The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/888498
NOVEMBER 2017 THE WOLVERINE 15 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2012: Michi- gan appeared headed for a painful home loss to No. 21 Northwestern Nov. 10, before some last-minute he- roics by quarterback Devin Gardner and wideout Roy Roundtree bought the Wolverines enough time to win, 38-31, in overtime. The Wolverines trailed by a field goal with a mere 18 seconds remain- ing in regulation, finding themselves backed up in their own territory. But they completed a rally from a 10-point second-half deficit when Gardner un- loaded a 53-yard bomb to Roundtree, setting up Brendan Gibbons' 26-yard field goal to tie the game with two seconds remaining. Gardner, who passed for 286 yards and two touchdowns, ran in the win- ning score in overtime on a one-yard bootleg. Roundtree wound up with five catches for 139 yards on the day, boosting Michigan to 5-1 in the Big Ten. "The kids did a nice job staying into the game, staying together," head coach Brady Hoke observed. "The way they reacted on the sideline, the way they were pushing each other and en- couraging each other really tells you something about your team." Roundtree's game-saving catch in- volved his own deflection of the foot- ball, a feat not lost on Gardner. "The thing is, we practiced that exact play in practice and it worked," Gard- ner said. "Obviously, he didn't tip the ball to himself." 10 YEARS AGO, 2007: The 100th meeting between Michigan and Mich- igan State proved a barnburner, the Wolverines rallying to win, 28-24, after allowing 21 straight second-half MSU points in Spartan Stadium on Nov. 3. The Wolverines led 14-3 at the half, but it still took all four of quarterback Chad Henne's school-record-tying quartet of touchdown passes to pull out the victory. That's because the Spartans posted three unanswered touchdowns after intermission, tail- back Jehuu Caulcrick's one-yard blast making it 24-14 with only 7:40 remain- ing in the game. U-M quarterback Chad Henne then went to work, carving up the MSU de- fense by completing 10 of 13 passes for 139 yards with two touchdowns on Michigan's last two chances with the football. He connected with wideout Greg Mathews on a 14-yard TD toss, pulling the Wolverines within three. Henne then lofted a 31-yard touch- down pass to wideout Mario Manning- ham with 2:28 remaining, completing the comeback. Henne completed 18 of 33 passes for 211 yards with four touchdowns, while tailback Mike Hart rushed for 110 yards on 15 tries. Afterward, Hart made a comment he admitted he'd come to regret as years went by. "I was just laughing," noted Hart, who went 4-0 versus the Spartans. "I thought it was funny. They got ex- cited. It's good. Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you're playing basketball and you let him get the lead. Then you come back and take it from him." 25 YEARS AGO, 1992: Michigan football never tasted defeat in 1992, but it was fit to be tied on three sepa- rate occasions. The toughest deadlock might have been the last, a 13-13 tie at Ohio Stadium Nov. 21, even though the contest locked up a fifth consecutive Big Ten title for the Wolverines. The Wolverines lost starting quarter- back Elvis Grbac when OSU blasted him on a five-yard touchdown scam- per early in the second quarter. Grbac suffered a bruised kidney and couldn't continue. "In this stadium, you have to yell," he noted. "I just couldn't yell, because it hurt to take a deep breath." Backup Todd Collins led an 80-yard TD drive late in the third quarter, giving Michigan a 13-3 advantage. But OSU quarterback Kirk Herbstreit rallied the Buckeyes to tie the game on soggy, slick turf. "You can't stand up on the field," U-M head coach Gary Moeller fumed after- wards. "It's a joke. It's a joke. It was like an ice rink." Herbstreit wasn't happy either, at least with the final result. "It feels like a loss to me," he said. "I haven't beaten Michigan yet, and now I'll never be on a team that beats them." Ohio State President Gordon Gee felt otherwise, offering this gem: "This tie is one of our greatest wins ever." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Quarterback Chad Henne threw for 211 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-24 win over Michigan State during the 2007 season. The quartet of scoring throws tied a single-game school record that stood until 2015. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN