The Wolverine

November 2016

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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NOVEMBER 2016 THE WOLVERINE 15   INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS The Wolverine takes a look back at big moments for Michi- gan football in the months corresponding to our publication dates. Here's a look back at three of them over the past 25 years: FIVE YEARS AGO, 2011: Michigan junior quarterback Denard Robinson ran wild on Ohio State at The Big House, lifting the Wolverines to a 40-34 win over the Buckeyes. Rob- inson snapped the Wolverines' seven-game losing streak to OSU by simply refusing to cease the scoring. He ran 26 times for 170 yards and two scores, while con- necting on 14 of 17 throws for 167 yards with three more touchdowns. Robinson found tight end Kevin Ko- ger, wide receiver Junior Heming- way and slot receiver Martavious Odoms for touchdown passes. Tailback Fitzgerald Toussaint tacked on 120 rushing yards on 20 carries, and Michigan's defense played just well enough to win. The Buckeyes saw a final chance to rally for a win at the end of an afternoon-long shootout, but cor- nerback Courtney Avery tipped and intercepted Braxton Miller's fourth- down throw, sealing Michigan's vic- tory. "We never brought up the last seven years," head coach Brady Hoke said afterward. "That's not fair to those teams before, and that's not fair to this team — Team 132. We just went out there and wanted to play 60 minutes of Michigan football as a Michigan team, and that's what we talked about." " To be honest with you, I was numb," Hemingway said of watch- ing the game-winning interception unfold. "I didn't know what to do. Our offense went out there and put the ball down. Coach did say that's the best play in football, the vic- tory formation, and today it was." 10 YEARS AGO, 2006: Michigan barely survived in a bizarre non-conference game in November, against none other than Hoke and his Ball State squad. The Wolverines put down the visitors, 34-26, moving to 10-0, but not without considerable struggle first. The nation's No. 2 team saw tailback Mike Hart rush 25 times for 154 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Chad Henne threw for 155 yards and another TD. The Wolverines raced to a 31-9 lead in the game, appear- ing to be comfortable, but the Cardinals stormed back to score 15 of the game's final 18 points. Hoke's crew drove to the Michigan 2-yard line in the fourth quarter, but found itself turned away on five snaps inside the U-M 10, preserving the win for the Wolverines. "People were reading too many press clippings about themselves and about our team, and we had guys who weren't focused on [Ball State]," Henne said. "That was a little scary," left tackle Jake Long added. "We didn't play like we should have." 25 YEARS AGO, 1991: Michigan won its fourth straight over Ohio State, pounding the Buckeyes in Michigan Sta- dium, 31-3. The game featured not only an absolute drub- bing of the visitors from Columbus, but an added insult-to- injury pose that folks are still talking about. Michigan wideout Desmond Howard provided it, striking the Heisman pose in the south end zone of The Big House, following a 93-yard punt-return touchdown that helped bury the Buckeyes. The score gave the Wolverines a 24-3 halftime lead, and armed with a smothering defense, U-M wasn't giving anything back. "I told my friends from Ohio State that if I got in the end zone, I'd do something special for them," Howard said after- ward. He did plenty that was special on the day, snagging recep- tions of 50 and 42 yards, the first of which set up Tyrone Wheatley's six-yard touchdown bolt, closing the scoring just moments into the second half. The Buckeyes needed no convincing about a certain post- season award after what they'd just experienced. "In my opinion, it shouldn't even be a contest who the Heisman Trophy winner is," Ohio State head coach John Coo- per said. "We tried to kick the ball away from him. We tried to kick it out of bounds, but he made a good play. Once he gets the ball in the open field, it's over." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY In Michigan's 1991 victory over Ohio State, wideout Desmond Howard sealed up the Heisman Trophy with three catches for 96 yards, one carry for eight yards, a 16-yard kickoff return and his famous 93-yard punt return that wound up in the end zone. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN

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