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Manningham, Defense Lead Michigan to 27-13 Win
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Riding a wave of momentum coming from a blowout of Notre Dame just one week ago, the Michigan Wolverines opened up the 2006 Big Ten season today against the Badgers of Wisconsin. Michigan enters the schedule of opposition against conference opponents undefeated for the first time since 1999. For those years since ’99, Michigan had lost their road opener, and then last season a home game to Notre Dame, giving the Wolverines a loss before the first Big Ten game even happened. Things are different in 2006 however; with wins over Vanderbilt, Central Michigan, and Notre Dame, Michigan now can concentrate on a Big Ten and also a national title because of their perfect record thusfar.
To get the Big Ten season started, the undefeated Wisconsin Badgers came to town looking to upset the Wolverines. Michigan would have to prevent a letdown as many times that happens after a big victory. Although the Maize and Blue would end up the winners in this game by a score of 27-13, the team did come out of the gate looking flat. After some adjustments on defense and a few big plays on offense, Michigan got the “W” and can now focus on next week’s game at Minnesota.
Michigan would receive the ball first in this game, and actually did have a pretty good drive going to start things off. The ball was being moved down the field, and the offense looked as though they would get on the scoreboard. But, a mistake by Mario Manningham changed things very quickly. Chad Henne fired a pass right into Manningham’s hands and he appeared to drop it and a Wisconsin defender swooped in for the interception. The Michigan defense would now have to come in and halt Wisconsin after the turnover.
Unfortunately, the defense wouldn’t do anything to halt Wisconsin. The Badgers went right down the field, and on a 3rd & 2, got into the endzone by a 29 yard pass from John Stocco to P.J. Hill. Things got quiet after that touchdown, and Michigan now had some work to do.
The 1st quarter concluded with Wisconsin still on top 7-0, but “Super Mario” would redeem himself soon after to tie things back up. Chad Henne carried things over from the Notre Dame game in the sense that Mario Manningham is his new go-to guy. 3 times they hooked up for a score last week, and in the 2nd quarter of this game, they would find each other for the 1st time today. Henne dropped back to pass and made a perfect throw where only Manningham could catch it. Manningham looked to be interfered with, but nonetheless, still was able to go up and make a great catch for the 24 yard TD reception.
As the 1st half was coming to a close, it appeared that Michigan would be trailing when going into the locker rooms as Wisconsin had the edge by a field goal. The Wolverines were forced to punt the ball away after a drive stalled, and I would’ve guessed that Wisconsin could just use up the last few minutes. Things didn’t go down that way though. Zoltan Mesko boomed a punt down the field, and kicked it so far that the Wisconsin returner was caught in a bad angle to try and make the catch to get a return going. The returner ended up muffing the punt and fumbled. Darnell Hood made a great play to stop a recovery as he leveled the returner. That allowed long snapper Turner Booth enough time to get down the field for a recovery, and gave Michigan a great chance to score.
Michigan would end up scoring on the drive following the turnover on a 31 yard field goal by Garrett Rivas. At the half, the two teams were tied at 10-10 apiece, and to say the least, I was a little disappointed. But, there was still one half left to go, and Michigan could still come out and dominate Wisconsin.
No scoring happened for much of the the 3rd quarter, and the game was actually still tied as the time slowly ticked away. Both Michigan and Wisconsin traded possessions and went back and forth until the Henne to Manningham duo struck again. This time it was from 38 yards out, and was on a 3rd & 4. Henne lofted a pass deep to Manningham and he got the catch and ran into the endzone for the touchdown. That was the 5th time in 2 weeks that Manningham had a TD reception from Chad Henne, and really lifted this Michigan team up and got things rolling.
From that point on, the Wolverines controlled things, and were almost to the part of the game where things could be put out of reach. Mike Hart would get Michigan to that early in the 4th quarter. Hart rumbled into the endzone from 5 yards out, and put away the Badgers once and for all.
A field goal would be added by both teams, and the eventual score would wind up being 27-13 in Michigan’s favor. Things may have been a lot sloppier than hoped, but the important thing is that Michigan got the win, and didn’t have a complete and total letdown after that big win over the Fighting Irish.
Michigan now has to travel to the Metrodome to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Battle for the Little Brown Jug. The revenge tour will continue next Saturday night as Michigan will look to take it to Minnesota to get some redemption for last year’s loss in the Big House. More reaction from this game will be posted on Monday. Until then, thanks for reading and Go Blue!
