Wolverine Watch: Michigan Comes Alive, Smacks MSU

By John Borton

Anyone declaring Michigan would go without a turnover, without a penalty, and with a wide-open playbook to rally and beat down Michigan State BEFORE it happened would have instantly become a straitjacket candidate.

That’s not what the Wolverines were about coming into their 24-17 spearing of the Spartans. Turnovers by the barrel, crushing mistakes, and a quarterback revolving door coming off the tracks marked Michigan’s 4-3 start. Nobody would have guessed Sherrone Moore’s crew would go under the lights in The Big House and …

Related
Game balls for Michigan
Scuffle with the Spartans

• Commit not a single turnover, compared to a crucial lost fumble by MSU.
• Not get flagged once all night, while the Spartans committed half a dozen penalties.
• Feature three effective quarterbacks — a thrower, a runner, and a big-moment Spartan slayer.

QB feats galore

Senior Davis Warren burst back out of the shadows, following an unceremonious benching after a turnover-plagued nonconference season. He connected on 13-of-19 throws for 123 yards and the touchdown that got the Wolverines going following a sloth-slow start.

Junior Alex Orji mixed in the way everyone had hoped he would at the start of the year, ripping off a 29-yard run on his way to a team-leading 64 on only six carries, including a touchdown.

Senior tailback Donovan Edwards unloaded just at the right time, heaving a 23-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Colston Loveland off a pitch, when the Wolverines (5-3, 3-2) desperately needed to put distance between themselves and the Spartans (4-4, 2-3).

Bottom line, it came together when it absolutely had to, for the Wolverines to avoid a third-straight Big Ten loss and hang a third consecutive defeat on the Spartans in their annual grudge match.

“It means a lot, especially because it’s a rivalry,” junior defensive tackle Kenneth Grant assured. “It just brings juice to our players. We were excited on the sideline, we were excited in the locker room. Whenever you get a win like this, you hope to keep them rolling.”

Slow-motion start

The Wolverines needed to get rolling in this one, or they were going to get rolled. They spent the first quarter looking all too familiarly feeble when MSU took a 7-0 lead that could have been worse.

The Spartans drove to Michigan’s 2-yard-line on the opening possession, only to come away empty on Jonathan Kim’s missed 25-yard field goal. The Wolverines went three-and-out, facilitating a start that saw them possess the ball for 1:29 of the game’s opening 14:50. The Spartans didn’t miss next time around, taking a 7-0 lead on Nate Carter’s 34-yard TD burst.

Michigan looked like it would carry the ineffectiveness into the second quarter. That’s when head coach Sherrone Moore got in some faces on the sidelines. He’s no stranger to Michigan’s offensive line, and they all experienced a reunion.

“I can’t say exactly what I said, if you get my drift,” Moore noted. “The message was, we weren’t playing to the standard we needed to — especially the offensive line. The precedent we set, wearing that helmet, wearing that uniform, there’s a standard. I didn’t feel like we were upholding that standard. I just challenged them. Challenged them to do that, at the highest level.

“You’re in the biggest game of the year right now, so it was our job to uphold the standard, and it starts up front. That was the message to them, and they responded.”

Michigan’s powerful response

They responded by scoring nine points in the final 29 seconds of the first half, coming to life in shocking fashion. Warren responded by floating a 10-yard TD toss to Loveland (6 catches, 67 yards, 2 TDs), pulling the Wolverines within a point when the extra-point try went awry. Grad edge and newly minted captain Josaiah Stewart then strip-sacked MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles (17-for-23, 189 yards, 1 TD), Grant smothering Chiles’ fumble and setting up junior placekicker Dominic Zvada for a 37-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the half.

Just like that, the Wolverines went from here we go again to not today, Sparty.

Warren talked about the emphasis on “the middle eight” — the last four minutes of the first half, and the first four of the second. Michigan absolutely owned them.

They took the second-half kickoff and drove 75 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown to make it 16-7. Orgi kicked things off with his 29-yard burst, then Warren threw for 23 yards on a flea-flicker. Orji finished the job, scooting in from 2 yards out.

After a Kim field goal, Edwards supplied the Spartan slap-down.

Wide-open and having fun

He took a pitch midway through the fourth quarter, rolled right, and fired a 23-yard TD pass to Loveland. The Spartans fought to come back, but Edwards’ unexpected bomb blew their hopes to bits.

“I thought it was awesome,” Moore said of Michigan’s wide-open approach. “I wanted our guys to play free, to have fun. The halfback pass? Donovan might have the best passing percentage of any quarterback to ever play at Michigan. He’s unbelievable when he throws the football. It was good to see those guys have fun.”

What’s it all mean? For Michigan, it’s another glimmer of hope that they can get some things right in a season that went off the rails early. The biggest tests ahead still seem like too much of a climb. But the Wolverines looked far less like they’d be climbing on one leg.

“Davis played well,” Moore stressed. “In the first half, he was 10-for-11, and it ended up being 13-for-19. He played well. He did some really good things. He missed a couple of passes he wants to have back, but my message to him was, FIDO — forget it and drive on. If he made a mistake, just keep pushing. I thought he did that.”

So did the Wolverines. They’ll need more, and soon. But for one night against an opponent they wanted to silence for 365 days, it was enough.