Michigan's football upset over Ohio State means everything for the Wolverines

It was a game that changed nothing and yet everything. A statistical dud, but an emotional supernova nonetheless. An unforgettable performance, but an unforgettable afternoon that catapulted a first-year Michigan coach named Sherrone Moore into the company of another first-year Michigan coach named Bo Schembechler, who 55 years ago had been told by everyone there was no getting ahead Earth, his Wolverines could beat the top-ranked Buckeyes.

Then wrong. Now wrong.

Michigan 13, Ohio State 10.

Rub your eyes. We’ll wait.

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“You’re talking about a tough performance from a lot of guys! I love these guys!” Moore gushed to a Fox reporter after the biggest upset in decades of this storied rivalry. “That’s why you come to Michigan!”

Well, maybe not to see 62 total yards of passes, or two interceptions in the red zone, or an offensive game plan that often looked like it was drawn up with a ruler. But beating Ohio State when no one says you can? Absolutely, that’s why you come to Michigan.

And that’s exactly what happened on Saturday. On a refreshingly cold afternoon, when Ohio State was 10-1 and the No. 2 team in the nation and Michigan was 6-5 and somewhere between “Why” and “Both?”, the Wolverines marched like the wildest in Columbus Cash item.

Simply. Not. Impressed.

The Wolverines shut down an Ohio State offense that had averaged five touchdowns per game and held it to 10 points. Time and time again, Ryan Day’s team tried to run into the mouth of the Michigan defense, and time and time again the Wolverines beat them back, stifling a high-powered rushing attack to just 77 yards and demoralizing it with every forced punt.

The only lead OSU had was 3-0 in the first quarter. When Michigan turned a great interception by Aamir Hall into a short-field touchdown with 12:37 left, they never trailed again.

Never tracked again? THAT Michigan team? Against THAT Ohio State team?

That’s pretty much what they’re saying in Columbus right now.

Maybe with a few more $%#@# curse words.

Rub your eyes.

Bad place to party

This highly unlikely victory was marred by a scuffle immediately afterward as the victorious Michigan players carried a UM flag to the center of the field and placed it in the turf. Angry OSU players charged in full force, resulting in numerous wrestling, hitting and tackling moments that were ugly, unnecessary and unworthy of a rivalry that has stood the test of time.

At one point, Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer appeared to rip the UM flag off the pole and throw it to the ground.

A terrible coda to a great afternoon.

“When you have a great game like that, you hate to see something like that after the game,” Kalel Mullings told FOX Sports. “It’s bad for sports, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people have to learn how to lose, man. You can’t fight and stuff just because you lost the game.”

“We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to fight all this and now people want to talk and fight. This is wrong, it’s just bad for the game, classless in my opinion. People need to be better.”

True, but that also includes the Michigan players who could have run to the locker room and celebrated with each other instead of trying to raise a flag that would lead to trouble.

Too bad. Because the Wolverines should have waved their victory and Mullings should have talked about his performance. He carried the ball 32 times for 116 yards, which no one would call a great average, but everyone should call brave.

He repeatedly penetrated the OSU defense, eating up time on the clock and getting Michigan close enough for two Dominic Zvada field goals, one from 54 yards and the game-winning one from 21 yards out, all under one minute before the end of the game.

Those field goals, along with two missed goals from Ohio State kicker Jaden Fielding, made the difference on the scoreboard.

But not the difference in the game.

Michigan’s mind game

No, the difference in this game was belief. Michigan had every reason to believe it couldn’t compete against its archrival this year. His old coach, Jim Harbaugh, was gone. This also applied to his coordinators. The quarterback position was a merry-go-round of problems. His best offensive player, Colston Loveland, was out due to injury. His best defensive player, Will Johnson, was also injured. This year they had already lost five of eleven games

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes had been waiting for this moment for 364 days, seething and seeing red after three straight losses to the Wolverines. The game took place in Columbus. The fan base was on fire. Michigan, a 19.5-point underdog, couldn’t name anything on paper that gave it a real advantage.

But the game is not played on paper. It’s not really played on grass either. It plays on the gray matter, the kind between your ears. If you believe in yourself and have done it before, the combination can lift you physically to unimaginable heights.

Likewise, even ordinary excellence can wither when fear overwhelms you. For most of the game, Ohio State seemed to be playing it safe — if not scared. The Buckeyes repeatedly ran against the Michigan line, the strongest element of the defense. They seemed shy about opening up the passing game on the outside edges where they should have had a big advantage.

Her own mistakes haven’t helped her confidence. Quarterback Will Howard threw a bad interception from his own 4-yard line early in the game that led to a Michigan touchdown. He threw another pick in the third quarter when the Buckeyes were deep in Michigan territory.

That was probably playing in his head on the Buckeyes’ final drive, with only 45 seconds left and no timeout, trailing by three.

The wheels fell off the bus here. Instead of a sharp, calm, quick-hitting passing attack to march downfield and score a tying field goal, Howard and Ohio State were chased, harassed, threw three incompletions and gained a paltry yard in four plays.

They turned the ball over on downs.

One meter? Ohio State?

Rub your eyes.

Moore’s shining moment

How great is this for Moore, who has battled doubters most of the year? Not to mention losing an army of top players to the NFL Draft, losing another host to injury and inheriting a quarterback room left embarrassingly empty by Harbaugh, who had his eyes on other horizons.

Most UM fans had resigned themselves to a 6-6 finish this year, a minor bowl game and the infuriating sight of Ryan Day celebrating his return to OSU dominance.

Instead, Moore delivered the sharpest exclamation point since Schembechler’s team beat the Buckeyes 24-12 in 1969, when Ohio State was No. 1 and had won 22 in a row.

But this game was in Ann Arbor. The fact that this is possible in Columbus puts Moore in a special category. And probably makes winter and spring a lot happier for men.

The same cannot be said for Day, who was heavily criticized on social media just minutes after the game and Buckeye fans were calling for his firing. Day himself has basically said he lives and dies with this rivalry, and four straight years of losing it won’t go down well anywhere in Ohio.

But that’s why they play the games. Who would have thought that this game would have featured two bad interceptions by both teams, two missed field goals, a 77-yard drive lasting more than six minutes with no score, and OSU’s final four downs gaining a single yard?

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Michigan’s football upset over Ohio State means everything for the Wolverines

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