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Skip Myslenski provides one final look back at the Big Ten battle that ended with the score of Michigan 10, Northwestern 9, Saturday at Ryan Field.
Six minutes now remained in the game and the 'Cats trailed Michigan by four and, in front of him, the Wolverines were on the march. This is when Pat Fitzgerald called his offense together on the boundary. "He said hopefully the defense is going to hold them to no points," receiver Tony Jones later recalled. "But if they get the field goal, we're going to drive down the field, we're going to score and we're going to go for two."
"We already had our plan in place. We already knew what we were going to do," said Fitzgerald.
"I thought it was the right call," said quarterback Trevor Siemian. "Everybody was pumped about it. We were like, `Heck, yeah. We're going to win this thing.'"
Through much of this Saturday at Ryan Field, it looked as if no one would ever win this meeting between a pair of scuffling and struggling teams. For it was a slogfest more than a slugfest, a disjointed affair replete with errors and pratfalls and dominant defenses.
Here's Michigan, on offense, centering the ball off the armpit of receiver Devin Funchess, who was in motion in front of quarterback Devin Gardner. Here are the 'Cats, in punt formation, failing to handle a low snap and then shanking a 20-yard kick. Here's Michigan, on fourth-and-one, failing to convert, and here are the `Cats, in the same situation, doing the same.
That is how it went through much of this afternoon and here some numbers tell the story well enough. Justin Jackson, the 'Cats brilliant running back, netted just 35 yards on 17 carries and they, as a whole, netted minus-9 on 35. (Siemian was sacked five times, which resulted in that negative production.) "I think Michigan's pretty good. I think they're pretty good up front," Fitzgerald would say when asked about that lack of a ground game. "They've done that pretty much all year. Then obviously we didn't get any movement at the point of attack. So great job by them and no movement at the point of attack by us."
"Credit them," echoed Siemian. "They've got a good front seven. They've got an active front. We knew that coming in. But we didn't execute either. That doesn't help. If you've got a good defense and you're not doing your job, it's not a good thing."
Michigan, in turn, did manage a semblance of a rushing attack, netting 147 yards on 35 carries. But it managed just 256 yards of total offense (to the `Cats 264); its quarterback, Gardner, was wildly inconsistent while throwing two picks and completing less than 50 percent of his passes (11-of-24); and, as a whole, it managed to convert just one of 13 third-and-fourth down opportunities."That's a pretty darn good performance by our defense," said Fitzgerald. "That gave us a chance to win."
"We know we're capable of playing that type of game, playing a full game and shutout defense every game we play," said safety Ibraheim Campbell, who appeared for the first time since getting injured at Penn State "We put pressure on ourselves to do that and we were almost able to do that today. But not quite."
Still, in the belly of the third quarter, both defenses were yet pitching a shutout and now the Wolverines were forced to punt once again. They did that to Tony Jones, who until this moment had ably handled the return duties in place of the injured (and inactive) Miles Shuler. But here he fumbled and Michigan recovered and was set up with a first down at the `Cats 21. "I want to say when I came up to (the ball), I forgot to lock my elbows," Jones would later say.
"It was a very costly mistake. It was very unfortunate. I've got to be better. I take full responsibility for that play. Today's loss, that was a crucial play in the game. That really defined the outcome. It definitely hurts."
The Wolverines inflicted that hurt quickly, Gardner finding Funchess for 18 and De'Veon Smith picking up the final three for a touchdown, and now they carried that 7-0 lead into this one's final 15 minutes. The `Cats, in that third quarter, had netted minus-18 yards of total offense, but on their first possession of the fourth, they finally stirred themselves and responded.
They were pinned back here on their own one, hardly an enviable position, and on third down they still needed five for a first. Siemian got it, finding Tony Jones for 14 off of play action, and then he hit Kyle Prater for 19 more out to the 38. Suddenly the `Cat offense was alive, in rhythm, on the march, and now it had first-and-goal at the Michigan 10. But here, on first down, a fade to Prater in the right corner of the end zone failed; and, on second down, Siemian was nearly picked trying to hit Cam Dickerson while rolling left; and, on third down, the Wolverines max blitzed and Siemian was forced to dump off to Jackson, who was stopped at the four.
"Didn't have a lot of time. Probably should have thrown it up in the end zone and given our guys a chance. But I knew we needed a field goal to get something going," Siemian later explained, and here the `Cats did get that field goal, a 21-yarder from Jack Mitchell. That pulled them to within four with 7:26 remaining.
But here, in quick order, the Wolverines began to drive; Fitzgerald huddled with his offense and made his bold declaration; and the Wolverines finished off their drive with a field goal at 3:10 to go back up seven.
The `Cats had no timeouts remaining when they set up on their own 26 after the kickoff, but here Siemian quickly found superback Dan Vitale for seven and Prater for six. Now he missed Cam Dickerson. But, in the face of a blitz a play later, he found him for 13 and a first down at the Michigan 48. Then he hit Vitale for eight, and picked up one on a read option, and handed to Jackson for three and one more first down at the Michigan 36.
The clock ticked below 1:30 as he took the next snap and found Tony Jones, who collected it on the right boundary and skipped out-of-bounds after an eight-yard gain. Now 1:23 remained and he missed Mike McHugh on a back-shoulder throw. But then Jackson picked up six over the right side and the `Cats had another first, this one at the 22. Two plays later they were at the seven after an interference call on Wolverine corner Raymon Taylor, and two plays after that Siemian, from the right hash, threw a beauty to Tony Jones in the left corner of the end zone to pull the `Cats within one with the clock reading :03.
This was just had their coach had scripted it six minutes earlier, and now they were going for two, and Siemian accepted the snap and started to roll right. "If a guy was open in the flat, give it to him. Or if there was a guy coming, (go) back to the weak side," Fitzgerald would later say, explaining how this play was supposed to develop.
"It's a rub play and we've got to throw it back to the back side. (They) took away the rub when I looked backside and I slipped," Siemian would say, explaining what actually did happen.
He slipped. Trevor Siemian slipped and fell to the ground with Wolverine end Frank Clark hurtling at him and, just like that, this one was over. "We didn't score a lot of points," Fitzgerald soon said, explaining his decision to go for two. "So I felt like I'll take a one-play opportunity. Three yards. One play. Try to win a football game. Being aggressive."
"Had the game gone to overtime, we were playing well enough to go out there and get another touchdown," Tony Jones finally said. "But I definitely liked the call, going for two. I think that was a show of great courage, a lot of faith in our offense. Unfortunately it didn't work out for us."
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