EAST LANSING — Nursing a
three-point lead midway through the
fourth quarter, Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh went with the freshman.
J.J. McCarthy — the former
five-star backup quarterback —
trotted onto the field. Throughout
the game, McCarthy came in for
specialized packages within the
Wolverines’ offense, including a
number of successful read options
and a touchdown pass to freshman
receiver Andrel Anthony. The
starter — junior Cade McNamara,
who finished the game 28-of-44
for 383 passing yards and two
touchdowns — was “working
through something,” according to
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
Even so, McCarthy’s last touch
had ended with a fumble that,
mercifully for Michigan, went out of
bounds.
This one didn’t.
McCarthy bobbled the exchange
with
sophomore
running
back
Blake Corum. Almost as soon as the
ball hit the ground, Michigan State
defensive end Jacub Panasiuk fell on
it. Six plays later, the Spartans scored
the go-ahead touchdown.
That turnover and score would
prove to be decisive, as No. 6
Michigan (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten)
fell to No. 8 Michigan State (8-0,
5-0), 37-33. In every moment where
the Wolverines — who led by as
many as 16 points in the second half
— looked as if they could seal the
game, mishaps arose that ultimately
doomed yet another opportunity
for Harbaugh’s program to pick up a
signature win over a rival.
“Sometimes, we shot ourselves
in the foot and couldn’t punch
it in,” sixth-year center Andrew
Vastardis said. “That hurt, first in
the grand scheme of the game, but
(it’s) something we have to grow
from. Something to be better at.”
Crucially, many of those errors
came in the red zone. On the
second drive of the game, with an
opportunity to jump to a 14-point
lead, an end around to the Spartans’
five-yard line by junior receiver
Cornelius Johnson seemed to put
Michigan in prime position to score.
But the run was called back due to a
holding penalty on Anthony, and the
Wolverines settled for a field goal.
Senior kicker Jake Moody, for his
part, was a perfect 4-for-4 on the
day, but the short distances on those
field goals — 26, 38, 35 and 36 yards
— illustrate just how ineffective
Michigan was in Michigan State
territory.
Those woes continued well into
the second half. Tied at 30 early in
the fourth quarter, the Wolverines
began to assemble a promising drive
— including a 43-yard pass from
McNamara to junior receiver Mike
Sainristil — that set them up with a
1st-and-10 from the Spartans’ 20.
But once again, the drive stalled.
After McCarthy’s fumble out of
bounds and a short McNamara
scramble brought out 3rd-and-8,
Michigan elected to take a shot at
the endzone, which ultimately fell
incomplete.
In a top 10 rivalry matchup, the
Wolverines needed touchdowns.
Instead, they were getting field goals.
“We just came up short, and that’s
on me,” McNamara said. “I didn’t
execute good enough for us to win
this game.”
And while the defense had
been there to pick up the slumping
offense earlier in the season, it
struggled to pick up key stops on
Saturday. Michigan State running
back Kenneth Walker III — likely
a Heisman frontrunner — bounced
into space and slipped through
tackles with ease. He scored all
five of the Spartans’ touchdowns,
including three rushes that went
longer than 20 yards and the game-
tying, 58-yard score.
But
Michigan
State
also
dismantled
Michigan’s
defense
schematically. Especially on the
defensive line, the Wolverines under
first-year
defensive
coordinator
Mike Macdonald have relied heavily
on rotations to keep players fresh
and avoid mistakes that stem from
fatigue.
The Spartans countered that
emphasis with tempo, frequently
hurrying to the line to disrupt
Michigan’s substitutions. On two
different occasions, the Wolverines
were penalized for having too many
men on the field. Even when they
weren’t penalized, Michigan State’s
fast pace prevented Michigan from
getting set and led to mistakes. Even
the Wolverines’ best players made
errors — including junior defensive
back Daxton Hill, who got beat on
a 28-yard reception that gave the
Spartans a first down at the one-yard
line.
“Just
didn’t
execute,”
senior
edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson
said. “Didn’t execute our gameplan.
Tackling wasn’t good enough. Just
let our offense down a little bit. Gotta
be better.”
Entering the season, nobody
foresaw Saturday’s game as a
potential top 10 matchup. Neither
Michigan nor Michigan State was
expected to win many games, let
alone compete for championships.
Such is the reality of college
football. The Wolverines are a better
team than they were a year ago, but
the opportunity for a signature win
was there. Moral victories about
how much worse the team could
have been will do little to mitigate
the reality of yet another loss against
a top opponent. Even if expectations
become unrealistic throughout the
season, the team still has to confront
them.
There’s still a lot of football
left, but for Harbaugh, the burden
of unfulfilled expectations still
remains.
Julia Schachinger/Daily | Page Design by Sophie Grand
BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Editor
S P O R T S W E D N E S D A Y
S P O R T S W E D N E S D A Y
TUCKED
TUCKED
IN
IN
33-37,
Michigan Wolverines
fall to Michigan State Spartans
12 — Wednesday, November 3, 2021