8-Sports

8A — Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

“They played their guts out,” said 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. 
“We played winning football, over-
came so much … we messed up that 
play at the end.

“(I) told them to have resolve, put 

steel in their spines, and we’ll move 
forward.”

For much of the game, little went 

right for the 12th-ranked Wolver-
ines (2-1 Big Ten, 5-2 overall). Few of 
the eight reviews were overturned 
in their favor, and they lost one of 
their captains, senior linebacker Joe 
Bolden, to ejection following a con-
troversial targeting call.

But still, behind strong per-

formances on special teams and 
defense, Michigan never trailed and 
was about to hold off the Spartans 
for a 23-21 win.

That is, until the last play.
In a play that will be remembered 

in the state of Michigan for genera-
tions, O’Neill’s frantic fumble was 

recovered by safety Jalen Watts-
Jackson with 10 seconds left. A 
swarm of Spartans protected the 
redshirt freshman as he scrambled 
38 yards into the end zone and 
Michigan State lore.

Though the game grew more 

hectic by the quarter, it began as a 
prototypical Big Ten slugfest. Mich-
igan mustered just three plays in the 
first quarter and 92 yards in the first 
half, but held a 10-7 lead at the break.

The first review of the game 

came on senior fullback Sione Hou-
ma’s two-yard touchdown run to 
make it 7-0 early in the second quar-
ter. The play stood, but the Wolver-
ines weren’t as lucky on the second 
review just minutes later, when 
Bolden was ejected from the game 
for a controversial targeting call 
that Harbaugh later called “hard to 
fathom.”

Michigan State scored its first 

touchdown just two plays later.

The third quarter saw a more 

open playbook for the Wolverines — 
the highlight of which came when 
redshirt freshman safety Jabrill 

Peppers took his first offensive 
carry 28 yards to Michigan State’s 
3-yard line.

Junior running back De’Veon 

Smith appeared to find the end zone 
on the next two plays, but both were 
called back upon review. Houma 
found the end zone again on the 
next play, though that play, too, was 
reviewed. That time, the call was 
not overturned.

The Spartans outgained the Wol-

verines, 386-230, and looked stron-
ger than any team had in the passing 
game against Michigan.

Instead, strong special teams 

kept Michigan on top. Former walk-
on and senior kicker Kenny Allen 
tallied a career-high three field 
goals, Peppers compiled 116 return 
yards and O’Neill averaged nearly 
45 yards on seven punts.

“The guys brought big play to a 

big game,” Harbaugh said. “There 
were calls that were made, calls 
that weren’t made, but the guys kept 
fighting.”

But it was O’Neill’s eighth punt — 

the one that never was — that will go 

down in infamy.

Eventually, after the Spartans 

had finished the celebration and 
the officials ruled the game over, 
the fans that were frozen in the 
moment got up. As they filed out 
of Michigan Stadium, the stunned 
silence lingered in the cool October 
air. Any Spartan fans daring enough 
to break the silence were treated to 
screams to be quiet.

They weren’t the typical shouts 

heard at stadiums. They were bro-
ken hearts screaming out of des-
peration, still in denial of the game’s 
final play. What began as a typi-
cally loud, rambunctious intra-state 
rivalry between two top-15 teams 
had become a war zone.

What was supposed to be Michi-

gan State’s demise had become a 
miraculous moment. What was 
meant to be a Michigan win had 
become a loss.

To the stunned fans, it wasn’t fair. 

But it didn’t matter.

“We played winning football and 

didn’t get the result,” Harbaugh 
said. “Welcome to football.”

MICHIGAN
From Page 1A

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily