The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1194003
JANUARY 2020 THE WOLVERINE 29 Years ago, at some point in the 1990s, one national colum- nist — don't remember which — started off his postgame scribe about Ohio State's latest loss to Michigan with one poignant sentence: "His name is John Cooper, and he can't win this game." Cooper was the OSU head coach who went 2-10-1 against the Wolverines during his tenure that ended in 2000, the only stain on an otherwise outstanding record. Twenty years later, the roles have been reversed. Coaches have come and gone at both universities, including a pair in Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer who left OSU in disgrace and two U-M coaches in Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke who simply seemed over- matched, but the Buckeyes' dominance remains. Hoke's team captured the only Michigan win in the last 16 (!) years with a 40-34 victory over the Buckeyes in 2011, and his teams played the Buckeyes tough. Head coach Jim Harbaugh has taken the Bucks to the wire twice, but blowouts the last two years — 62-39 in 2018 and 56-27 Nov. 30 — have created more questions than answers. "I thought our team was well prepared," Harbaugh said in the aftermath. "I thought they were playing good football. I thought it was a good football fight. It got away from us today. Give them credit for playing well." The Wolverines star ted strong, scoring on their first drive (though redshirt junior kicker Quinn Nordin missed the extra point), and the offense moved the ball well, at least through the air. Quarterback Shea Patterson threw for 305 yards and the offense finished with 396 yards and 27 points, but it was far from perfect. Once again, OSU won the turnover battle (2-1), for the sixth straight year and 10th time in the last 12 (they tied in U-M's 2011 win, and Michigan won it in 2013 despite get- ting beat 26-20). The most costly Wolverines' turnover came while they were trailing 21-13 in the first half and made it to the red zone before Patterson fumbled the snap. The mistakes then mounted, as they have for U-M in this game over the years. OSU took the ball down the field after Patterson's fumble and scored after U-M jumped offsides on a fourth-and-four punt to give them new life. They found pay dirt two plays later. Junior Donovan Peoples-Jones then dropped a touch- down pass, OSU took a 28-16 lead into the half and receivers proceeded to drop six more balls in the second half while defensive players blew assignments left and right. Michigan's players had no answers in the postgame. "I don't know," sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchison said when asked why they couldn't beat the Buckeyes. "I just don't think we executed well in a lot of things. We've just got to be so much better. There's nothing we haven't seen before. It was all as expected. "We've just got to execute better and just all do our jobs, and we didn't. And that hurt us." Hutchinson said he felt the Wolverines were better pre- pared with different packages from a year ago, but OSU had no problem with U-M's new looks, zones, etc. They've now scored 13 touchdowns on the last 17 drives against U-M where the clock didn't run out, many on (or set up by) explosive plays. "[Execution] is what it comes down to at the end of the day," Hutchinson said. "I thought we were prepared well. I thought we knew ev- erything we saw. We've just got to be better. "That's simple. That's all it is. It's not scheme. We've just got to execute. That's it." It's fair to wonder, how- ever, how there couldn't be a mental block when it comes to this game. Teams like Purdue, Iowa and Michigan State have beaten the Buck- eyes more than once since Michigan last accomplished it, often with worse teams. Ohio State quarterback Jus- tin Fields planted a sobering idea after the game. "I just think we take it more seriously than they do. We prepare for it all year," he said. "We're preparing for them next year right now. I think it just means more at Ohio State. That's pretty much, I think, the bigger reason why we have more success than they do." As for the mental part — fifth-year senior Jordan Glasgow isn't a believer. "I can't really speak to the other players, only myself in that aspect, but personally I don't feel like that's the case," he said. "There's a streak. It's a bunch of individual games, and they've been able to carry it on for the last seven, eight years. "We just weren't able to execute … execution plays a big role, the biggest role, in fact, and we just weren't able to do that." One thing in particular, though, has to change if U-M is going to start being competitive again, Hutchinson added when asked how U-M can get it back — the defense. "We've got to dig down next year, see what we've got," he said. "You aren't going to win ball games when you're letting up 50, 60 points." — Chris Balas Ohio State's defense sacked Shea Patterson twice, added seven more tackles for loss, recovered an unforced Michigan fumble, picked off a pass, broke up eight more throws and limited U-M to just 3.5 yards per carry in the 56-27 win Nov. 30. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL OSU Gorilla Remains