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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | January 4, 2017

An ugly start for 

Michigan

Despite DJ Wilson’s 28 

point-outing, the Wolverines 
lost their conference opener 

in Iowa.

» Page 4C

A new kind of 
disappointment

Michigan fans expected 
much more after such 
a promising start to the 
2016 season.
» Page 2C

When Mike McCray dove over 

the pylon in the final minute of 
the third quarter, the Michigan 
sideline erupted in cheers. It 
was the first time a Wolverine 
found the end zone at Hard Rock 
Stadium, and it breathed life into 
the Michigan football team that 
was now within a score of the 
Seminoles.

It didn’t matter that it came 

from a defensive player, or that it 
took nearly 45 minutes of game 
time to score a touchdown. It only 
mattered that the momentum was 
starting to shift in the Wolverines’ 
favor.

Michigan 
rode 
that 
wave 

throughout the fourth quarter 
— its most impressive quarter of 
football at the Orange Bowl, and 
not by a small margin. At the end of 
the third quarter, the Wolverines 
had just 135 total offensive yards 
— exactly half the number the 
Seminoles racked up in that time 
frame. But in the fourth, Michigan 
picked up 107 yards and gained 
the lead for the first time all game, 
only to lose by one point, 33-32, 
after Florida State wide receiver 
Keith Gavin returned the ball 66 
yards to put the Seminoles within 
striking distance.

After 
the 
first 
half 
the 

Wolverines put together, it was 
almost surprising that it took 
the Seminoles until the end of 
the game to lock down the win. 
Michigan sputtered to a 20-6 
first-half score that included 
just six first downs and two field 
goals, and its early woes might 
be placed on a combination of 
poor quarterback protection and 
timing.

“I’ve never played quarterback, 

but I couldn’t imagine being 
back there, just sitting, and then 
having the pocket just collapse 
or having blitzers coming in,” 
said senior wide receiver Amara 
Darboh. “And then I slipped on 
a couple routes that I shouldn’t 
have, couldn’t get my foot in, so 
a little bit of both.”

Redshirt 
sophomore 

quarterback Wilton Speight said 
after the game that his internal 
clock in the pocket was a little 
too quick in the first half. But in 
the second frame, he had a better 
read after getting much-needed 
protection.

“Yeah, 
we 
turned 
things 

around,” 
Speight 
said. 

“The 
defense 
made 
a 

lot of key stops in the 
second half, which gave 
the momentum to the 
offense. We just had 
to get a couple of 
first downs, a couple 
completions, and then 
eventually pound it in 
the end zone.”

Even 
after 

Nyqwan 
Murray 

pulled in a 12-yard 
touchdown 
pass 

from quarterback 
Deondre 
Francois 
with 

just 1:21 left in 
the game, the 
Wolverines 
never felt like it 
was over.

On 
Michigan’s 

touchdown drive just 
over a minute earlier, 
freshman running back 
Chris 
Evans 
showed 
a 

glimpse of what the future 
might look like after cracking 
open the game with a 30-yard 
touchdown run.

“Well, 
like 
a 
run 
game 

sometimes does, it can get 
stopped and you keep pounding 
away at it and keep chipping 
away at it and then you start 
making the four-yard gains 
and then the six-yard gains 
and then the 10-yard gains, and 
then finally, we popped one 
there with Chris Evans,” said 
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. 
“The way I feel about it is it was 
a heck of a game.”

That energy carried over, 

and despite Florida State’s final 
touchdown, Michigan was still 
in the game for the long haul. 
On the extra point attempt, 
freshman safety Josh Metellus 
scooped up a blocked kick and 
ran it back for two points to 
put the Wolverines within one 
point.

It was finally too little too 

late 
for 
Michigan, 
though, 

when 
redshirt 
sophomore 

quarterback Wilton Speight’s 
pass was intercepted with just 
16 seconds left in the game on 
fourth down.

“I felt like we all believed,” 

Darboh said. “We came in 
the locker room, we made 
adjustments, and we said the 
second half was going to be our 
half. Unfortunately, we didn’t 

start 
the 
game 
the 
way 

we 
should 

have and the 
way we planned 
to. That’s big in 
football. You have 
to 
jump 
on 
your 

opponent. 
We 
didn’t 

do that. But I thought we 
came back in the second half 
and fought hard.”

Darboh 
wasn’t 
the 
only 

Wolverine 
that 
thought 

Michigan 
had 
recovered. 

Speight also believed that the 
Wolverines “bounced back,” but 
it evidently wasn’t enough when 
the Seminoles pulled on their 
freshly-printed Orange Bowl 
championship T-shirts and hats.

Even 
though 
Michigan 

flipped the script on its regular-
season losses, in which the 
Wolverines failed to contribute 
in the fourth quarter, they still 
hadn’t adjusted enough to close 
out the final frame.

KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Writer

TWO

Michigan

Florida State

32

33

LITTLE,

TOO LATE.

