Ohio State 31, Michigan 20
[Patrick Barron]
Michigan did not lack opportunity, or talent, or coaching. They just lacked a quarterback.
The Wolverines jumped out to a 14-0 lead, held Ohio State to negative-six yards in the first quarter, got 5.5 yards per carry out of their running backs, and had receivers running wide open through the Buckeye secondary all afternoon. The defense forced JT Barrett to be a one-dimensional runner, kept OSU's star quarterback under constant pressure, and eventually knocked him out of the game with an apparent knee injury.
With Brandon Peters and Wilton Speight watching in street clothes, however, John O'Korn missed far too may of those open receivers. When including sacks, O'Korn averaged only 4.1 yards per dropback. His only turnover came at the worst possible time. With 2:47 on the clock and Michigan down four points after a missed Buckeye field goal, Kekoa Crawford settled down underneath OSU's safeties for what could've been a significant first down. O'Korn read the play differently and chucked a deep ball directly to OSU's Jordan Fuller.
"It was an option route," said O'Korn. "[Crawford] did the right thing. It's all on me."
[Eric Upchurch]
There were plenty more reasons the Wolverines lost. The second quarter featured a momentous change in fortune when Josh Metellus let an easy inteception fall through his hands; two plays later, JT Barrett—with, perhaps, an assist from whatever official was in charge of watching Mo Hurst—scrambled 21 yards to make it 14-7.
Michigan's ensuing drive ended with a 23-yard change in field position after an illegal formation penalty negated their first attempt at a punt. KJ Hill returned the next one to midfield—again, with a potential penalty overlooked—and Barrett needed only three plays to tie the game on a 25-yard pass to Marcus Baugh.
The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, though Ohio State took a one-point edge thanks to a blocked extra point. That loomed large when Sean Nuernberger hit a 44-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. It loomed less large when O'Korn threw the interception.
With an average quarterback performance, Michigan wins this game. The gameplan couldn't have reasonably been better; any criticism of Harbaugh or the coaching staff about this game can be mocked with impunity. When it came down to it, Harbaugh couldn't throw the ball for his quarterback, and that proved to be the difference.
"The hardest part for me is you come here to win this game for the senior class and we couldn't do it," O'Korn said with tears in his eyes, before again putting the blame on himself. "It's the worst feeling in the world."
Better days are ahead. This one's still going to sting for a while.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:58 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:06 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:59 PM ^
He may consider jumping off of a building, but you have surely jumped the shark. Calm the fuck down!!
November 25th, 2017 at 6:00 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:19 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:36 PM ^
Wow, that's just blatantly inappropriate. You need to take a step back from the keyboard and take some deep breaths. Maybe yoga or something. Jeez.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:42 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:37 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
I know Harbaugh-bashing is popular now, but we can't put the blame on him. The game plan was beautiful, and they could've actually won this game.
O'Korn, for some reason, overthrew wide open receivers or didn't throw to them at all. Harbaugh can only do so much.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:25 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:36 PM ^
I was rooting for O'Korn.
Down by 4 points. About 2.5 minutes left in the Game.
It would have been a wonderful underdog/comeback, final 2-minute drill story.
Alas, that interception...
*sigh*
Hope he's ok.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
I was pumped up for what should have been the last drive with 2.5 minutes left. It's what makes this rivalary great. Last drive TD.
Sadly it went by way to fast! O'korn really blew it, and he clearly was shaken up in the post game press conference. I feel bad for him as he probably played the best he could. He just wasn't the right QB for the job.
November 25th, 2017 at 6:29 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:36 PM ^
With just competent QB play we win last year and this year. Still, that was poor even for 3rd string. I do feel bad for O'Korn because you can tell he wanted it so bad, but he's mentally fragile under pressure. But the other 21 positions on the field we were better. Again.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:36 PM ^
What happened to Solomon? He started and then it was Mone the rest of the way. I thought a lot of the bleeding yardage in the second quarter was on Mone, unfortunately.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
Great recap, especially considering how fresh the sting feels. I'm tired of seeing the other team make the plays to win the competitive games. I am still hopeful for the bowl game with a competent quarterback. I am still hopeful for the future. I still want it now.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
They called a great game, the defense played well enough, and at the end of the day they had to rely on their third string QB who was incapable of throwing a rock into the ocean.
To me, there’s nothing there to sting. This is just another loss to OSU in an unfortunate long string of them going back almost two decades now.
Next year is going to be a better team, this should be the last season in a while we see terrible QB play, there’s a lot to feel good about. Next season’s schedule is rough, but it should be a good team with some tough challenges. And with the way the CFP works, even two-losses on a tough schedule is still (mostly) fine.
And not to be the guy to tell others how to feel, but if this one stings hard it’s because you were expecting a duck to be an eagle, and that’s on you, man.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
Heading into the game, I was expecting to lose convincingly. This stings because it was clear during the game that we had a real good chance of taking them down and only got foiled but less than mediocre QB play. As a result, the expected result stings
November 25th, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^
Can someone, anyone explain to me how the defense played well?
I mean, I get they had a nice first quarter. But overall, how is giving up 20 points to a back-up QB playing well? How is giving up down 4 playing well?
November 25th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
Held OSU to 350 total yards, 200 under their season average. Held them to 24 points with 2:47 left in the game. Got the offense the ball back with an opportunity to go win the game. The defense played very good, well enough to win the game.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
They were shredded on four straight drives by a back-up QB. The only reason they got the ball back for the offense was because OSU missed a field goal. They gave up when it was still 24-20.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:09 PM ^
They gave up after the interception when there was less than 2 minutes left.. They played very well today and I don't know what to tell you if you can't see that.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:15 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
The defense played very well and also I think it's just fucking dumb to suggest they "gave up." All the kids played their asses off and aside from the QB play Michigan was the better team and should have won the game.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:05 PM ^
This year stung because my team is up 14 at home, at which point the defensive back drops an easy interception, and I think "Shit, Michigan is going to lose to the Ohio State University aagain, aren't they?" And that turns out to be correct.
I hope you guys saying rosey things about Harbaugh are right. But what I saw from the offensive line and from the other quarterbacks was not encouraging. I suspect some assistants will be shuffled around, and if that's the case, I hope the corporate spin is ignored.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:27 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^
Well, first, the specific. You are completely ignoring context. Yes, it's ten years with one really good (or really lucky) year in there. But since Harbaugh took over, we are 10-3, 10-3, and 8-4. These seasons would have been pretty unremarkable seasons under Lloyd or Mo -- there were only 2 times in their combined runs where we had more than 10 wins in a season, and there were 7 seasons with 4 loses. In a fairly real sense, Harbaugh already has the team back where it was under those guys.
So, yeah, so during Harbaugh's three years we lost to OSU, which SUCKS. But if you look at the games, each time OSU had a top ten team. We got blown out the first year. Last year we literally came within a play. This year we walked in there with the youngest team we are likely to have any time in the foreseeable future, with multiple key injuries on top of that. We then sustained multiple additional injuries in the course of the game. And we still had the ball with a very real chance to take back the lead with 2:45 left in the game.
If you look at that and all you take away from it is "we lost three times in a row to OSU"..... wow.
Then there's the big picture. I've seen soul-crushing things, and if anything, I've been lucky in this life. One good friend's wife died of pneumonia, leaving him the single parent of an elementary school-aged kid. Another friend was taken by cancer, leaving three school-aged children behind. There's the parents whose kids have major learning disabilities that mean there's a pretty good chance they will never be able to live independently. That stuff? That's soul-crushing.
My alma mater losing to their archrivals? When it's close, we played hard, and we could have won? Yeah, that stings. It's annoying exactly BECAUSE WE COULD HAVE WON. It is not even vaguely close to soul-crushing or numbing.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:40 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:40 PM ^
angery.
angery
November 25th, 2017 at 4:40 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^
Steve I have to agree with your assessment on the D here. Haskins was never forced to punt and that was THE most frustrating part of this game.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
Maybe go with a zone? Disguise some coverages? Nice thing about a zone there is you keep the play in front you with d-backs looking toward the QB. Of we may have had some inexperience in the secondary due to injuries - i need to go back and check.
November 25th, 2017 at 5:33 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
remember Michigan playing zone in the first half on one particular play that should have been a TD if not for Barrett making a bad throw and Long doing a good job at hustling to help break it up. Maybe that had something to do with it.
For what it's worth, I saw a poster complaining that Michigan was playing zone.
November 25th, 2017 at 6:52 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
Kugler and Cole gone from the offensive line will make the offensive line just more offensive next season.
Mone, Winovich and Hurst gone from the defensive line will be a very difficult situation.
November 25th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
November 25th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
Do you know what you are watching when you watch OL play? Cole continues to grade out very high on PFF. He will be missed.
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