Dealt a bad hand
In Saturday’s loss, Ohio 
State did what Michigan 

has tried to do all year: win 

with its backup quarterback. 

» SportsMonday Column, 

Page 2B

New chapter
Wilton Speight announced 
Sunday afternoon, through 
Instagram, that he will be 
transfering from Michigan 
for the 2018 season.

 » Page 4B

It was all there for the 

taking. 

With 2:47 left in the 

fourth quarter, Michigan 
needed 77 yards. 77 yards 
to beat a team it can 
never beat. 77 yards to 
erase 13 years of bitter, 
tear-inducing history. 

The Wolverines had 

everything they wanted 
in front of them. And yet 
again, for the 13th time 
in 14 years, they were 
left stunned, able only to 
picture what might have 
been.

It 
was 
almost 
as 

predictable as watching 
Charlie Brown get the 
football yanked out from 
under him.

“We had a few mistakes 

offensively, we had a few 
mistakes 
defensively,” 

said Jim Harbaugh, “and 
we had a few more than 
they did.”

What made Saturday’s 

31-20 loss to No. 9 Ohio 
State all the more brutal 
for Michigan? Just how 
things ended.

After 
the 
Buckeyes 

missed a late fourth-
quarter 
field 
goal 

attempt that would have 
extended their lead 
to seven, the 
Wolverines 
huddled 
around their 
head 
coach. 

The 
crowd 

readied itself in 
anticipation for a 
historic drive, the 
type that can cement 
one’s legacy here.

That 
hope 

disappeared 
just 
as 

quickly as it came.

The staff called for a 

play-action pass. John 
O’Korn dropped back, 
surveying 
the 
field 

quickly, before throwing 
perhaps 
the 
worst 

interception the crowd 
at Michigan Stadium has 
seen in years. 

Three plays later, Mike 

Weber Jr. walked into the 
end zone and celebrated 
with visiting Ohio State 
fans. The majority of the 
crowd headed for the 
exits.

After the game, O’Korn 

took full responsibility. 
Harbaugh said that the 
intended receiver, Kekoa 
Crawford, had run the 
correct 
route 
against 

Ohio 
State’s 
defense. 

His 
fifth-year 
senior 

quarterback 
simply 

misread the coverage. 

Just 
another 

mistake.

“It was 
one of 
those 

ones 

that you 

just 

see 
it wrong and 
as soon as the 
ball is in the 
air, 
you 
wish 

you could have 
it back,” O’Korn 
said, “and you 
know 
what 

the 
result 

is going to 
be, 
but 

you can’t 
change 
it.”

Of 

course, 
it 

was 
a 

game 
chock-

full 
of 

those type of mistakes. 

There 
was 
an 

overthrown pass on 

4th-and-4 that saw Chris 
Evans, who had been 
wide-open, 
lying 
on 

the field in pure agony 
over the incompletion. 
Naturally, 
Michigan 

had only been in that 
situation 
because 
it 

botched 
a 
routine 

handoff 
on 

2nd-and-1. 
Before 

both 
of 

those, there 

was a dropped 

interception — as 

easy as the gift the 

Buckeyes got at the end of 
the game — that allowed 
Ohio State to score just 
seconds later.

Hell, it’s been a series 

chock-full of those type 
of mistakes. Every year 

there’s something. 

Wilton 
Speight 

fumbling 
a 
snap 

near Ohio State’s 

goal-line. 

The 
defense 

allowing 

Curtis 
Samuel 
to wriggle 
free 
out 

of 
the 

backfield, 

setting up the play 

that 
will 
forever 
be 

known as The Spot. A 
previous coaching staff 
sending out the offense 
in the same formation 
with the same 2-point 
conversion 
play 
even 

after the Buckeyes called 
a 
timeout, 
noticing 

something 
they 
didn’t 

like. 

All 
of 
those 
— 

along 
with 
O’Korn’s 

interception 
Saturday 

— are marked indelibly 
into the identity of this 
program. Those type of 
plays have left it on the 
wrong side of history 
time and time again. 

Michigan easily could 

have 
pulled 
off 
the 

upset Saturday. It easily 
could have pulled off the 
upset in previous years. 
Quite simply, it couldn’t 
execute. It hasn’t been 
able to execute for too 
long. 
And 
that’s 
just 

recipe for heartbreak.

“The hardest part for 

me is you come here to 
win this game, and our 
senior class wasn’t able to 
do it,” O’Korn said after 
the game as he broke 
down crying. “I hold 
myself responsible for a 
lot of that, and it sucks, 
and I can’t imagine a 
worse feeling right now.”

ORION SANG

Daily Sports Editor

For the sixth straight year, the Buckeyes owned the rivalry

 MONDAY

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | November 27, 2017
B

Michigan 
 - Ohio State 

AGAIN

EVAN AARON/DAILY

