For 3,653 days — long, arduous, hollow
days — the Michigan football program
lived in the shadows of its unremitting
failures against Ohio State.
There won’t be a 3,654th day. At
long last, that futile streak is over.
After eight consecutive bitter
losses to the Buckeyes, the Wolverines
emerged from The Game victorious.
No. 5 Michigan (11-1 overall, 8-1 Big
Ten) shocked No. 2 Ohio State (10-
2, 8-1), 42-27, clinching the Big Ten
East and punching a ticket to next
Saturday’s Big Ten Championship
Game.
“One of my favorite sayings of all
time is, ‘When there’s a will, there’s a
way,’ ” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
said after the game. “And the will was
very strong for our team.”
As the fourth quarter wound
to a close, reality melded with
imagination. Senior running back
Hassan Haskins stood in the
endzone with outstretched arms,
celebrating
a
touchdown
that
handed Michigan a 15-point lead
with 2:17 minutes to play. He blew
kisses to the crowd, beckoning the
raucous sea of maize pom poms that
serenaded him for an electric five
touchdown performance.
Pandemonium had officially set in.
When the clock struck double-
zeroes, everyone seemed to forget
about the freezing cold and the endless
nightmares from previous defeats.
Droves of fans plunged from the
stands and spilled out onto the turf,
reveling in their newfound glory.
Michigan, champions of the Big
Ten East.
“It was a surreal moment,” junior
quarterback Cade McNamara said.
“It’s something we’ve dreamed of.
Every 6 a.m. (practice), that feeling is
the reason why we do it.”
Saturday offered an opportunity
for the Wolverines to exorcise past
demons, escaping the recent doldrums
and persistent pain of the rivalry. A
win would vault them into the Big
Ten Championship Game and buoy
aspirations of a berth in the College
Football Playoff, two hurdles that
the program had yet to clear as of
the morning, seven years into Jim
Harbaugh’s tenure.
But just as toppling the Buckeyes
began
to
feel
sisyphean,
the
Wolverines punched first — and
refused to relent.
“It was really like a war out
there,” senior defensive end Aidan
Hutchinson, who wreaked havoc on
Ohio State’s offense with three sacks,
said.
On Michigan’s opening possession,
sophomore receiver A.J. Henning
found the endzone on a 14-yard
touchdown run, whipping Michigan
Stadium into an immediate frenzy.
In the second quarter, even as
Ohio State took a brief 10-7 lead,
Michigan proved unfazed, embodying
its season-long serenity. A 13-play,
82-yard touchdown drive sent the
Wolverines into halftime clenching a
14-13 lead.
In past years, Michigan unraveled
in similar moments, particularly in
The Game. On Saturday, the team
merely grew stronger.
The second half started to a tee.
The Wolverines’ defense forced a crisp
three-and-out, and the offense blazed
down the field, running the ball three
times for a total of 81 yards; Haskins
capped the drive with a touchdown.
They had kicked Ohio State back
onto its heels, and the Buckeyes would
never recover.
Michigan’s
offense,
having
re-discovered its rhythm, operated
with machine-like efficiency. A 31-yard
pass from freshman quarterback J.J.
McCarthy to sophomore receiver
Roman Wilson set up a 34-yard flea-
flicker from McNamara to junior
receiver Mike Sainristil.
So hapless were the Buckeyes
that only a brief kerfuffle could
slow down the Wolverines. After a
scrum triggered an unsportsmanlike
conduct on Ohio State’s Cameron
Brown, Michigan found the endzone
again. Haskins bounced outside,
scoring for the third time on the day,
staking the Wolverines to a stunning
15-point lead.
The result incited delirium and
momentarily broke the Michigan
Stadium
scoreboard
—
an
apt
microcosm for the shock of The
Game’s result.
Even as Ohio State scratched and
clawed its way to an early fourth
quarter
touchdown,
Michigan
responded with yet another emphatic,
methodic drive. Haskins wiggled
his way down the field, ultimately
plowing into the endzone for his
fourth touchdown.
In the game’s waning minutes,
when Stroud’s fourth-and-18 heave fell
shy of a first down, the reality set in.
Bleachers rattled. The stadium shook.
Hutchinson and fifth-year safety Brad
Hawkins shed tears.
“We
have
(a
sign)
inside
Schembechler Hall, ‘What are you
doing today to beat Ohio State,’ ”
Hawkins said. “And today, we beat
them. It’s a blessing.”
A blessing, perhaps, but certainly
not a product of luck.
“Every workout, every practice,
every game, everything that we put
into this season — that’s something
that we kept in the back of our minds
every single day that we entered
Schembechler Hall,” McNamara said
of Ohio State. “We did enough to beat
them today.”
After nine years of perpetual
suffering, Michigan had achieved the
unthinkable. It’s a game that no one
will soon forget.
“We’ve got a lot of hours left
today,” Harbaugh smirked, allowing
himself to digest the gravity of the
moment. “… Celebrating long into
the night.”
Michigan shocks Ohio State, ends eight-game losing streak in The Game
JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Editor
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
FINALLY
FINALLY
“It’s something we’ve
dreamed of. Every 6 a.m.
(practice), that feeling is
the reason why we do it.”
42
42-27
27
Madeline Hinkley/Daily | Page Design by Sophie Grand
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Let us know: Call 734-418-4115 or
e-mail news@michigandaily.com
IN DEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 60
©2021 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2
A RTS..........................5
MIC...........................7
STATEMENT...............8
OPI N ION.................10
SPORTS....................11
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily