4B — Monday, November 26, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Offensive miscues stall Michigan in 62-39 loss
COLUMBUS — Shea Patterson
took a few steps back, cocked
his arm and let the football roll
off his fingers. It was a dime of a
pass, flying directly through the
air towards senior tight end Zach
Gentry, who was open for the catch
in the endzone. He outstretched
his arms, just barely grabbing the
ball.
But there was no touchdown.
Instead, the ball fell to the
ground, slipping through Gentry’s
fingers and bouncing on the scarlet
turf. In that instant, with Ohio
State leading 7-3 early in the second
quarter, a touchdown would have
given Michigan the lead for the
first time during Saturday’s game
in Columbus.
Instead,
freshman
kicker
Jake Moody made his way onto
the field to make the most of a
fourth-down, 31-yard field goal
opportunity. With the swipe of
his leg, he secured Michigan three
points for the second time during
that game, keeping
the
Wolverines
close at 7-6 — but
still without the
lead.
Even
with
Moody’s six-point
contribution
through the first
two
quarters,
common
lapses
in
the
offense
throughout
Saturday’s
game
were
complemented by a defense that
struggled to stall the Buckeyes’
offensive onslaught. In a game
with
Big
Ten
Championship
and
College
Football
Playoff
implications on the line, and a
rivalry game with Ohio State, no
less, those collective struggles
contributed to the Wolverines’
62-39 loss.
“This is why everybody comes to
Michigan, to play
in this game,”
Patterson
said.
“That’s one of
the reasons why
I came here. As a
child, I dreamed
of
playing
in
this game. You
know, I’m the
quarterback, and
I have the ball in
my hand every
snap, and I take full responsibility
for our faults on offense.”
The offense, in some moments,
provided flashes of optimism. Late
in the second quarter, Patterson
connected
with
sophomore
wide receiver Nico Collins on
a 23-yard catch for Michigan’s
first touchdown of the game. Six
seconds on the clock later, after
junior wide receiver Nate Schoenle
recovered an Ohio State fumble,
the
Wolverines
scored
again
courtesy of a nine-yard pass from
Patterson to junior running back
Chris Evans.
But, for every bright spot,
there
was
another
miscue.
Another dropped ball, a penalty
drawn, a missed opportunity to
move the ball forward. Another
reason Michigan was never able
to establish that lead over the
Buckeyes.
Late in the third period, the
Wolverines struggled to close a
34-19 gap. After senior running
back Karan Higdon was tackled for
a loss of two yards when rushing
the ball, and Gentry missed a
potential first-down catch off a
hit that triggered a concussion,
Patterson found himself facing
pressure in the pocket.
Once again, he cocked his arm
back and threw it, directed at the
sideline — but this time, it landed
directly in the hands of Ohio State
safety Jordan Fuller, who ran it
four yards before junior tight end
Sean McKeon ended the drive.
“Sometimes you get desperate
in those types of situations,”
Patterson said. “I wasn’t really
trying to force it, I was actually
trying to throw the ball out of
bounds.
Whoever
made
that
play made a good play and hit my
elbow.”
Between quarterback Dwayne
Haskins and running back Mike
Weber, the interception soon
turned into a touchdown to put
the Buckeyes up, 41-19. Another
interception
from
freshman
quarterback Joe Milton resulted
in Ohio State’s final touchdown,
a 62-point total by the end of the
game.
In a day in which nothing went
right for Michigan, the offense
sputtered when it needed to seize
control. The Wolverines ended up
with 39 points, but it was the ones
they left on the field that they will
remember.
Wolverines’ defense
shredded in 62-39 loss
COLUMBUS — Nearly four
hours after kickoff, the sun
shined down on Ohio Stadium
for the first time.
If it was a sign, it wasn’t for
Michigan.
The scoreboard read 55-32
and would finish 62-39 in favor
of the Buckeyes. The 62 points
allowed by the No. 1 defense in
the country were the most ever
scored on the Wolverines in a
regulation game, surpassing 56
points allowed over a century
ago to Cornell. Where Michigan
made all the wrong history, it
now finds itself absent again
from a Big Ten Championship
and
potential
national
title
hopes.
This
wasn’t
supposed
to
happen to his team, nothing
remotely close, especially this
season. Jim Harbaugh knew
that Ohio State had never even
eclipsed 50 points in the rivalry
game.
On
an
afternoon
of
unfettered domination, that stat
was the only thing Harbaugh
had an answer for.
“They
had
several
successful
plays,
no
question about
it,”
Harbaugh
said.
“They
got some real
speed
plays,
crossing routes.
Threw the ball
downfield well,
I thought their
protection was really good. We
didn’t get the pressure on the
quarterback that we wanted to.”
The list could read like its
own history book. Buckeyes
quarterback Dwayne Haskins
throttled
Michigan
for
318 passing yards and five
touchdowns
to
become
the
single-season, all-time Big Ten
leader in both categories.
Haskins
didn’t
just
have
answers, he had lessons.
“We seen a lot of man coverage,
lot of one high, so we knew that
we could get a lot of one-on-one
matchups and crossing routes on
them,” Haskins said. “And made
some plays when it mattered the
most.
“I was licking my chops, I see
the one-high covers and that’s
a quarterback’s dream. The
biggest responsibility for me all
week was to be able to pick up
blitzes and protection, because
we saw a lot of different fronts
and excotic looks. I spent hours
in the film room just trying to
figure out how we can pick the
blitzes up.
“And once we picked it up,
receivers make plays, and I’m
going to put it there.”
The
Wolverines
had
no
response to the multitude of
crossing
patterns
over
the
middle, let alone everything
else thrown their way. Fifty-
one yards and a score came off
crossing routes on Ohio State’s
first drive — a 24-yarder to Chris
Olave. It had three more on its
second touchdown of the day,
a 27-yard encore from Olave.
Rinse, repeat.
“We
try
to
stay
upbeat
throughout the whole game
and trust each other and stay in
the fight, but I don’t remember
a point where it just got out of
hand,” said senior safety Tyree
Kinnel. “It slowly devastated
us throughout the game, and
knowing all the yards they
were putting up, it was tough,
extremely tough.”
Even in man-to-man press
coverage that had rarely failed
Michigan the previous 11 games,
it simply got burned — Ohio State
had 16 plays with double-digit
yardage, including a 78-yard
rush by Parris Campbell.
It may have been consistent
with the defense’s day-long
malaise. But it certainly was a
byproduct of a pass rush that
finished with zero sacks and
quarterback pressures, leaving
the secondary to cover for longer
than it has all year.
“A-plus job,” Haskins said of
his offensive line. “Zero sacks. I
have to take them out to dinner.
… I really had all day in the
pocket.”
After trailing just 24-19 after
the first half, the
defensive
woes
looked mendable.
The
Wolverines
had surrendered
just
10
third
quarter
points
all year prior to
Saturday. But if
the non-stop, first
half punches were
any
indication,
this was not going
to be like any Saturday.
Junior
cornerback
David
Long left the game from a hip
flexor on the first series of the
second half. On the second
series, Rashan Gary and Devin
Bush needed medical attention
on back-to-back plays. When
help was needed most, there was
nowhere to look.
“We made adjustments at
halftime, addressed the issues
we had in the first half,” Kinnel
said. “And they came out and
beat us with something else
in the second half. … They
completely beat us today.”
Unprepared,
confused,
sluggish.
No
one
word
encapsulates the otherworldly
hurt that the Buckeyes inflicted.
For defensive coordinator Don
Brown, the onslaught pushed
him past anger, and into a simple
gratitude for coaching.
“He just went and talked to
every guy individually and said
that he was proud of us, we’re
a great unit, he loved to coach
us,” Kinnel said of Brown. “They
were pretty all positive in the
locker room, but everyone’s
down right now.
“They completely beat us
everywhere. Run game, pass
game — everyone’s to blame.”
With
the
sun
continuing
to beat down on the field that
Michigan couldn’t compete on,
the game clock struck zero and
the Wolverines were put out of
their misery. Fans rushed the
field.
Ohio State beat Michigan at
its own game.
ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer
“It slowly
devastated us
throughout the
game...”
LANEY BYLER
Managing Sports Editor
‘M’ could not capitalize on enough opportunities to keep up with Ohio State
EVAN AARON/Daily
Senior tight end Zach Gentry dropped a potential touchdown pass during Saturday’s game against Ohio State before leaving the field with a concussion.
“I take full
responsibility
for our faults on
offense.”