The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1495881
18 THE WOLVERINE ❱ APRIL 2023 BY JOHN BORTON D onovan Edwards scorched his way through 11 Ohio State de- fenders like a lightning bolt, forever searing his name onto the lore of The Game. Then for good measure, he did it again. The sophomore running back's 75- and 85-yard touchdown bolts in Michigan's 45-23 thumping of the Buckeyes in Co- lumbus will be talked about 100 years hence. They silenced most of the 106,787 in The Horseshoe quicker than a triple dip of Skoal. For a relatively tiny enclave in maize and blue at Ohio Stadium — not to men- tion millions watching from afar — they set off riotous celebrations, over a second straight slaying of the Big Ten dragons. Edwards' runs weren't just add-on nut crushers in a start-to-finish Michi- gan rout. The Wolverines trailed 20-17 at the half, and with 7:30 remaining in the game, the Buckeyes trailed by only a TD and two-point conversion, 31-23. That's when Michigan's offensive line opened the door for a historic achieve- ment, and Edwards dramatically surged through. He burst into a sizable hole on the right side of the Michigan line, seeing wide open spaces ahead. Senior wideout Cor- nelius Johnson — having already burned the Buckeyes with a pair of touchdown catches — ran OSU cornerback Denzel Burke completely out of the play. That left only Jim Thorpe Award semi- finalist safety Lathan Ransom to try and bring down Edwards. No amount of Ran- som could stop this train. The veteran Buckeye dove with desperate futility at Edwards' feet, which then sped away to complete the 75-yard TD sprint. OSU fans sank into abject misery, see- ing the scoreboard hit 38-23 with 7:11 remaining, and coming to realize their dreams of home-cooked revenge over Michigan's 2021 win had all but evapo- rated. Edwards and his offensive line didn't make them suffer much longer. Just 3:52 later, they finished the burial in strikingly similar fashion. Once again, senior right tackle Karsen Barnhart, junior right guard Zak Zinter and grad-transfer center Olu Oluwatimi tore open the left side of OSU's defensive line. Once again, Edwards bolted through like Secretariat versus glue factory nags. And once again, The Snakepit fell si- lent. This time, nobody came close to Ed- wards on his 85-yard sprint to glory. "It's a cool feeling," Edwards admit- ted recently. "When I was running on my second touchdown, it got dead quiet. I was able to see the Michigan fans, because I was running toward their tunnel. There were Michigan fans on the right side, and BUCKEYE BUSTER Donovan Edwards Summons Up Echoes Of Past Greatness