Go Let It Out

Paul stays in Ann Arbor. (Michigan Athletics)

Paint no illusion, try to click with what you got

Taste every potion 'cause if you like yourself a lot

Go let it out, go let it in, and go let it out

 --"Go Let It Out" by Oasis from the 2000 album Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

For the first time in almost twenty years of blogging about Michigan football, I took last week off from writing a game column.  Partially, I was at a wedding and had to watch the situation from an app in a barn in the Irish Hills, and partially, well, did we really need to talk about last week's game?  Everything that had been a problem continued to be a problem.

But how do you skip talking about the Michigan State game?  Coming in, I told several people who asked me what I thought was going to happen this weekend that for the first time since I first remember having a strong opinion about Michigan/Michigan State, (the infamous 1990 game where Michigan came in as #1 and lost on the failed two-point conversion when Eddie Brown tripped Desmond in the end zone, and it was not called.) I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen and that any result would not surprise me.  (I still predicted Michigan 27, MSU 14, because I've been doing the Friday Five for over two decades.)  But you could be forgiven if thinking Michigan's recent tumble down a seemingly unending staircase would continue based on the first 25 minutes of the game.  But running a hurry-up offense, Michigan got together a drive in just under three minutes capped by a Davis Warren TD pass to Colston Loveland that looked like things would tie things up until a bad snap led to a nightmare two-point conversion attempt, and Michigan was down 7-6.  However, Josiah Stewart strip-sacked Aidan Chiles, and Kenneth Black got his turn with the buffs after just covering this fumble, which set up a short field and a quick Michigan field goal, and the maize and blue were ahead 9-7 at the half, wholly unexpectedly based on what had been shown for much of the first half.

So when Michigan came out of the locker room for the second half with their "July drive" and went 75 yards in a shade over five minutes, things looked much better.  Michigan State would counter with a field goal to bring it back to a one-possession game, but after a three and out for each side, Michigan took advantage of good field position and used arguably their most effective passer, Donovan Edwards, to find Colston Loveland in the end zone (as well as completing the octopus with Davis Warren finding him for the two-point conversion to make the missed extra point moot, which, let's face it, you know was in the back of the mind of most Michigan fans that it was going to be the downfall of this game.)

So here's where it gets interesting.  Michigan State is down two scores and probably needs to move with purpose with 13:20 left in the fourth.  Instead, they went on a thirteen-play, 75-yard drive that took over seven minutes, but one that did end in a touchdown to bring them within seven.  Now Michigan needed to burn clock and...went full Lloydball with a three-and-out that burned just 98 seconds before a middling punt that set MSU up at their own 49.  While an intentional grounding helped push Michigan State back to their own 35, the defense looked like it was going to give it all away, especially after a 30-yard gain on third down to put the Spartans on the edge of the red zone.  While a false start followed a short run to push MSU back outside the red zone, Michigan State faced 4th and 5 from the Michigan 16 and got the two-minute time out to think it over.  Michigan's pressure forced Chiles into a bad throw that was almost picked off in the end zone, but now a new concern.  Michigan got the ball back with 1:52 left to go and the Spartans had all three times out, so Michigan needs at least one first down to not have to punt the ball back to Michigan State (we all remember how that can go.)  But Alex Orji scrambled for a first down, which, ironically, meant Michigan needed another first down, and after two short Mullings runs, 3rd and five loomed with MSU with one timeout left.  But once more, Alex Orji went for eight yards on a designed run, including a gorgeous baseball slide to end it, some kneel downs to end it, some extracurriculars (because, of course), but for just the sixth time since Michigan State joined the Big Ten, an unranked Michigan team won the Battle for Paul Bunyan (as opposed to eight losses, Michigan's been ranked for a lot of these.)  Sherrone Moore becomes the first Michigan coach to beat MSU in his first season.  

Michigan may not have saved their season, but they certainly didn't make it feel any worse than it does at the moment and likely keep the dream of bowl eligibility alive (not that it will be easy, given the Oregon, Indiana, and Ohio State games left on the slate.)  But my goodness, if left with the choice of beating Michigan State in a lost season or losing to Michigan State, we know that this win is a good thing.  Yes, the toxicity of this rivalry needs to come down and there needs to be a path forward where these things don't devolve into fights or worse seemingly every year.  But it is also much nicer to build on a win.  There are some clear things that have improved, while others have slid back a little bit, and it may be difficult to see the improvement next week when #1 Oregon comes in, but for now, Paul stays in Ann Arbor for another year, and that's enough for today.

Tales from the Spreadsheet

• Win 1,009
• 24-17 is NOT a Scorigami (3rd time, most recently 11/20/1999 against Ohio State.)
• 110,828 were in attendance (the 79th-largest crowd in Michigan Stadium history.)
  
