Michigan still basking in OSU win, Buckeye aftermath – ‘they even talked about devaluing The Game’
Michigan safety Quinten Johnson has seen a lot in his six years at U-M, having helped lead the Wolverines to the pinnacle of college football with a national title and three straight Big Ten championships. The Wolverines have taken a step back this season, but they were still able to pull out a 13-10 victory at Ohio State, perhaps the biggest upset in the modern era of the series.
Johnson and the rest of the defense were what did it for U-M. While the offense only mustered 13 points, it was enough thanks to an outstanding game plan from defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and some great play from every level of the defense.
“It was a great win for us through some tough circumstances throughout the year,” Martindale said. “I think we were really confident in the game plan. Our whole message all week was, ‘let’s take them to the deep end in the fourth quarter.’ We knew then we could take over the game defensively.
“I know there’s been a lot of speculation about this and that, but all credit to the players. The game always has been, always will be about them. I came out and put that on twitter because that’s what it was. We just physically outplayed them, and when your best players are playing their best, that’s when you have a lot of success. You saw that with Makari [Paige’s] hit on the quarterback [Will Howard] and Ernest [Hausmann’s] hit on the quarterback that was kind of hidden and no one saw because it was on a read sweep play. He got him pretty good. After that, he started getting a little nervous back there.”
That led to one of the best Michigan defensive performances ever in this series, especially given the explosiveness of the OSU offense. Johnson has seen a lot, but he didn’t expect the reaction they saw following the Wolverines’ fourth straight victory in the series.
“It was exciting,” he said with a grin. “Before the game it was exciting, during the game it was exciting, and after the game it was exciting. Any time you can go down to Columbus and get a ‘W’ … that’s just why you come to Michigan. I know they even talked about kind of devaluing the game —
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“They didn’t say it like that, but taking emphasis off the game, which in my opinion is not the best move because at the end of the day, those two teams know if you want to win championships you’ve got to win that game. It’s a little different now with the playoff, but we’ll see how this season ends.”
Michigan had to overcome a lot of obstacles to win at OSU besides just injured players … and there were many, including Colston Loveland on offense and Will Johnson on defense. Among them — a pass interference call on Johnson on which receiver Jeremiah Smith initiated contact by grabbing the facemask and not letting go.
“No. Never,” Johnson said when asked if he’d ever been flagged for that before. “Never.
“I wasn’t [surprised] because we were in Columbus. You kind of go into that environment [expecting it] … not to say anything about the refs, but playing in an environment where you can’t really count on anything.”
They’ll count on themselves against Alabama in Tuesday’s ReliaQuest Bowl, another chance to make some noise and end the season on a high note despite being shorthanded again.
