It didn’t matter what it looked like and didn’t matter how it happened, it just needed to happen.
Winless in the month of October, Michigan football got booed off the field by its home crowd midway through the second quarter after it failed to reach midfield on its first three drives, managing just 37 total yards to that point. But in the final moments of the first half, the Wolverines’ offense woke up.
Quarterback Davis Warren found Colston Loveland on a play-action touchdown pass with 29 seconds left in the half before Josaiah Stewart came up with a strip-sack of MSU’s Aidan Chiles 17 seconds later, recovered by Kenneth Grant, and Dominic Zvada hit a 37-yard field goal for the Wolverines’ first lead.
After being shut out for the first 29:31, U-M scored nine points to close the first half and rode the momentum into the second half as it outlasted rival Michigan State 24-17 under the lights at Michigan Stadium.
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“I can’t really say exactly what I said if you get my drift,” head coach Sherrone Moore joked postgame. “The message really was we’re not operating to the standard we needed to, especially the offensive line, the precedent we set wearing that helmet and that uniform, there’s a standard and I didn’t feel we upheld that standard.
“Challenged them to do that at the highest level, you’re in the biggest game of the year … and they responded.”
Warren got his first start since being benched Week 3 and though erratic at times, the former walk-on was largely calm and made plays. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 123 yards and one touchdown.
Most importantly, U-M did not commit a turnover or a single penalty after both issues had plagued the team in losses.
“As a team, a whole offense, we talked about ball security and not putting the ball in danger,” running back Donovan Edwards said. “The program is the ball and so the whole week we did ball security drills. … It’s been a proven record for us: If we don’t turn the ball over, we win the game.”
The rushing offense largely wasn’t great, running 30 times for 120 yards, but a huge 29-yard run from Alex Orji in the third quarter proved a key play, and he led U-M with six carries for 64 yards. The game appeared to change for good with 13:29 left, when Warren pitched the ball right to Donovan Edwards who waited, then lobbed a pass down field to Loveland beyond the deepest MSU defender for a 23-yard touchdown.
“Dono is like 5-for-5 now on his throws, so shoutout to Dono,” Loveland said. “But Davis, super proud of the way he stepped up … to do what we had to do to win the game, just super proud of him.”
But MSU responded. Chiles led the Spartans on a 13-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 7:08 and included multiple conversions on third-and-10 or longer, which included a 20-yard touchdown strike to Nick Marsh.
When the Wolverines got the ball back, they went three-and-out, giving MSU one last gasp. Chiles was flagged for intentional grounding which set up second-and-25, but MSU picked up 15, then 29 yards on a checkdown to Nate Carter, to get the Spartans near the U-M red zone.
The defense, which allowed MSU to convert nine of 15 third downs, finally forced a fourth down and Chiles couldn’t connect with a receiver in the end zone with less than 2 minutes left. Orji ran twice on the ensuing possession and picked up a first down on third-and-5 to virtually end the game.
“Super-efficient running the ball, being able to get that extra hat is huge,” Warren said of the different look Orji presents. “Credit to our O-line, they did great stuff when he was in there … I’m just so happy for AO. He got a touchdown, Dono got a touchdown and I got one, so that’s a pretty fun feeling.”
Michigan (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) will take on No. 1 Oregon next week at home (3:30 p.m, CBS).
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U-M led by two and faced third-and-8 early in the second half, when Warren found Semaj Morgan for a gain of 9 on a curl route. U-M then subbed Orji in on the next play; he bounced the run outside for a season-long 29-yard run before Warren came back in and found Tyler Morris for a gain of 23 on a flea-flicker.
Six plays later, Orji kept the ball on third-and-goal from the 2 when MSU appeared to be in a late substitution and ran in a touchdown, sprung by a Kalel Mullings block, to go up 16-7 with 9:49 in the third.
“We talk about that middle eight (minutes) all the time,” Warren said. “The last four minutes of rthe second and the first four of the third, especially when you get the ball out of half. … When you win that middle eight, you win the game 70 or 80% of the time.
“It was huge to be able to get in that two-minute offense, get in a rhythm and just roll.”
The Spartans didn’t do themselves any favors when the wrong man called for a fair catch on the next drive, so they had to start from their 5, but thanks to a 30-yard pass on third-and-2, they reached midfield. It was third-and-1 at the U-M 26, when Grant used a swim move to drop Carter for a loss and set up a Kim field goal from 46 yards to make it 16-10.
On the final play of the third quarter, Orji kept a ball up the middle but a targeting call on Jordan Turner set up a first down and got into MSU territory. After Warren found Kendrick Bell for a gain of 12 on third-and-3, U-M dialed up the trick play from Warren to Edwards to Loveland, and Loveland grabbed the 2-point conversion catch to go up 24-10.
The Spartans marched down the field on the opening possession, running into the teeth of the U-M defense, then catching Wink Martindale’s unit off-guard on screen passes to Nate Carter with six plays of 6 yards or more on the series.
MSU got it all the way to the 3 on second-and-goal, when Enow Etta stuffed a Kay’ron Lynch-Adams run. U-M then forced an incompletion on third-and-goal. After accepting a delay of game, MSU trotted on reigning special teams player of the week Jonathan Kim, but he missed a 25-yard chip shot wide right.
“Wasn’t no adjustments, just getting our pass sets in the game,” Grant said when asked what changed. “Glad they missed that field goal.”
Michigan’s offense failed to capitalize and went three-and-out, punting right back to MSU who again drove the ball. This time it was a nine-play, 62-yard march and, instead of kicking on fourth down inside the 2, MSU gave the ball to Nate Carter who hammered in the early touchdown.
By the end of the first quarter, MSU led 135-15 in total yards and had a 13:21 to 1:39 time of possession advantage.
After exchanging a few punts, MSU appeared poised to go into the break up a touchdown, but on third-and-6, Warren rolled right, threw across his body and found Morgan for a gain of 7 and a first down. The senior then picked up 15 yards to Peyton O’Leary and nine on an out-route to Loveland, before four straight Edwards carries set up second-and-8 and a play-action touchdown in the back left corner from Warren to Loveland.
U-M missed the extra point — Tommy Doman dropped the snap — and it was 7-6 with 29 seconds left, but MSU wasn’t content to go into the break. After a 14-yard first down run by Carter, Chiles dropped back to pass with 20 seconds left, rolled right and never felt the pressure off his backside.
Stewart hammered him, the ball came out and Grant fell on it, which set up a 37-yard Dominic Zvada kick with two seconds left to go up 9-7 into the break.
“Nah, I had to go down, I learned my lesson from last time,” Grant laughed when asked if he thought about a scoop-and-score after he recovered a fumble vs. USC only to fumble it back. “And we were in plus territory. … Points regardless, so just went down.”
