Michigan Takes Home Little Brown Jug with 29-6 Win Over Minnesota
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Michigan snapped a five-game losing streak and won for the first time since September on Saturday. The Wolverines finally clicked both offensively and defensively for an entire game, and the results were tremendous. Michigan defeated Minnesota 29-6 thanks to a dominating defensive effort and a surprisingly great game by Nick Sheridan.
Yes, you read that correctly, Nick Sheridan had an outstanding game. He not only managed the game well, but most of his throws were accurate and put Michigan’s offense in position to score points. Most of those points came on K.C. Lopata field goals, but the Wolverines did punch it into the end zone twice en route to their 29-6 win. With the victory, the Little Brown Jug is guaranteed to stay in Ann Arbor until at least 2011, as the Wolverines and Golden Gophers don’t play again until then.
1st Quarter
- Minnesota opened the game by going three and out, which is how many of their drives turned out on Saturday.
- Michigan faced 3rd and 5 early on, and Greg Mathews came up with a huge play. He hauled in a Nick Sheridan pass with one hand and picked up 28 yards. The big play set up K.C. Lopata to kick a 44-yard field goal, giving Michigan a 3-0 lead.
- Following another Minnesota three and out, Michigan acted like the Golden Gophers and also failed to pick up a first down. However, Zoltan Mesko wasn’t about to let the drive end, and on fourth down he gambled and picked up a first down. Mesko rolled out to punt and immediately took off. He needed 3 yards to move the chains and picked up 7. A defender appeared to be in position to make a tackle that would have given Minnesota the ball inside the Michigan 35, but Mesko got to the corner first and outran him to move the chains.
A big hole opened up for Brandon Minor two plays later, and he took off for 40 yards. Michigan was suddenly on the verge of scoring, but a typical mistake gave Minnesota the ball. Martavious Odoms was hit on a screen pass and fumbled the ball. Minnesota’s Tramaine Brock fell on it to give the Golden Gophers possession.
- The Michigan defense came up with another quick stop and got the offense the ball back with great field position. Michigan took over in Minnesota territory, and Nick Sheridan put the Wolverines in field goal range with a 9-yard pass to Odoms and four runs that combined for 16 yards. The drive did stall following three straight incompletions, but K.C. Lopata came back out and nailed a 34-yard kick to put Michigan on top 6-0.
2nd Quarter
- Both Michigan and Minnesota went three and out on the next three possessions, and when the Wolverines got the ball back we got our first look at Justin Feagin. Feagin switched back to #3 for this game and lined up in the shotgun. He took the snap and ran for 4 yards before Nick Sheridan re-entered the game. Sheridan threw a pass downfield to Sam McGuffie, who made the catch and picked up 39 yards. Sheridan then threw two passes to Toney Clemons that totaled 27 yards and set up Lopata for a 26-yard field goal once the drive stalled. Lopata drilled the kick to make it a 9-point game.
- Minnesota did finally pick up a first down on its next drive, but that was it. Michigan’s defense stepped it up again and forced yet another punt.
- On 3rd and 3 for Michigan, Feagin came back into the game and ran for 34 yards. Every play he was in on was a designed run, but he did a very nice job considering the defense pretty much knew what was coming. A few plays later Sheridan completed an 11-yard pass to Odoms to move the chains, and a face mask penalty on a screen to Odoms gave Michigan an automatic first down and the ball at the Minnesota 12. The Wolverines were again faced with 3rd down after Minor ran for a loss of a yard and Feagin picked up 5. Sheridan kept his cool, though, and found an open Greg Mathews on a slant pass for the touchdown.
- The two teams traded punts to finish the half, and Michigan went into the locker room with a 16-0 lead.
3rd Quarter
- Michigan started off the second half with a 36-yard kick return by Boubacar Cissoko and passes to Martavious Odoms and Darryl Stonum for 15 and 10 yards, respectively. Those three plays and a 7-yard pass to Greg Mathews on 3rd down allowed K.C. Lopata to kick a field goal from 48 yards out. The field goal was Lopata’s fourth of the game, and Michigan now led 19-0.
- Minnesota finally started to move the ball and got all the way down to the Michigan 5 before Brandon Harrison sacked Adam Weber. Harrison came in on a blitz untouched and put the hit on Weber to hold Minnesota to a field goal.
- Following a few passes that picked up a total of 38 yards, we got a look at how explosive Michael Shaw can be. Shaw got a handoff and took off for 48 yards. He navigated his way around defenders and showed some speed as he ran down the field for the big gain. Justin Feagin then came in and ran for 3 and 2 yards before a pass to Odoms on 3rd down was incomplete. That meant that it was time for another field goal, and Lopata again didn’t disappoint. He drilled his fifth kick on the day, this time from 23 yards out, to tie a Michigan record for the most field goals in a single game.
4th Quarter
- Minnesota put together another solid drive as the fourth quarter got underway. They again got down to the 5-yard line before Adam Weber was hit for a loss of 9 yards. He actually fumbled when he got hit, and Obi Ezeh appeared to recover the ball. However, a Minnesota player ultimately came away with it, even though a replay clearly showed that Ezeh had the ball and was on the ground. The Minnesota player came in late and took the ball out of Ezeh’s hands, and the play wasn’t even reviewed. Minnesota only managed to get a field goal out of the drive, but Michigan’s defense lost out on a turnover.
- After a Michigan three and out, Minnesota looked to cut the lead down to one possession. The Golden Gophers were trailing by 16 points at the time, meaning a comeback was still a real possibility. Morgan Trent made sure that wasn’t going to happen, though, as he dove and intercepted a Weber pass right as Minnesota was about to cross into Michigan territory.
- With 7:16 left in the game, the best scenario possible for Michigan was to run the clock down and score. Surprisingly enough, that’s exactly what they did. After a pass to Martavious Odoms on the second play of the drive, Michigan kept it on the ground and let Michael Shaw and Nick Sheridan run the ball. Sam McGuffie did come in once and ran for 14 yards, but it was mainly just Shaw and Sheridan until the final play of the drive. That is when Mark Moundros got a handoff from the 3-yard line and rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown with 34 seconds left. In all, Michigan went 53 yards on 11 plays in 6:42 to essentially end the game.
- Minnesota ran the ball once and let the clock expire to officially end the game. Michigan won 29-6, and a few players went and retrieved the Little Brown Jug and carried it across the field to signify the victory.
Although it is disappointing that it took this long for Michigan to win its third game of the season, the Wolverines certainly looked good doing so. The offense played consistently well all day long, and Nick Sheridan had the game of his life. He went 18-30 and threw for 203 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 33 yards, and most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over at all. There were a few throws early on that could have been picked off, but they weren’t, and that’s all that matters.
On the other side of the ball, the defense played its most impressive game of the season. They prevented Minnesota from doing anything in the first half, and even when the Golden Gophers drove down the field in the second half, all they could get was a pair of field goals. Why the sudden change after they played so poorly last week? I’d say the scheme is why. Michigan played a 4-2 primarily and did a great job of putting pressure on Adam Weber. On top of that, they never gave up any big plays and stopped Minnesota on third down most of the time. It seemed like the defense was able to just go out and play. The scheme itself seemed to be much more simplified than usual, and the results showed that that was a good move by the coaches.
Michigan returns to Ann Arbor next Saturday for its final home game of the season. Northwestern will be Michigan’s opponent, and a win would really be a nice way to send the seniors off. Kickoff is set for noon ET, and the game will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2. Also, the time and TV have been set for the OSU game in two weeks. That game will start at noon and will be broadcast on ABC.
