Lightning Strikes: Michigan 21, MSU 7

The single moment that defined Bo Schembechler's impact on the Michigan Wolverines football program occurred in his first year as coach, when he led his 7-2 Wolverines to the Upset of the Century over everybody's #1, Ohio State. That's the moment everybody knows. What nobody knew that day, and what few even know today, was the moment an hour or so before kickoff that set the tone for the afternoon.

Legendary coach Woody Hayes and his Buckeyes took over Michigan's side of the field for his team's pregame warmups. The Wolverine players knew what was happening as they emerged from the tunnel, and they awaited their coach's orders. Schembechler, plenty pissed off at the time, marched to midfield to confront his friend and mentor. In an all-too-courteous tone as he later admitted, Bo informed Woody that he was on the wrong side of the field and ordered him to move his squad back across midfield.

Bo's players saw their coach stand up to the bully and it inspired them. They went into the locker room for one of the most motivational speeches they'd ever heard before exploding through the tunnel to the thunderous cheers of over 100,000 fans. The rest, like I said, you know. The monumental upset led the rebirth of Michigan football, as the school won 11 conference championships in the next two decades. Bo ended up with a winning record against Woody, putting a close to the old man's career with three straight wins from 1976-78, 180 minutes of maize and blue heaven where the Buckeyes didn't so much as score a touchdown.

This past Saturday, a similar pregame skirmish may have energized the Wolverines to an electrifying 21-7 win at Spartan Stadium, sparked by a 79-yard thunderbolt from Shea Patterson to Donovan Peoples-Jones (see my pic). And it may have created the lightning rod for a return to greatness in Ann Arbor.

Two hours prior to Saturday's kickoff against in-state rival Michigan State, in a traditional team march borrowed from the military strategies of ancient Sparta, the Michigan State players locked arms from sideline to sideline and strode from one end zone to the other. One long green caterpillar slowly drifting along the playing surface.

Only thing was, some of the Michigan players had taken the field early to warm up. After all, it was the Michigan State game. The Spartans covered every inch of the field like a search crew in a meadow looking for a missing person, passing over and through the few players in their way. Coach Mark Dantonio walked behind his army with a satisfying smirk across his face, neither shocked nor disapproving of his team's antics.

Harbaugh called it "bush league", and it was. Dantonio called Harbaugh's comments "B.S.", and they were. Spartan players admitted that they "may have taken the field a little bit late" for their weekly ritual. They also claimed that the reaction by Michigan's Bush (linebacker and team captain Devin, who tore up the Spartan logo at midfield with his cleats) was childish. Right on both counts. Were the Spartans intentionally late for their pregame battle march so they could encounter and intimidate the Wolverines as they entered the field? The Big Ten Conference thought so, as they fined MSU $10,000 for their unsportsmanlike behavior. Were the Wolverine players on the field early to intentionally force an encounter? Hard to say that wasn't unsportsmanlike either.

Yes to all of the above, most likely. Why? Because it's a rivalry. None of any of it matters unless you emerge victorious. In the case of last Saturday's renewal, saying Michigan emerged victorious is a vast understatement.

The maize and blue continued the dominating style that crushed the Wisconsin Badgers' will to live the previous weekend, stifling a reasonably productive MSU offense on a day that featured a two-hour weather delay--for lightning, of course--and ended with a welcome sheet of hail across Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans ended the long afternoon with a mere 94 yards of total offense. They entered Wolverine territory exactly three times, only once to their own credit. Their only points came as a direct result of a fumble by Chris Evans in a third-quarter downpour which gave MSU the ball on Michigan's 7-yard line. Their final desperate drive was aided by 44 yards in Wolverine penalties including two personal foul calls. Yet even with all the charity, the Spartans turned the ball over on downs at the Michigan 40 with a minute left.

Shea Patterson led the way, again not just by arm but by foot. On the play that blew the lid off the contest he stepped back and fired a missile 30 yards downfield, hitting DPJ perfectly in stride along the far right sideline. The fleet wideout danced through the outstretched arms of Spartan safety Tre Person and sprinted untouched the rest of the way, assuming Paul Bunyan's pose on the trophy that would soon come home with the Wolverines. On the key play of Michigan's 84-yard drive that finished off the day's scoring, Patterson brilliantly faked a handoff to tailback Karan Higdon on fourth and two at the Spartan 41 and scooted around left end untouched for an 11-yard gain.

