Wolverine Watch: Michigan Pulls A Shocker

By John Borton

Incredible. Stunning. Unfathomable. Breathtaking. Throw all the adjectives you want at it, Michigan’s 13-10 win over No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus absorbs them all and calls for more.

They always talk about 1969 as the most unbelievable upset ever over the Buckeyes. Throw 1995 in there, or even 2021. Those games were played in The Big House, before thunderous fans bedecked in maize and blue. This one unfolded before 106,005 Michigan haters, in a shivering ‘Shoe full of scarlet, most spitting constant invective at the Wolverines, and some just plain spitting.

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The team that pulled it off won’t be competing for the national championship, or a Big Ten title. It came away from Columbus 7-5, leaving Ohio State (10-2) wondering when its beloved Buckeyes will ever take down Michigan — and perhaps wondering if Ryan Day will ever get the chance.

Day reportedly told his team four years ago it was going to “Hang 100” on the then-lowly Wolverines. Four years and four losses later, the Buckeyes are still trying to get there — collectively. They’ve racked up a combined 84 points and four big Ls in a row, two in the ‘Shoe. When Day insisted he’d come out to speak after leaving “devastated” players in the locker room, he wasn’t kidding.

Hail to the nutcrackers

In the visitors locker room, “The Victors” rang out like the Wolverines were headed to a second straight national championship.

And why not? This transition year has been packed with disappointments, swings and misses, and too many tears along the way. Winning in Columbus, when nobody outside of Schembecher Hall thought you had a chance? Live it up.

“It’s hard to really put into words what it means to this group,” offered senior quarterback Davis Warren (9-for-16, 62 yards, 2 interceptions). “We talk about it 365 days a year. We’ve talked about it since I’ve been here. Coach [Jim] Harbaugh started it, Coach [Sherrone] Moore kept it going. This game means everything to us.”

Michigan’s defense meant everything to victory. Ohio State rumbled into what oddsmakers predicted as a three-touchdown blowout averaging over 500 yards of offense and more than 45 points a game. The Buckeyes hit a brick wall in their own building, finishing with 252 yards of offense (77 on the ground) and a measly 10 points. OSU quarterback Will Howard (19-for-33, 175 yards, 1 TD, 2 interceptions) got driven from the game briefly by a Buckeye-jangling hit from Michigan senior safety Makari Paige, who later picked off a Howard pass at the most opportune moment.

Defense stands tall in anxious moments

After the teams played to a 10-10 halftime tie, they spent the entire third quarter in Michigan territory — just not the end zone. Paige’s pickoff derailed one would-be touchdown drive, and Jayden Fielding’s miss on a 34-yard field goal attempt ensured the Buckeyes’ second half would prove as pointless as Day’s bravado about OSU toughness.

“As a defense, as a team, we are tougher than them,” Paige stated flatly afterward. “Yeah, that’s how I feel.”

“They showed toughness,” Warren said of his teammates. “Everyone that was out there showed toughness. It’s what these games come down to, and it showed in the final score.”

Banged-up grad tailback Kalel Mullings (32 carries, 116 yards, 1 touchdown) showed all kinds of toughness. His rugged runs carried the Wolverines again and again down the stretch. Buckeye killer Donovan Edwards — the senior who slayed the dragon with his breakaway touchdown runs two years ago — wasn’t coming to the rescue. He’d already been driven from the game by injury.

So Mullings, Michigan’s offensive line, and a rock-solid defense slowly began squeezing the life out of the Buckeyes down the stretch, setting up the game-winning field goal.

Michigan Man Mullings mows ’em

“Really unbelievable,” Warren said. “Super-human from Kalel, especially on that third-down, being able to shake a guy off and really just wanting it more. That’s what it came down to. He wanted it more.”

Ohio State wanted it as well, for sure. The Buckeyes had a berth in the Big Ten championship game on the line. They were putting a stranglehold on a coveted top-four position in the College Football Playoff. Oh, they wanted it, all right.

But Michigan took it, despite struggles of their own, including an end-zone interception Warren threw from point-blank range.

They took it when junior placekicker Dominic Zvada drove home a 21-yard field goal with only 45 seconds remaining, hitting the game-winner as calmly as Scottie Scheffler knocking in a six-inch putt.

“I felt really calm,” insisted Zvada, who’d earlier boomed home a 54-yard field goal to stake the Wolverines to a 10-3 second-quarter lead. “I just felt really good, especially going into that last kick — I just knew I was going to put it through. As cocky as that sounds, you’ve got to be confident. I’ve been kicking pretty good this season.”

Kicking the Buckeyes out

Never better than in the biggest moment of his kicking career, with roughly 100,000 wads of chewing tobacco ready to be swallowed whole.

Michigan just beat Ohio State, in a season featuring its most losses since Harbaugh came to town to restore the program. It won’t be losing five games again anytime soon. It’s about to load up with hugely skilled performers, tweak the coaching staff and enter into coming Ohio State showdowns with overwhelming toughness and talent. While fielding taunts from badgering Buckeyes in the week leading up to this one, we slipped in a little warning: Get Michigan while you can.

They didn’t get Michigan. They got no gold pants for beating the Wolverines, and the pants they did have were whisked down around their ankles in 27 degrees by a gritty U-M effort.

“When we gathered up in the fourth quarter, I told everybody, ‘Listen,’” Moore recalled. “‘Listen to the sound,’ and there was nothing. We knew at 10-10, we had ‘em. That was the goal. We wanted to just keep them on the ropes, keep fighting, and our guys did that. It wasn’t about what anybody else thought. We didn’t talk about belief. We just talked about trust — trust in each other, trust in yourself, trust in what you can do, and go win the game.”

Planting a flag, and a dagger

They did just that. In the aftermath, they planted a Michigan flag into the turf at The ‘Shoe. Incensed Buckeyes came after it, and a brief melee ensued. A desperate attempt to win something, after the Wolverines etched the real victory in the books.

“We’re going to win in your house, and we’re going to plant the flag,” Warren said. “You should have done something about it.”

“We had 60 minutes to fight on the field, and now people want to fight after the game,” Mullings observed. “I didn’t like it.”

He loved everything else. Mullings and his teammates brought the fight where and when it belonged. On the verge of a winter season in which Michigan looks to lay the foundation for a quick return to the top, this sendoff couldn’t have been better.