Wolverines Take Back Little Brown Jug in 28-14 Win

By Sean · Monday, October 2, 2006 · 3:48 PM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

Photo Courtesy of Eric Bronson, ©Wolverine Photo

Looking to cap off a perfect month of September, and also take back the oldest trophy in college football, Michigan headed to the Metrodome Saturday night for a showdown with Minnesota. The two teams have a rivalry dating back to the early-1900′s, which is where the Little Brown Jug originally came from. Way back then, Fielding H. Yost left a water jug he brought at Minnesota. He wanted it back, and when he confronted Minnesota about it, they said he would have to come and win to get possession of it again. And so started the rivalry.

You could almost use that historic story as a metaphor for what needed to be accomplished this season against Minnesota. In 2005, the Gophers won the jug back for the first time in many years all because of a late 60+ yard run, and now Michigan would have to go and win it back. One thing the Wolverines would have to be careful about is not falling to the upset. Although Michigan usually doesn’t have many problems with Minnesota (excluding 2005), you never know what could happen. The Metrodome especially isn’t an easy place to win. The last time the Wolverines visited it took the biggest comeback in school history to pull off the victory.

The Maize and Blue came into the game with a plan of how to run the offense, and the smartness behind it was shown off. Establishing the run early on was very successful, and that opened up the passing game on a vulnerable Minnesota secondary. Mike Hart charged down the field for run after run, slowly, but effectively moving the chains. The first strike of the game would eventually come on a 16 yard touchdown pass from Chad Henne to Adrian Arrington, the first of the young receiver’s career. With that, Michigan had an early 7-0 advantage.

Minnesota’s offense had been good as well thusfar in the season. In every game they had scored on their first possession, so it would be a test for the Michigan defense to see if they could hold them to a punt. The Golden Gophers attack was strong on the first play, but the drive didn’t go anywhere as the UM defense put the clamps on.

After trading possessions for a few series, the Wolverines passing attack opened up again. The same two players hooked up again, this time dialing the distance from 37 yards out for the touchdown. Adrian Arrington hauled in a perfect pass from Chad Henne, and gave Michigan a 14-0 lead just as the second quarter had gotten underway. Adrian Arrington’s first and second career receptions for a touchdown came in the early part of this game. It’s never a bad thing to have added targets when going through the air.

To prevent falling in too deep of a hole, Minnesota came out on the proceeding drive and got a passing attack of their own going. They moved the ball down the field, and then got on the board for the first time with a spectacular catch by Logan Payne from 21 yards out. The initial call signaled that he was out of bounds in the corner of the endzone, but the play was reviewed and the officials correctly overturned the ruling and changed it to a TD.

The scoring for the first half wasn’t done just yet. Chad Henne continued to look impressive as he went for a third touchdown pass in only two quarters. This time, he went to his go-to guy, Mario Manningham. Super Mario got some separation from the defender with his cut move, and was open enough to make the 41 yard touchdown grab. At the half, Wolverines hold a lead of 21-7.

Going into the second half, it appeared that some adjustments were made in the locker room. For starters, the defense, just as they had done in the previous games, came out aggressively and shutdown the Minnesota offense. I don’t know what Ron English says to those guys, but whatever it is works. The defense was stellar up until the last few minutes (more on that later). The offense changed its focus from a score as much as you can attitude to more of a ball control and run out the clock style. The ball was run even more than the first half, and even though the points don’t reflect it, still was successful.

Michigan did move the ball down the field, and although a few drives stalled out and forced a punt, the defense didn’t miss a beat and continued to hold the Gophers to nothing. The only time until the next score when Michigan did have a chance to add some points to the lead was when they got down inside the 5 yard line. The ball couldn’t be punched into the endzone, so a field goal try was upcoming. Mr. consistently inconsistent, Garrett Rivas, came in and shanked a 22 yarder that really was a chip shot. He has been fairly good this season, but it’s just those little things that upsets me.

Even so, Michigan still was doing great on defense, and eventually did setup a 1 yard touchdown run by Kevin Grady. By the time the TD was scored, there was only five minutes and some change left to go in the game, so a comeback really would have to be a miracle.

Well aware that the clock was a factor, Bryan Cupito led the Gophers down the field in just over a minute to add their second score of the game. Just as the first, it was a 21 yard pass to Logan Payne. Payne had to do some running after the catch on this one, but managed to find the endzone.

With the small amount of time left, an onside kick would be necessary. And that’s just the thinking Minnesota had. The Golden Gophers caught a break when Steve Breaston mishandled the kick before it had even gone 10 yards, and opened up the opportunity for a recovery. It would now be up to the Michigan defense to knock down any chance of a comeback that Minnesota had. To put it bluntly, I was starting to get a little nervous at this point. Shades of 2005 crept back into my memory, and all I could think about was blowing the lead.

Luckily, it was Ron English and not Jim Herrmann standing on the sidelines. Bryan Cupito did complete a 26 yard pass on the opening play of the drive to put Minnesota in good field position, but the defense rebounded and was able to hold the Gophers on 4th down. That almost fully put the game away, but one more big play was still to come.

On a 3rd down and 3 to go for Michigan, they needed that 1st down to fully take home a victory. Who better to go to than Mike Hart? Hart got the handoff and made a couple of great moves and somehow busted a short scamper into a 54 yard rumble down and across the field. Thanks to a couple of blocks by Michigan receivers, Hart tacked on a chunk of extra yardage and sealed the Maize and Blue victory.

Once the clock officially ran down, the Wolverines went over as a team to reclaim the trophy that should’ve never left their possession in the first place. The Little Brown Jug is back in Ann Arbor for at least another year. With the 28-14 victory, Michigan improves to 5-0 for the first time since 1999. Throughout the month of September, Michigan never lost once, and finally has got the season going in the right direction.

The next game on the schedule is nothing to look past. Even though the Spartans of Michigan State did lose to Illinois this past weekend, you can never doubt a rivalry game. No matter how bad a team plays one week, they could always step it up knowing that these type of bragging rights are on the line. It’ll be a 4:30 start at the Big House this Saturday for the annual Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Trophy, don’t miss it.