The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JANUARY 2023 THE WOLVERINE 23 Senior linebacker Michael Barrett "You can feel how their will breaks, when they haven't been used to getting hit or getting as physical as we came to play. You could just feel it go out of them." "We're two of the top four teams — they're two, we're three. Why is this even a question about upset? That's the chip we have as a team that's like, OK, this is how they're looking at us. Let's go in and prove them wrong." PROVING BEYOND ALL DOUBT For 30 minutes, the Wolverines proved only that they could hang in there. With one of the nation's most explosive of- fenses and Heisman finalist C.J. Stroud on his way to 349 yards and 2 touch- downs passing, it felt early like the dam might break in Ohio State's favor. The Wolverines rushed for a mere 10 yards in the first half, and McCarthy (263 yards, 3 scores) completed only 12 throws on the day. Those numbers belie what was about to happen. Down 10-3 midway through the sec- ond quarter, McCarthy looked like he'd be buried under a heavy OSU blitz. In- stead, he fired a sideline throw just in time. Senior wide receiver Cornelius Johnson snagged it, ducked out of the grasp of one would-be tackler, kicked away from another and raced 69 yards down the sideline for the game-tying touchdown. M o m e n ts l a te r, McCarthy unloaded a deep ball down the middle — the kind that eluded U-M receivers more of- ten than not this year. This one floated in perfectly to a wide-open Johnson, who cruised in from 75 yards out to give the Wolverines a 17-13 lead — and an- other statement big play. "We've been practicing that all year," Johnson said. "I broke them off, and I was just hoping he didn't throw it to somebody else. I saw I was wide open and ran in there. "We just keep hitting it, hitting it, hitting it. Eventually, something has got to give. Today, when it mattered most, in front of mil- lions of people, we were able to connect." "We knew that we could make those kinds of plays," Harbaugh assured. "C.J. really got us started." Ohio State struck right back, Stroud gunning a 42-yard touchdown strike to Marvin Harrison Jr. That gave the Buck- eyes a 20-17 lead at the half — not what a mildly nervous crowd anticipated, but surely their team would win any shoot- out in the end. Not this one. Arguably the best second-half team in the nation, Michigan took control from the opening possession of the final 30 minutes. Off a fake end-around, Mc- Carthy unleashed a 45-yard rainbow to freshman tight end Colston Loveland, a touchdown pass that put the Wolverines up 24-20. McCarthy insisted he knew the Wol- verines would win, "Right after that touchdown coming out of the half. We were able to do everything we wanted to do at that point. I felt so comfortable, calm. The first half, I was a little amped up, because I've been waiting to play this game for so long. "Once the nerves calmed down and everything settled, I knew it was over from there." Those were the only points scored in the third period, with Michigan's de- fense surrendering yardage (492, to Michigan's 530), but digging in at the goal line. By now, the home crowd grew in- creasingly agitated that the team whose name shall not be uttered might indeed be in this thing to the end. Its close-shootout worries were mis- placed. The Buckeyes' doors were about to be blown off. McCarthy opened the fourth quar- ter with a methodical, 15-play, 80- yard touchdown drive. He finished it off himself, putting his head down and rushing the final 3 yards into the end zone through tacklers, making it 31-20. Now the home crowd grew almost frantic. And the home team began bow- ing to the will of a python in whose grip it increasingly lost its ability to breathe. "You can feel how their will breaks, when they haven't been used to getting hit or getting as physical as we came to play," senior linebacker Michael Barrett observed. "You could just feel it go out of them." Barrett felt it particularly following McCarthy's touchdown. "That was the point where we all looked over to the side, and you could see they started hanging their heads. They weren't getting off the ball as fast; they weren't playing with that confi- dence that they're used to playing with," he said. "You could just tell." "Going into the fourth quarter, we had a quick defensive talk, and the first thing we did was look over at their sideline," Sainristil concurred. "They were over there hanging their heads a little bit, so we knew. We were like, 'They're vulner- able right now. Let's go out there, keep pouncing on them, keep taking away the run game, the pass game — and take ad- vantage of every opportunity.'" Sainristil himself took away Ohio State's biggest opportunity for hope down the stretch. He swatted away two end zone throws by Stroud, but one looked undeniable, with the foot- ball settling into the hands of 6-4, 255-pound tight end Cade Stover. Sainristil — at 5-10, 182 — extended, found leather and sent it tumbling away from the disbelieving Stover. "I saw the ball get floated a little bit so I had time to get there, and I saw the ball go into the tight end's hands," Sainris- til said. "The only thing I was thinking was punch it out and don't give up that touchdown." Meanwhile, Ohio State was running out of time. Michigan's offensive line and Edwards made sure of it. Against a desperate, line-stacking, gambling defense dialed up by OSU de- fensive coordinator Jim Knowles — spe- cifically brought in to blunt U-M's bully ball — lightning struck twice. Edwards burst through a hole cre- ated by Rimington Trophy winner/grad transfer center Olu Oluwatimi and ju- nior right guard Zak Zinter. He sprinted away 75 yards for a touchdown, silencing