Michigan Collapses Again in Second Half in 45-24 Loss to Wisconsin

By Sean · Wednesday, November 18, 2009 · 12:53 PM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

(The better late than never recap of the Wisconsin game.)

Just like the last couple of games, Michigan collapsed in the second half against Wisconsin on Saturday and went on to lose 45-24.  Unlike the Illinois and Purdue games, Michigan was not ahead of Wisconsin at halftime, but a 4-point deficit was better than what I personally expected going into Saturday.  In the first half, Michigan was playing well on offense and keeping the major mistakes to a minimum on defense initially.  It wasn’t a perfect half by any means, but Michigan was playing well and was in the game.

In the second half, it was all Wisconsin.  Michigan’s offense kept it close initially, but they couldn’t keep up and failed to do anything in the fourth quarter.  Wisconsin, on the other hand, scored points each time it had the ball (3 touchdowns and 1 field goal).  It was a dominate performance by the Badgers and another disappointing one by the Wolverines.

1st Quarter

• Michigan got the ball first and we quickly found out that the rumors about Tate Forcier not starting were false.  Denard Robinson technically started, but as a running back, not a quarterback.  He gained no yards on the first play of the game, and following a short pass to Roy Roundtree, Forcier ran for a loss of 5 on third down.
• Wisconsin quickly lit up Michigan’s defense.  Scott Tolzien found Isaac Anderson for a gain of 27 on the Badgers’ first offensive play of the game, and a roughing the passer penalty on Brandon Graham gave them 15 free yards.  Tolzien ran for 12 yards on the next play, and then a pair of 2-yard runs by John Clay made it 3rd and 6.  Tolzien found Garrett Graham for a 22-yard touchdown, putting the Badgers up 7-0.
• Michigan answered with a very impressive drive filled with third-down conversions.  Facing 3rd and 4 early in the drive, Brandon Minor got the ball and ran for 14 yards.  A few plays later it was 3rd and 8 and Greg Mathews made a catch for a gain of 17.  After a loss of 4 on a run by Michael Shaw and a loss of 10 on a sack, it was 3rd and 24.  Forcier extended the play by scrambling out of the pocket and found Roy Roundtree, who made an excellent catch for a gain of 26.  A couple plays later Vincent Smith caught a pass out of the backfield and ran 21 yards for a touchdown to tie the game up at 7.
• Brandon Graham made up for his roughing the passer penalty on the last drive by roughing the passer again, except in legal fashion this time.  The Badgers had 3rd and 13, and Graham put a hit on Scott Tolzien at the 3-yard line.  Tolzien got rid of the ball, but he was flagged for intentional grounding, so Graham got credit for the sack, which set Michigan up for great field position at the Wisconsin 37.  Junior Hemingway did his best to make the fair catch as tough as possible, but he thankfully held on to the ball.
• Vincent Smith kept on making plays by both catching and running the ball, and Michigan quickly moved down inside the 10-yard line.  Tate Forcier moved the chains on 3rd and 1, giving Michigan 1st and goal at the 6.  Brandon Minor ran the ball for 3 and 2 yards, making it 3rd and goal at the 1.  The smart play would have been to give the ball to Minor a third time, but Forcier ran a draw to the right and was brought down for a loss of a yard.  Michigan took a delay of game penalty to make the field goal attempt a bit easier, but Wisconsin declined it.  (Why not just false start on purpose, which Wisconsin can’t decline?)  Forcing Michigan to deal with the tough angle proved to be smart, because Jason Olesnavage’s field goal from 19 yards out was blocked.  A combination of poor blocking and a low kick led to the block, which gave Wisconsin the ball on its 8-yard line.
• Jordan Kovacs bailed out the field goal unit by picking off an errant Scott Tolzien pass on 3rd and 8.  Kovacs’ diving interception gave Michigan the ball back at the 25-yard line.

2nd Quarter

• Michigan went three and out after the interception, but Jason Olesnavage’s field goal from 37 yards out was good, putting the Wolverines on top 10-7.
• Wisconsin moved the ball into Michigan territory on its next drive, but the defense stood tough and came up with a stop.  The Badgers faced 4th and 20 at the Michigan 45, and the punt return unit made yet another mistake.  Brandon Smith and Jon Conover nearly blocked the punt, but the two of them couldn’t avoid the punter, leading to a personal foul and an automatic first down.  The defense fell apart after the penalty, letting John Clay and Lance Kendricks move the ball on the ground.  Eventually it was a Tolzien pass to Nick Toon in the end zone that gave the lead back to Wisconsin.  Tolzien threw a beautiful pass right to the edge of the end zone and a wide open Toon made the catch for the touchdown.
• Michigan picked up a couple third-down conversions on its next drive before Tate Forcier was sacked on 3rd and 6, leading to the end of the drive.  Zoltan Mesko’s punt went to the 25-yard line, which is where Wisconsin took over.
• Facing 3rd and 10 after a pair of incompletions, Scott Tolzien got annihilated by Brandon Graham.  The ball came out because of the hit, and Ryan Van Bergen picked it up and ran 14 yards for a touchdown.  Suddenly Michigan led 17-14 thanks to the defense, and momentum was on the Wolverines’ side.
• Unfortunately the defense reverted back to its usual ways on the next drive.  Scott Tolzien completed a 36-yard pass to Nick Toon and then found Garrett Graham for a gain of 23.  John Clay later ran down to the 1 on a gain of 2 yards, and he scored a touchdown on the next play.  Clay jumped in hopes of extending the ball over the plane of the goal line, and a touchdown was signaled almost as soon as he got off the ground.  It looked like Brandon Graham basically caught him and slammed him to the ground before the ball broke the plane of the goal line, but a review upheld the call and made the score 21-17 in favor of Wisconsin.
• Tate Forcier completed 4 straight passes and ran for 5 yards after the second one to move Michigan up to its 42-yard line.  The last pass went for no gain and was followed up by an incompletion, and Vincent Smith only picked up 4 yards on a catch on third down.  That made it 4th and 6, and Michigan called timeout with a few seconds left to attempt a Hail Mary.  Denard Robinson actually came in for the Hail Mary, and the pass was incomplete, ending the half.

