Michigan 20, Northwestern 17
[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.
[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.
[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.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:01 PM ^
That was a big issue with that first drive. NW didn't have to work very hard to score.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:12 PM ^
A number of our compatriots feel that they are entitled to stress-free wins and anything less is a personal embarrassment.
Today was far from all sunshine but the woe is me crowd was going strong after two drives.
This one wasn’t impressive live but it is good to get the road win and double their yardage (give or take that last completion Chase was tackled on).
September 30th, 2018 at 12:37 AM ^
Beats losing all day long...I actually enjoyed it...hadn't had a good hi-stress win in a while
September 29th, 2018 at 10:25 PM ^
It’s the UFRs. Opposing teams have learned to use MGoBlog and the highly detailed dissection of every play to their advantage.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:32 PM ^
It's Brian's fault! Hadn't thought of that before.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:31 PM ^
The 4th down catch by Nico was good. His heel hit first in bounds.
Why have reply. Let the officials be bad without any chance to get it right.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:32 AM ^
You forgot to add that after that catch “out of bounds”, there were two time outs called before the next play was initiated. So why the hell didn’t we get to see it again and why didn’t someone in the ref booth say something. Didn’t make sense.
Furthermore, I was not happy with some of Nico’s decisions in his run after catches, especially when he could have lunged for a first down but instead danced around trying to break something longer.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:54 AM ^
A heel hitting first in-bounds followed by the rest of the foot coming down is out-of-bounds by rule...at least in the NFL, while conversely a toe-drag is in-bounds.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:33 PM ^
I’m going with “a win’s a win.” But they’d better not play like that in Columbus or it’ll be cringeworthy. I shudder to picture Runyan trying to block Bosa’s backup.
So. Many. Commercials.
Shea was the man when he needed to be. Ugly win but I’ll take it, because early on it was very disheartening.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:35 PM ^
Gaziano is better than Bosa’s backup, and Runyan did an admirable job with him. Wasn’t abused like he was against ND.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^
That's encouraging! I believe Chase Young is Bosa's replacement.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
...and the kid is damn good!
September 29th, 2018 at 11:56 PM ^
Any negative comment about the pass blocking is absurd to me. This was the most unexpectedly positive performance by the O-line in years. The problems occurred elsewhere.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:24 AM ^
Half the people on this board don't know shit about football. They just watch the team win by less than they should've and then come here to complain without really knowing what to complain about.
September 30th, 2018 at 7:49 AM ^
My favorite is "they don't look fired up enough!"
September 30th, 2018 at 8:22 AM ^
Unfortunately, that actually seemed accurate for this game.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:34 PM ^
It seems the post really minimizes the impact of that phantom block. Chances are we win by double digits without that.
September 30th, 2018 at 7:46 AM ^
Also forget the McKeon drop and the 2 inches short on 4th down. Neither ensures a TD, but both were momentum changers.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
A silver lining? Hart probably has enough attempts to qualify for the top spot among punters now.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:41 PM ^
When do we stop talking about the penalties being something that can be “cleaned up” and acknowledge that this is a pattern for an undisciplined and oftentimes seemingly unprepared football team?
September 29th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
As soon as you acknowledge that one of the penalties was completely insane.
Another, Runyan's hold, doesn't make any sense when compared to the non-calls, like Chase getting tackled, going the other way.
And that a third was committed because DBs who play press coverage are coached to take a penalty when they're beaten off the line instead of giving up a nearly sure TD.
False stars and off sides calls happen. I still don't know what Thomas did differently from any other punt to get a penalty this time.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:55 PM ^
Runyan also got away with a few other holds that I can recall.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:40 PM ^
Of course he did...as did everyone else. That's not the point. I have officiated plenty in my life and the inequity here is mind-boggling. Not to mention the numbers egregious miss-calls the past two weeks.
September 30th, 2018 at 6:39 AM ^
Holding can be called on almost every play in football. Why does Michigan seem to draw an inordinate amount of holds compared to say OSU who gets called once or twice per year? Why does Chase get tackled from behind two games in a row and they are not called?
September 30th, 2018 at 8:23 AM ^
Didn't Michigan get called for more offensive holding today than Rashan Gary has drawn in his career?
September 30th, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^
Nobody ever defines what "unprepared" means, other than, "does not meet my expectations and I don't know how to explain it."
I've got three penalties as mythical, one of which is historically so. Gentry's flinch was a clear mistake; those things happen, but a lot of them could be called "lack of discipline." Delay of game, illegal formation, that sort of thing, those are "discipline" plays. A big chunk of penalties took place on special teams (at least one of them was hogwash), and that has to be considered its own division.