  
• Michigan moves to 74-38-5 all-time against Michigan State University.  Michigan retains the Paul Bunyan Trophy for another year (and moves to 41-29-2 in the trophy series).
• Michigan moves to 11-5 all-time on October 26 (the previous October 26 game was the most recent game with Notre Dame in the rain in 2019.) 
  
  
• Michigan moves to 38-8 when scoring exactly 24 points.
• Michigan moves to 37-16-2 all-time when allowing 17 points to the opposition.
• Michigan has won 53 games all-time by precisely 7 points, most recently, well, a Rose Bowl of some acclaim in January 2024.

(It's Good) To Be Free

Dono does like running against UW.  (Michigan Athletics)

The little things they make me so happy

All I wanna do is live by the sea

Yeah, little things they make me so happy

But it's good, yes it's good, it's good to be free

 --"(It's Good) To Be Free" by Oasis, first released as a B-Side to "Whatever." 

Yesterday's game was an interesting exercise in paradigms.  When Washington got out to their 14-0 lead as Michigan's defense looked slow, slippy, and confused, and sometimes all three at once, there was a willingness to say, "Yep, this is what we were all expecting."  The offense looked disorganized.  Injuries, including some we did not know about, were piling up.  It looked very much like the Huskies could name their number and send Michigan into the bye week limping.

The Jack Tuttle came in.  The seventh-year quarterback.  The latest in a series of "Well, maybe this could work" options.  Indeed, he couldn't be much worse than we had seen this season at the position."  Early results were promising.  Tuttle hit a couple of little passes, he scrambled for a pair of seven-yard runs on first downs to keep the chains moving and ahead of the sticks, and then Donovan Edwards looked like the Donovan that we've been waiting for all year, a 39 yard TD run, Michigan was back within seven and a game was to be made of it.  Michigan forced a three-and-out before a second promising drive in a row stalled out at the Washington 27, but a Dominic Zvada field goal was true, and it was 14-10.  Washington would bookend the first half with a second missed field goal, and Michigan would get the ball to start the second half.

One of the biggest things I miss from the Harbaugh years is that Michigan was genuinely a second-half team.  Adjustments would be made, the fitness level would show out, and Michigan would look better closing a game out than they did to start.  For the first drive, it looked like a little bit of Michigan of old, a methodical, efficient 75-yard drive that ended with a little Tuttle scramble to find Colston Loveland uncovered alone in the end zone, and Michigan took a three-point lead.  But that was the last real positive moment on offense.  Washington got a long drive to tie it with a field goal, Michigan didn't seem like it had a real plan on offense again, and things looked up when Ernest Hausmann made a spectacular interception in the middle of the field, but the ball went back to Washington five plays later thanks to a Tuttle fumble, which felt like the doom like object everyone watching was waiting for.  Washington scored a TD to take the lead, Tuttle threw a backbreaking interception trying to hit Loveland, Washington got a field goal, and that was the ten-point margin of victory for the favored Huskies, leading to a confusing field storming on the Montlake Cut and a bizarre suggestion by Noah Eagle that the Huskies had "avenged" their National Championship game loss.  Hmmm...Trophy go Brrr..

This will probably sound strange, but I was disappointed by the loss but almost immediately over it.  This Michigan team is so deeply flawed, with various reasons for those flaws that can be explained away, that I just don't feel the angst of years past.  Winning solves a lot of problems, and it also solves a lot of future problems if you let it.  While it is deeply frustrating and endlessly curious that Michigan's defense looks so middling with three NFL talents on it, well, you know, being very late in the hiring process perhaps left Michigan with an imperfect fit in the name of attempted continuity.  There are other areas that further this cause.  

But here's the thing.  I'm not too broken up about it because it doesn't feel like we're wandering in the desert anymore.  Yes, a blue blood should be able to "reload" and stay at the top of the heap, but that isn't how it worked this time.  I'm OK with that.  I'm still going to enjoy this team for what it is; I'll be disappointed when things don't go right, and I'll still cheer loudly when they are successful.  But in the end, it's good to be free.

Tales from the Spreadsheet

• 17-27 is NOT a Scorigami (3rd time, most recently 11/28/2020, against Penn State, which I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't remember)
• 72,132 were in attendance (or about 700 fewer people than the National Championship Game)
  
  
• Michigan moves to 9-6-0 all-time against the University of Washington.
• Michigan moves to 16-3 all-time on October 28 (losses to MSU in 1935 and Roger Staubach's Navy team in 1963.  The 2019 win over Iowa was the birth of The Spreadsheet.) 
  
  
• Michigan moves to 18-16-2 when scoring exactly 17 points.
• Michigan moves to 6-15 all-time when allowing 27 points to the opposition.
• Michigan has lost 18 games all-time by precisely 10 points, most recently, the aforementioned 2020 Penn State game.