Perhaps the best Wolverine possession of all didn't even result in points. With 9:19 left and the Spartans reaching for the momentum that carried them to a last-minute come-from-behind win over Penn State in Happy Valley the week before, Michigan ran nine straight running plays, swallowing over six and a half minutes and pushing the nation's #1 rushing defense helplessly backwards across their home field. Higdon, tailback-turned-warrior whose number was called for eight of those plays, ended the day with 144 yards on 33 carries that broke the spirit of the Spartan faithful like Mike Hart and Chris Perry had years before, back when victory in East Lansing was expected if not assumed.

It was the kind of drive Mark Dantonio would appreciate, you know, were it not for his seething hatred for all things Michigan.

As Patterson snapped the ball in victory formation and touched one last knee to the turf, players stormed the field headed for the MSU sideline. They snatched the Paul Bunyan Trophy from the Spartans and did a victory lap with their well-earned trophy in hand. Mr. Bunyan was quickly outfitted with a blue block "M" ball cap, which was soon replaced with a winged helmet. And head coach Jim Harbaugh, butt of college football jokes from sea to shining sea, relished his first road win against a ranked opponent. In a building where he's never seen defeat, not as player nor coach.

MSU has still beaten Michigan 8 of their last 12 meetings. Were it not for a last-second blocked punt returned for a touchdown with no time remaining, however (a play with a 0.002% probability of success), Michigan would be sitting today with 3 wins in its last 4 meetings against MSU. Correctamundo. Bragging points for both at the moment. But on a day delayed by lightning, the electrically charged events before and during this year's installment may have signaled another turn in the rivalry.

Stakes will be drilled into the turf. Flags will be planted at midfield. Michigan and MSU band members will continue to stand guard at the Diag and the Sparty statue on game week each year. I even heard that back in the 1960s, a group of students from the agricultural school snuck onto Spartan Stadium a week before their nationally televised game and spelled out "BEAT STATE" on the natural grass surface in fertilizer.

Congratulations, Mitten. After more than a half century of shenanigans, you have the competitive rivalry on the field that you've always wanted.

As close as close can be

A football program does not have to be winning to be competitive. No one in America exemplifies that more than Eastern Michigan University's football team.

This past weekend the Eagles traveled to Kalamazoo and dropped a close 27-24 contest to directional rival Western Michigan, a fourth straight loss after a start that found the Eagles Michigan's only unbeaten FBS school. While a 2-4 record may leave some fans setting their countdown clocks for Midnight Madness at their school's basketball arenas, there's something different about this 2-4 record.

First, EMU has lost each of their last three games by exactly three points, the previous two in overtime. In their OT loss to San Diego State--the same San Diego State that just beat Boise State on the Smurf Turf--the Eagles passed up what may have been a winning 48-yard field goal (their kicker had just made a 51-yarder) and were stopped cold on a fourth-down plunge. In their triple-overtime loss to Northern Illinois, they forced a NIU fumble in the second extra possession and, knowing all they needed for victory was a field goal, climbed into a shell, basically using three downs to set up a kick that Chad Ryland ended up missing.

Second and most importantly, their loss quality has increased tremendously. Only an Eastern Michigan football fan can understand much less truly appreciate that point.

The 2018 Eagles have lost these four games by a grand total of 16 points, dating back to their 35-28 defeat on the road at Buffalo, who happen to sit atop the Mid American Conference with a 5-1 record. Even with all the heartbreak, the cornerstone memory of this season remains a 20-19 win against Purdue on a rainy afternoon at Ross-Ade Stadium, the school's second straight win against a B1G opponent.

Many may say a close defeat is still a defeat. They've likely not followed a team accustomed to being bludgeoned on a regular basis. Show me on the doll where your opponent beat you this week. But all that was prior to the school's signing of Chris Creighton as its football coach. The man charged with changing a losing tradition--his first road game was a 65-0 loss to the Florida Gators--may have needed a couple seasons for his message to gain a foothold, but he's made believers of his team and all who follow them.

Not since a 61-20 blowout at Missouri in September of 2016 have the Eagles lost by double digits. Of their 16 defeats since then, six of them have occurred in overtime.

Nothing better exemplifies Creighton's ride at EMU better than Saturday's game at Waldo Stadium. After holding the Eagles on their opening drive after a 4th and 1 run on their own 40-yard line, Western Michigan drove 60 the other way in the next 2:42 with little difficulty. When the EMU offense sputtered on its next possession, the atmosphere at Waldo Stadium had evolved into one of an expected rout.

To their suprise, this wasn't the Eastern Michigan they've known in the past.



They may not consistently be winning, but they're longer getting consistently blown out.

Rushing to judgement: Michigan 20, Northwestern 17

As the shadows grew long in Evanston, the Michigan Wolverines' modus operandi grew just as tired.

The Wildcats had stuffed the talent-rich Wolverine offense throughout the first quarter, limiting them to one first down and 23 hard-earned yards in three possessions. And when Northwestern power back John Moten ran it in from three yards out, Michigan found itself in familiar territory, down early and down big on the road.

One month ago in South Bend, the maize and blue ran through the tunnel with visions of overpowering an equally untested Notre Dame squad. With ten minutes gone in the second quarter they trailed 21-3, having gained exactly 100 yards of total offense in nearly half a game.

Sure, we could focus on the rest of what happened on Saturday. How the staunch Michigan defense closed the valve tightly on Northwestern for good, shutting them out the rest of the way. How quarterback Shea Patterson, with a newfound need for productivity, got productive to the tune of 20 points—the last 7 coming at the end of a six-minute, potential season-saving drive with Karan Higdon running the last five yards untouched for the deciding points. How the Wolverines turned a 17-0 hole into a courageous 20-17 win that ranks among the greatest comeback victories in school history.

Blah blah freakin' blah.

The point that must be moved into the lead position is the insistence from a coaching staff who finally has skill position options as vast as the field is wide, to keep it on the ground first and foremost. Michigan has run twice for every pass attempt in every game since their opening week loss to Notre Dame, when after six rushes in their first seven offensive plays they trailed 14-0 and had no choice but to open things up. "We must establish the run" was once a sexy phrase when uttered by the Bos and Woodys of the day, when four out of five times the likelihood of success for one of the "Big Two" against one of the "Little Eight" wasn't ever in doubt.

Yet in the era of checks and audibles and read offenses, those could be the final words of a soon-to-be-departing coach. What Michigan's stubborn addiction to the strategies of yore has done is given weaker opponents a shot at playing the odds and pulling off an upset, while giving their strongest opponents (read: the rivals they can't seem to beat) a can't-miss game plan. Coach Harbaugh might as well send opposing coaches copies of the U-M playbook.

Then again, he doesn't really have to. Is there a more predictable offense in the entire B1G than Michigan's? With 28 first down plays on Saturday, the Wolverines ran the ball 21 times. It helps explain why Michigan gained less than 200 yards of total offense despite possessing the ball for nearly 35 minutes. It also explains how Northwestern could stay in the game until the final seconds.

Mostly, it exemplifies an offense that knows it can fall back on its defense to cover for any and all shortcomings. Led by Chase Winovich and The Man Every Offense Runs Away From, Rashad Gary (see my pic), the crew that remains the hallmark of the Jim Harbaugh era once again answered the call, holding the Wildcats to 97 yards of offense in the final three quarters and reclaiming familiar territory of its own as the nation's #1 overall defense.

As was the case last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, the Wolverines approach the season's halfway mark with the table still set for them. The Notre Dame defeat that looked so crushing a month ago is now viewed through objective optics a seven-point road loss to an unbeaten top-10 rival, a rival who toyed with formerly unbeaten and #7-ranked Stanford 38-17 this past weekend. And while they dropped a spot to #15 in the AP poll, assuming they take care of business at home against Maryland this Saturday they are a three-game run through #16 (Wisconsin), #20 (Michigan State) and #11 (Penn State)—all without leaving the state—from being right in the thick of things as a hot 8-1 contender. Two winnable games away from an all-or-nothing battle in Columbus.

To those of us who know better, however, this has an odor reminiscent of Wolverine football version 2017. A team who looked so impressive in August, yet seemed to simply survive games they should have won easily—an overtime decision over Indiana, a lackluster win at Purdue, sluggish performances against heavy underdogs Cincinnati and Air Force.

And to the select few of us who've acquired a nose for vintage Harbaugh football, the scent of impending defeat is unmistakable. Since 2015 the Wolverines are 15-2 during September but just 17-10 after, including three straight losses at the end of last season and three Ls in four games to close out 2016.

It's one thing for a team to dare another to stop them on the ground when they don't have a shaky offensive line. Michigan may be able to get away with it against the Northwesterns of the world. But four outstanding defensive fronts remain on the schedule, each every bit as good as the one who took the Wolverines apart on week 1 if not better.

As a result, schools who otherwise have little chance of victory identify your inescapable mindset, stack the box and dare you not to run. Unable to help yourself, you ignore the single-coverage mismatches on either side and pull your tight ends close, shifting into I-formation to bang helmets once again in hopes of pushing the pile forward.

It's football's equivalent of the infield shift. One soft little grounder to third and and a left-handed hitter can run the bases. But if you're Victor Martinez, you can't help but drive it sharply toward the sea of gloves. All the while thinking to yourself, "We must establish the pull!"