Brian Fischer
College football writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh as the head coach of its alma mater, expectations were firmly set to take the program to the college football playoffs and return to a level playing field in The Game against Ohio State.
It took a little longer than expected, but the former Wolverines quarterback can confidently tick both boxes after delivering a coaching masterpiece under clear skies at the Horseshoe – upsetting the Buckeyes 45-23 on Saturday to give the Wolverines their first winning streak over their rivals in 22 years.
In the process, Corn and Blue locked up the Big Ten East for the second straight season, advanced to Indianapolis for the conference title game and likely made plans for a semifinal berth in late December.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Harbaugh said. “I knew the team was focused and determined as they have been all season. It’s a dressing room for heroes.”
The Buckeyes’ opening script, however, belied the final score and appeared to have undergone an offseason of revisions to arrive at the perfect set of plays to set the tone early. CJ Stroud (31 for 48, 349 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) threw his first pass straight to the Wolverines bench, but bounced with pinpoint accuracy the rest of the way, finding Marvin Harrison Jr. along the line sideline for a tight rope grab before Emeka Egbuka later fired a touchdown from behind the end zone to cap the 12-play, 81-yard effort.
CJ Stroud strikes!
Ohio State’s CJ Stroud finds Emeka Egbuka for the 4-yard TD to give the Buckeyes the first 7-0 lead.
Injury concerns were front and center as Michigan responded with a 10-play opener that ultimately ended with a 49-yard field goal from Jake Moody. Tailback Blake Corum started the game and recorded two yards on his first rush, but the Heisman contender clearly wasn’t 100% after injuring his left knee against Illinois at left in the week and not didn’t play the rest of the way. The junior wore a bulky brace on his leg while substitute Donovan Edwards sported a heavy wrap on his injured left hand – something that didn’t seem to stop Edwards much on his way to 216 yards and a long touchdown run to freeze the play in the Fourth.
Noah Ruggles then added a basket to help extend the lead just as both defenses began to tighten in the first half. But McCarthy responded just when things seemed to falter midway through the second quarter, avoiding an all-out blitz to deliver an outside strike to Cornelius Johnson, who looped around Cameron Brown corner and dodged another tackle to run 69 yards for a draw. touchdown that delighted the corn and blue pockets at Ohio Stadium.
JJ McCarthy hits Cornelius Johnson for a 75-yard TD to take the game’s first lead
Michigan Wolverines QB JJ McCarthy hits Cornelius Johnson for a 75-yard TD to take the game’s first lead against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ruggles netted a 47-yard rush on the next drive, but Johnson and McCarthy were back in response, the first wide-open stream with no man in sight for a 75-yard trip to the end zone and Michigan’s first lead with just more five minutes before halftime.
Unfortunately for Harbaugh’s team, it lasted 91 seconds. Stroud began to prepare a response, chatting and diving on the field before finding Harrison along the right sideline for a 42-yard touchdown pass that put the 106,787 present at the Horseshoe on their feet and ignited .
Michigan ended up messing up its last practice of the first half, but got it right on the break, starting the third quarter with a seven-play, 75-yard effort that went almost entirely to the legs and McCarthy’s arm. The Wolverines quarterback found Colston Loveland with a touchdown from 45 yards to regain the lead.
“We knew [McCarthy] could throw a few shots under pressure,” noted Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. “He played well when needed.
“He was just on fire in every way – throwing the ball, running the ball,” Harbaugh said. “So focused and determined. This was a team that was focused and determined.”
The middle eight-minute streak fully encapsulated how the game swung into corn momentum. The Buckeyes, who started the game 4-for-4 on third down, didn’t convert another until the final quarter while McCarthy, who was initially 3 of 10 for 48 yards that day, went on to hit seven of his next eight. pass and also scored all three long touchdown throws.
The signalman, who was initially part of a battle under center at the start of the year but given the task of winning games like this, then put the exclamation mark with a dip in the end zone. It capped a 15-play, 80-yard touchdown walk that silenced the ‘Shoe and pulled 7:58 off the clock as the scoreboard elapsed in the final frame amid the winter sun setting. Edwards added two more on long TD runs to help twist the knife.
Michigan’s JJ McCarthy rushes in for a 3-yard touchdown
Michigan’s JJ McCarthy rushes in for a 3-yard touchdown to extend the Wolverines lead.
“It was a tough loss,” said OSU defensive lineman JT Tuimoloau. “We got injured there today.”
The fallout from the contest can be as intriguing for losers as it is for winners.
Ohio State does not plan to drop too far in the eyes of the selection committee, but they will still need help if the Buckeyes want a repeat of 2016, when they lost the Big Ten East but still made the Playoffs. No. 8 Clemson fell to South Carolina in a result that helps the Big Ten’s case bring two teams in, but No. 6 USC remains a threat to make the four-team group heading into the final stretch of the Trojans against Notre Dame and in the Pac-12 Championship game.
If No. 1 Georgia does end up beating No. 5 LSU in the SEC title game, however, things could get interesting on draft Sunday, regardless of what No. 4 TCU does the rest of the day. way into the Big 12.
Regardless of the larger machinations surrounding the playoff image, the way things played out on Saturday will have far more local repercussions in Columbus.
Does the Big Ten go through Ann Arbor instead of Columbus after Michigan’s win over Ohio State?
RJ Young, Mike Weber Jr. and Chris Howard on “Live Tailgate Presented by Wendy’s” debated whether the Big Ten should come through Ann Arbor now.
Not only did Michigan beat their rivals back-to-back for the first time in more than two decades, but the in-game decisions and lopsided final scores of the past two years are sure to put additional pressure on head coach Ryan Day. .
He and the coaching staff had the entire offseason to simmer Harbaugh’s comments that Day was born on third base taking over the Buckeyes program when he did, and Day apparently didn’t have of response on the field as the Wolverines won in Columbus. for the first time since 2000.
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Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has covered college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets including NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
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