Michigan Retains Little Brown Jug in 34-10 Win Over Minnesota

By Sean · Monday, October 29, 2007 · 11:39 PM |  Share | 1 Comment 

As Chad Henne and Mike Hart looked on from the sidelines in street clothes, there was great concern on the faces of everyone in the Big House. The offense couldn’t move the ball and no one knew just how long the defense would be able to stop Minnesota. Concern reached its highest point when Ryan Mallett fumbled the ball right after the snap on the second quarter’s second play and Minnesota picked it up and returned it for a 46-yard touchdown. That gave the Golden Gophers a 10-0 lead, and the only thought running through my mind was, “here we go again.”

Needing to start something immediately, Michigan finally put together a scoring drive to respond to the defensive touchdown by Minnesota. Ryan Mallett hit his receivers and Brandon Minor was picking up solid gains on the runs he had. The biggest play of the drive by far came when Mallett lobbed a pass down the sidelines and Adrian Arrington made a diving catch for a gain of 22. It got Michigan down the field enough to set up a 42-yard field goal by K.C. Lopata. He nailed it to get the Maize and Blue on the board to set up the rout that was slowly about to take place.

Probably the biggest play of the game in the sense of getting momentum fully on Michigan’s side came on the following drive. Minnesota was moving the ball and drove into Michigan territory before quarterback Adam Weber had the ball knocked loose by Chris Graham. Brandon Graham quickly fell on the ball to put it back in the hands of the offense.

Wasting little time to get down the field, Michigan was faced with 3rd and 7 before the Mallett to Manningham connection got started. Mallett again threw a picture perfect long ball, and Manningham sprinted to get under it to make the catch. He did bobble the ball as he was still running, but brought it in for full control to ensure it was a catch. With a gain of 44 on the play, K.C. Lopata again was set up to kick another field goal, this time from 26 yards out after the drive stalled.

After the fumble by Weber, Minnesota’s offense did virtually nothing the rest of the game. This was evident as soon as they got the ball back and promptly went three and out. Just as we had saw on the previous two possessions, Michigan got points they so desperately needed. This time it would thankfully be a touchdown, although the drive did get dangerously close to stalling. First, though, let’s discuss how the TD was set up. Facing another 3rd down, this time with 6 yards needed to get a 1st down, Mallett went to Manningham again. In true Super Mario fashion, Manningham did a spin move as the pass arrived and made the catch at the 5-yard line, good for a gain of 24. Fast forward a few plays later and U-M had 3rd and goal. A pass to Manningham was incomplete, but a blatant pass interference was called on Minnesota to give the Wolverines an automatic 1st down. On the very next play, Brandon Minor scored a TD from 2 yards out by avoiding a defender that could’ve tackled him for a loss but instead missed. That allowed Minor to cut back inside for the TD.

Going into the half with a 13-10 lead was definitely a relief after the start to this game. In fact, it was pretty lucky after disaster almost struck on the half’s second to last play. Despite being at its own 26-yard line and not having much time left, Michigan decided to try to get something. Mallett dropped back and faked a handoff and then lost the ball as he tried to scramble away from a defender. Luckily, a Michigan player fell on it, but if that hadn’t been the case, Minnesota could’ve had another easy defensive touchdown. Not risking anything after that, the Wolverines took a knee and went into the locker room with the lead.

The start to the second half was very slow. After trading punts for much of the third quarter, Michigan finally increased its lead after Mallett and Manningham connected again. Mallett hit Super Mario on another deep ball to get U-M down the field 48 yards and to more importantly build momentum. After the pass to Manningham, Carlos Brown had two great runs and got into the endzone for a touchdown on the second one. With the score, Michigan’s lead went up to 20-10.

Still needing to put the game out of reach, who else but Super Mario to do the job. Following yet another 3 and out by Minnesota, Ryan Mallett went deep to Manningham for 40 yards and the touchdown. Another picture perfect pass and another picture perfect catch. Wolverines lead 27-10. Although the game was really out of reach at this point as Minnesota’s offense really went nowhere yet again, Carlos Brown decided to put the icing on the cake two plays into the next Michigan possession. Finding a hole, Brown showed off his great speed and simply outran the entire Minnesota defense, running 89 yards down the field for an exciting touchdown. With the score at 34-10, Michigan was able to empty its bench (David Cone even got to throw a pass on the final play of the game) and leave the Big House field with a comfortable victory despite the rough start.

Michigan will now look for its 8th straight win this Saturday in the annual rivalry game against Michigan State. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on ABC in East Lansing. Beat the Sparties and Go Blue!