PI and D-hold penalties usually come down issues with individual players or matchups. I'm perplexed at Hill and Long, who gave up a couple of legit calls on routes that they were winning last year. Holding, when it's not imagined on behalf of a tackled RB, also tends to be an issue of individual player performance.
Personal fouls vary.
September 30th, 2018 at 5:19 AM ^
Justify them however you like, 11 penalties is far too many no matter the circumstance
September 29th, 2018 at 10:43 PM ^
"on M 10th drive patterson started to look like himself"
that says it all.
You are much more positive and generous than I
This team was Not ready to play. Period.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:43 PM ^
Man, why do we have Lions syndrome in road games? We make the other team look like studs. Would be nice to walk into someone else's house well prepared and take control from the opening kickoff.
#BPONE
September 29th, 2018 at 10:46 PM ^
Yet another awful writer on this staff without the guts to honestly write about the terrible product on the field. Lemmings.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^
welcome to boringtown. population you.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:51 PM ^
Slow starts are going to bite them in the ass sooner rather than later and maybe multiple times. Coaches have to figure that out.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:43 AM ^
Everyone just needs to calm their dupa down. Fast starts on the road are something that we're keeping under wraps until the competition perks up. After all, if we show our hand now, then other teams would have a chance to prepare for our fast starts, now wouldn't they? Why does this even need to be explained????
September 30th, 2018 at 5:20 AM ^
We’ve been “saving our tricks for later” for about three or four years now
September 30th, 2018 at 8:00 AM ^
See last years OSU game and tell me that JH doesn’t save stuff for the big games. He thoroughly confused OSU with a superior game plan and would have beaten them if not for a QB who couldn’t execute. So yeah, JH has been known to hold stuff back on purpose.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
That's going to be a hell of a game when we unleash them.
Like the 2007 season Cap One Bowl when Lloyd unleashed all the tricks he was saving his entire career.
September 30th, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
LOL got a huge laugh out of me. My thoughts exactly!
September 29th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
I still have major concerns about our abilities on the road. But I also think Northwestern is not as bad as their record. They were a desperate and angry team coming off a bye week. So naturally Michigan was their next opponent.
By the way, Maryland is also currently off this weekend. WTF? Is there a rule this year where B1G teams get the week off before playing Michigan? And this is back-to-back weekends.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:41 AM ^
This year scheduler needs to be fired. So dumb. Also fire Delaney I hate that asshole.
September 30th, 2018 at 6:05 AM ^
NW's execution in the 1st half was outstanding. They came out with a lot more energy and focus than they had in their previous three games and we didn't match it. College football is different every week and that is why we love it so much. As an example, Clemson had to convert a 4th and 6 on their final drive to stay alive to win that game yesterday.
This was a good grind it out game and I will more than happily take the win. For those of you that don't like the product on the field, not every week will look like the Nebraska game. A lot of good will come from that win yesterday.
September 30th, 2018 at 6:58 AM ^
Clemson, at home, struggled with a Syracuse team that is not as good as NW. OSU had 83 total yards of offense at the half against Penn State. Penn State struggled with App State at home. Wisconsin lost at home to a BYU team that was just smoked by Washington. MSU hasnt looked good in any game yet this year. This blog gives a free pass to every one of those teams and hammers Michigan who completely dominated a decent team expected to be near the top 25 all year coming off a bye for the last 40 minutes of the game.
Lets keep some perspective here, folks. Michigan overcame adversity and showed fortitude. While Im still not impressed with Sheas QBing he showed he is a leader and dragged his offense along to a win. This is the type of game that builds champions.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:57 PM ^
Anyone who was there know what the sideline warning was for? It was like 2 plays in and wasn't on the TV.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^
The ref wasn't able to run along the sideline because the players were in the way.
September 29th, 2018 at 10:57 PM ^
A positive is that Shea was relatively upright the entire game.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:12 PM ^
Road games are always tough but it feels like since the Carr era Michigan is not the tougher, confident team it used to be on the road.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
Because the road opponents are a lot better now, due to scholarship limitations and every team being on TV now and recruiting accordingly.
September 29th, 2018 at 11:20 PM ^
I can’t believe I’m going to be That Guy, but the phrase is “eke out,” not “eek.”
September 29th, 2018 at 11:22 PM ^
Anyone watching the ohio PisSU game? ohio vulnerable to a mobile QB. PisSU vulnerable to the screen. M you watching tape?
September 29th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
PisSU loses on a play called by Pep. Not that I care about either team but 4th and 6 and you call that?
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