6 — Thursday, November 17, 2022
As former Michigan defensive coordinator
Don Brown once said: There are some football
games, and then there are some football f***ing
games.
The 2016 Michigan-Ohio State game was cer-
tainly the latter.
“That was one of the coolest environments I
ever played in, one of the best games I ever played
in,” former Michigan defensive end Chris Worm-
ley told The Daily. “... It just had all the makings
of why you go to Michigan, why you go to Ohio
State.”
The Game in 2016 really did have everything.
The Buckeyes were ranked second in the country,
and the Wolverines were ranked one spot behind
them. It was the first time The Game went to
overtime, and — of course — it ended on a contro-
versial call that’s still debated to this day.
Whatever it is, you name it and the 2016 ren-
dition of The Game probably had it. And beyond
the physical game that was played on the field that
late November afternoon, the result had long-last-
ing effects on the rivalry that can be felt to this day.
“You lose that game and it costs you a (College
Football Playoff) appearance and that narrative
about (Michigan coach) Jim Harbaugh spirals for
years,” Max Bultman, who covered the 2016 game
for The Daily, said. “They were good enough to get
there, but they did not get there.”
Ultimately for Michigan, simply being good
enough on paper to get into the playoff in 2016 was
not sufficient. After the dramatic loss, the Wol-
verines’ season fell flat. A month later, they lost
to Florida State in the Orange Bowl, and the sea-
son that could’ve been Harbaugh’s breakthrough
came to an unceremonious 10-3 end after a 9-0
beginning.
“It killed us,” former Michigan offensive line-
man Erik Magnuson told The Daily. “We went
from potentially playing in the Playoffs, win-
ning the Big Ten championship to playing in the
Orange Bowl. … It just killed everything.”
There is no telling how much from the last
five years came as an aftershock from the 2016
game. Had Michigan not come up an inch short,
Harbaugh could’ve gotten a win against Urban
Meyer — something he never captured — and he
wouldn’t have started 0-5 against the Buckeyes.
The Wolverines’ 2016 loss in Columbus sent
them down a path of mediocrity for five years, cast
in Ohio State’s shadow. And that all came down to
one controversial inch — former Ohio State quar-
terback J.T. Barrett’s one-yard rush on 4th and 1
at the Michigan 16-yard line in double overtime.
“Ultimately, the narrative around the program
would’ve been so different if they get the benefit of
the doubt on that call or they close it out sooner,”
Bultman said.
At this point, the spot has been harped on, ana-
lyzed and dissected so many times it’s now more
of rivalry lore than anything else. Six years later,
the debate has never ceased about whether or not
Barrett was short on that fabled play.
Wormley had a view of the play that altered the
course of Michigan’s program for years to come
that was a bit better than most — he was right at
the first down marker, making the tackle.
“When we tackled (Barrett), we thought the
game was over, we thought he was short,” Worm-
ley said. “Everyone on the Michigan side thought
he was short and everyone on the other side
thought (Ohio State) got the first down. … There
was just so much riding on that one play, and we
came up short in the ref’s eyes.”
SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Revisiting
Revisiting
the 2016
the 2016
Michigan
Michigan -
-
Ohio State
Ohio State
game
game
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Y.COM
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