flashed his Hurstian first step a few times and found himself flushing Thorson into converging teammates on third down on Northwestern’s next-to-last drive. Josh Uche also finished with two TFLs and two sacks, including the one that sealed the game.

Michigan did not have the lead until the four-minute mark in the fourth quarter, with two third-quarter Nordin field goals keeping them within striking distance. Then, on Michigan’s tenth drive, Shea Patterson started to look like himself. Patterson’s throws looked hurried and slightly off their typical dead-on placement until he hit Zach Gentry for 13 yards on an out to the sideline and again for 22 yards later with a ball that arrived just before the Northwestern defensive back’s hands. Karan Higdon took care of the rest, bouncing for a yard to the Northwestern five-yard and then running into the end zone almost untouched on the next play; he finished with 115 yards on 30 carries.

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[Barron]

Higdon was a key component of Michigan’s final drive, taking a second-and-10 carry five yards, then seeing a cutback lane on the next play that he hit hard only to come up a yard short. Michigan let the clock run down to 46 seconds, took a timeout, and sent the offense back onto the field. An attempt to draw Northwestern offside proved futile, however, and Michigan took the delay of game penalty in order to punt.

Northwestern’s panic offense found some success, completing passes of nine, 10, and 15 yards to move from their own 15-yard line to almost midfield. Then, on 2nd-and-10, Winovich found himself the recipient of a double team, while Uche bent the corner on the opposite side and wrapped up Thorson with form that had to make defensive line coaches around the country smile. The clock ran out, and Michigan escaped with the slim lead they took all game to build.

There will be another football with a winning score placed in the glass display case at Schembechler Hall, but that doesn’t leave Michigan without much work to do. The offense looked out of sync most of the evening, with receivers sometimes seeming to not anticipate the ball coming their way. Receivers also flubbed opportunities to eek out extra yards or run out of bounds and stop the clock. The defense, for as much work as they were able to do at halftime, will be looking once again at how to stop quick slants.

And then there were the penalties. Minus the phantom holding call on Karan Higdon (!), Michigan gave away field position, ended drives, and breathed life into Northwestern by way of mental miscues. The silver lining in the sloppiness is that Michigan will not only get an opportunity to work on those things from the friendly confines of Michigan Stadium next Saturday afternoon, but they will get an opportunity to work on them with their larger goals still intact.

Comments

ijohnb

September 29th, 2018 at 10:11 PM ^

I wonder if the holding was called on another player and the ref just botched the announcement.  It literally could not have been on Higdon.

elm

September 30th, 2018 at 6:20 AM ^

Do refs watch replays of the game? If so, how embarrassed is that ref going to be when he sees that Higdon was tackled and not the other way around? I don’t know how to solve the reffing problem but it seems to be getting worse and not better. (At least this time, Michigan was the beneficiary of some horrible calls as well.)

oldhackman

October 2nd, 2018 at 3:17 PM ^

Prepare yourself; because B1G refs do NOT call holding on Ohio State.  Watching that OSU/PSU game, it occurred to me that no other team could have likely made that comeback because there are rules against holding for every other league team.  PSU players who were blatantly held got up play after play, justifiably throwing up their hands and presumably saying "WTF, man?"

 

SMFH58

September 30th, 2018 at 6:11 AM ^

Shea had rough day passing until late in the game. At one point I was thinking we should bring in Dylan. A quarterback with an accurate throw in the first half and Michigan would not have been so far behind. Shea came through in the end but in part he fixed the problem he created.

OkemosBlue

September 30th, 2018 at 7:36 AM ^

To be fair, McKeon dropped a great pass, which shows that Patterson was okay in the first half.  Far more questionable was the play calling in retrospect.  The game plan seemed designed to stretch the field and protect the Ts, but Michigan was able to run it up the middle when they tried.  

1VaBlue1

September 30th, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^

M ran the ball up the middle on 7 of the last 8 first down's in the game, for a total of (probably) 6 yards.  The one non-run play was a throw to Wangler in the flat that went for 9 yards.  That they kept moving the ball through the downs is a testament to Shea's playmaking on 3rd and long.  And its no way to consistently move the ball...

Double-D

September 30th, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^

Watching Harbaugh run the ball up the middle on like 5 straight 1st down plays for 1 yard was beyond frustrating. Shea’s feet and our D saved our ass in this game.  

This is the type of victory that most Championship teams need during the course of the season.  This team can play with anyone on the schedule but let’s hope we get things cleaned up. 

I would suggest next time we win the coin toss maybe we put our defense on the field first.  

Sopwith

September 30th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^

Here's what happened:

(1) the official saw the play develop with Shea taking off around the edge

(2) he notices Higdon going to the ground and landing on top of the defensive tackle

(3) official's lizard brain kicks in and fills in the moment prior to Higdon and said DT going to the ground with "oh, 22 must have tackled him, because a DT is going to the ground with the ballcarrier coming around the edge"

(4) flag

Classic case of violating the golden rule of officiating: "Call what you see happen, not what you think happened." 

freelion

September 29th, 2018 at 10:17 PM ^

That game had loss written all over it. There was a lot of negative karma built up with NU being an unlikely 1-2 team with their season on the brink and with a bye week to get healthy and gameplan for Michigan. Michigan came out tentative and sloppy as is their usual habit on the road. Add the usual incompetent Big 10 officials and things can go south quickly. Luckily we didn't add special teams gaffes on the heap as has been the case in recent road disasters. This was an important and gutsy win to get. The question is whether the offensive coaches can get their heads out of their asses in time for tougher competition.

treetown

September 29th, 2018 at 10:33 PM ^

There were a lot of weird intangibles out there. While Michigan has had good success against NW it has always been a strange eerie game.

1. Natural grass field.

2. Twilight / dusk game.

3. White uniforms.

4.Falling behind early.

All of there were the usual bad omens. Yet, the team pulled it out and at the end looked good. I hope that this will be a good sign and that the team builds from this experience.

M-Dog

September 30th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^

We suck playing on natural grass as we see less and less of it.  It's a different footing than players are used to. 

White Out and all, but it's one of the advantages that Penn State has that does not get talked about much.

It is one of the things that always bedeviled us in the Rose Bowl where we were typically a turf team (except the '90s) and the Pac 10 opponent was typically a grass team.

 

jmarsh22

September 30th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^

"Michigan came out tentative and sloppy as is their usual habit on the road."

That should work out well against MSU and OSU.

Well, we might be okay against MSU.

I think the MSU game will be a battle of two stubborn head coaches trying to play man ball and force the run against a brick wall. The more stubborn head coach will lose.

wolverine1987

September 29th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^

Positive: coming back on the road, 4th Q performance of Shea, Higdon, Chase!, the second half defense, a win.

Negative: WR's had trouble getting open (flashes of last year), Patterson was off for the first three Q's, penalties and penalties, slant coverage, repeated stuffing of the inside run by NW, questionable play calling... and the infinite # of commercials 

I'm in BPONE I guess