3rd Quarter

• Wisconsin opened the second half with a fumble forced by Jordan Kovacs, but Garrett Graham fell on it.  After that, John Clay ran for 21 yards, and soon after, Scott Tolzien found Nick Toon for a gain of 21 more yards.  A holding penalty backed the Badgers up 10 yards, but Tolzien completed passes for gains of 18 and 14 yards to quickly make the penalty irrelevant.  Tolzien eventually found Toon in the end zone again, this time from 15 yards out, for a Wisconsin touchdown.  Toon made a great catch even though he was interfered with, and Wisconsin now had an 11-point lead.
• A solid return by Darryl Stonum gave Michigan the ball at its 40-yard line.  Tate Forcier found Greg Mathews for a gain of 25 on the first play of the drive, but it looked like the drive had stalled after Forcier’s pass to Roy Roundtree only went for a yard on 3rd and 10.  Michigan was at Wisconsin’s 34-yard line and decided to go for it, though.  I didn’t like the move at the time because a field goal would have made it a one-possession game, but going for it in this situation turned out to be a great call because Forcier completed a 14-yard pass to Junior Hemingway.  Vincent Smith then ran for 4 and 6 yards, and Forcier connected with Roundtree for a 10-yard touchdown.  Michigan was back in it, trailing only 28-24.
• It looked like this game was about to really become a shootout, but Michigan didn’t score another point after the Roundtree touchdown.  The same couldn’t be said for Wisconsin, though.  The Badgers went down the field in 8 plays, thanks in part to a 33-yard run by John Clay and a 15-yard pass to Isaac Anderson, and Lance Kendricks scored on an 8-yard reception.
• Michigan’s next drive looked promising after Tate Forcier ran for 15 yards on 3rd and 9, but Vincent Smith was flagged for a chop block.  The penalty negated the play and made it 3rd and 17, and a heave downfield by Forcier was picked off at Wisconsin’s 40.

4th Quarter

• Wisconsin took 10 plays to turn the interception into points of its own, this time sticking to the ground to move the ball.  John Clay, Montee Ball, and Zach Brown were responsible for getting the ball down to the 1, and Scott Tolzien punched it into the end zone on a quarterback sneak.  Wisconsin now led 42-24, and it was obvious that this game was over after Michigan went three and out on its next drive.
• The Badgers got the ball back with just under 10 minutes left in the game and took 8 minutes off the clock on a drive where every play was a run.  Michigan finally made a stop when Wisconsin got down to the 9-yard line, so the good news was that Wisconsin only managed to add a field goal to its lead.
• Denard Robinson came in at quarterback for the final drive of the game and picked up gains of 23, 6, and 7 yards on the ground.  He also found LaTerryal Savoy for a gain of 6, but eventually Michigan turned the ball over on downs as the clock expired.  Wisconsin won 45-24, and it was another second-half meltdown for Michigan.

This game basically reinforced what we already know.  Brandon Graham is good.  The defense in general is not.  The offense is great when everybody is clicking.  When it’s not the drive usually only lasts a few plays.

Michigan managed to keep it close and trailed 28-24 in the third quarter, but the defense couldn’t get a stop and Wisconsin made adjustments to slow down’s Michigan’s offense.  That chop block penalty on Vincent Smith was Michigan’s own doing and was the beginning of the end, but to Wisconsin’s credit, it played great defense simply by controlling the ball and not even letting Michigan’s offense onto the field for most of the fourth quarter.

Michigan’s season now comes down to one game.  A loss would surprise nobody and would mean for another bowl-less season.  It would be the end to a season that has provided two straight months of disappointment, and it would start what will be a very long offseason without a bowl.  A win, on the other hand, would make the season.  Not only would Michigan be headed to a bowl game, but the losing streak to Ohio State would also finally be over.  Rich Rodriguez would eliminate quite a bit of criticism by simply beating Ohio State, and a win would certainly make for a much less volatile offseason.

Kickoff is set for noon on ABC.