Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the second time in the last three years, thousands of fans sporting maize and blue hopped the railings at Michigan Stadium and flooded the field to celebrate a monumental victory.
After losing eight consecutive games to Ohio State from 2012-19 amid a streak of 15 defeats in 16 attempts overall, Michigan has thoroughly rewritten the script by winning the last three against the Buckeyes.
Saturday’s 30-24 win was far less lopsided than the blowouts Michigan’s fans enjoyed in 2021 and 2022, but the fact remains that the Wolverines never trailed in a game they controlled most of the way.
Even without head coach Jim Harbaugh, who reportedly watched from home, Michigan advanced to the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.
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Find out who rose to the occasion and who faded in a special edition of the Big Ten Stock Watch breaking down The Game:
HOW TO WATCH THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME THIS SATURDAY
- 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. ET: Big Ten championship pregame show on FOX
- 8 p.m. ET: Michigan vs. Iowa on FOX and the FOX Sports app
STOCK UP
Sherrone Moore, acting coach, Michigan: Despite the expiration of Harbaugh’s latest three-game suspension, which ended when the Wolverines beat Ohio State on Saturday afternoon, there are still plenty of unknowns about the future leadership of Michigan’s football program. Will Harbaugh inquire about opportunities in the NFL for a third consecutive offseason? If he leaves for an opportunity in the pros, which of the Wolverines’ assistant coaches would he bring with him? Would Michigan still offer Harbaugh a contract extension despite a pair of ongoing NCAA investigations into recruiting violations and the sign-stealing operation orchestrated by former analyst Connor Stalions? How long of a suspension could Harbaugh face in 2024 if he decides to remain in Ann Arbor?
None of those questions are likely to be answered in the short term as Michigan prepares for a third consecutive berth in the Big Ten Championship game and, potentially, a third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff. But the totality of what Moore has accomplished in four games and four wins as acting coach this season suggests the Wolverines have found their future leader regardless of when Harbaugh departs. By beating Ohio State in the fashion that Moore did on Saturday — with an aggressive and creative game plan, with a collection of players that is fully mobilized behind the acting coach, with the passion and emotion he’s been known for since joining Harbaugh’s staff in 2018 — he proved to athletic director Warde Manuel and university president Santa Ono that promoting from within is a viable option. If Harbaugh leaves for the NFL, there’s a good chance Moore would be the top candidate to replace him.
Sherrone Moore speaks after Michigan’s win over Ohio State
Marvin Harrison Jr., wide receiver, Ohio State: There were plenty of areas where the Buckeyes fell short during Saturday’s crushing loss, but the performance of their best offensive weapon wasn’t one of them. In a game when everyone knew quarterback Kyle McCord would look to Harrison early and often, the star receiver caught five passes for 118 yards and a score. It was Harrison’s eighth 100-yard outing of the season overall and the sixth time he’s topped the century mark in his last eight games. He finished the regular season with 67 catches for 1,211 yards and 14 scores, and it’s unclear whether he’ll suit up for Ohio State again. With the Buckeyes unlikely to make the College Football Playoff, there’s a decent chance Harrison’s final collegiate game was the loss to Michigan. He may choose to skip a lesser bowl to protect himself for the 2024 NFL Draft.
And if Saturday’s showdown in Michigan Stadium really was Harrison’s last appearance for the Buckeyes, he certainly went out with a bang by flashing the breadth and depth of his skill set: a beautiful adjustment on a back-shoulder throw against tight coverage; a breathtaking one-handed catch for 44 yards as Michigan cornerback Will Johnson interfered with Harrison along the way; an open-field spin move to dip away from Johnson and move the chains; a savvy grab between defenders against zone coverage along the sideline; an explosive run after the catch for a 14-yard touchdown in which he outraced the Wolverines’ defense. There wasn’t much else he could have done to give the Buckeyes a chance.
Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. breaks open for a 14-yard TD
Michigan‘s offensive line: No segment of Michigan’s roster better embodies the ethos Moore has channeled as Michigan’s acting coach than the offensive line, a position he’s coached the last three years and a group that’s been honored with the Joe Moore Award in back-to-back seasons. Each week, Moore challenges his linemen to play like “dogs” in a pregame ritual popularized by social media, and more often than not, the Wolverines rise to the occasion by leaning on their run-heavy style and oversized formations to break an opponent’s will. It was the formula Michigan relied on during lopsided wins over Ohio State in 2021 and 2022, and it was the formula in this year’s version of The Game as Moore called 39 runs for 156 yards and two scores while the 20 passes from quarterback J.J. McCarthy netted 148 yards and one touchdown.
There are two moments that stood out from Saturday’s game as it relates to Michigan’s offensive line. The first was a season-ending injury suffered by right guard Zak Zinter, the unit’s best player, whose left leg was crumpled in the third quarter. Zinter was carted off the field and underwent emergency surgery to address multiple broken bones, according to a message disseminated by his family. It’s impossible to predict how a team will respond to witnessing that kind of gruesome injury, especially when it fells a player of Zinter’s import, but the Wolverines fired back with a 22-yard touchdown run from tailback Blake Corum on the very next play.
The second moment came a few minutes later, in the fourth quarter, during a season-defining drive that milked seven minutes off the clock to push the Buckeyes to the brink. With right tackle Karsen Barnhart moving inside to fill Zinter’s spot and reserve lineman Trente Jones replacing Barnhart, the Wolverines’ road graders helped Corum and fellow tailback Donovan Edwards move the chains three times in backbreaking fashion. The drive ended with a 37-yard field goal from James Turner to extend Michigan’s lead to six with barely a minute remaining.
Michigan’s Blake Corum rushes for a 22-yard TD
Rod Moore, safety, Michigan: During a postgame news conference in which his eyes were shielded by the sunglasses distributed to any Wolverine defender who forces a turnover, Moore was asked if the ending to Saturday’s win felt like a dream come true for him. The question was referring to Moore’s game-clinching interception with 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on a fluttering throw from McCord. And it was also referring to the fact that Moore, now a junior, was born and raised in Ohio and never got recruited by Ohio State. “Dream come true,” Moore said without hesitation.
Moore was a three-star prospect from Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio, who was rated the No. 506 overall player and the No. 40 safety in the 247Sports Composite. Roughly half of his scholarship offers came from schools outside the Power 5 conferences. He committed to Michigan over the likes of Cincinnati, Duke, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin, among others, while checking in as the seventh-best player in Harbaugh’s 2021 recruiting class.
But Moore impressed Michigan’s coaches with his immediate commitment to film study after arriving in Ann Arbor, consistently logging more film hours on his iPad than virtually everyone on the Wolverines’ roster. Slowly but surely, he added enough muscle to his wiry frame to develop into a reliable starter on the back end of Michigan’s defense over the last two years. Then on Saturday, he finished second on the team in tackles with five — all of which were solo efforts — and graded out as the second-best defender behind defensive lineman Mason Graham, according to Pro Football Focus. Plus the game-winning interception he’ll never forget.
Chris Howard reacts to Rod Moore’s game-clinching interception
STOCK DOWN
Ryan Day, head coach, Ohio State: It’s difficult to imagine exactly what Day was feeling on the Buckeyes’ sideline as Michigan’s offense chewed up minute after minute of clock in the closing stages of the fourth quarter. Players along the Wolverines’ bench began to celebrate what they anticipated would be a third straight win over Ohio State. The crowd noise swelled louder and louder with each Michigan first down as more than 110,000 fans reveled in an achievement that hasn’t happened this century. And then there was Day, watching and waiting and pacing as reality eventually sunk in: he was about to become the first Ohio State coach to lose three in a row to Michigan since John Cooper in the 1990s.
There are losses and then there are losses. When the Buckeyes fell short during last year’s national semifinal against Georgia, a game in which Day used an ultra-aggressive plan to spark one of the best offensive performances of the 2022 season, an Ohio State fan base foaming at the mouth was willing to give its head coach a brief reprieve. But the version of Day that showed up at Michigan Stadium on Saturday was far from the gun-slinging coach fans saw in the Peach Bowl. Instead, the version of Day who suffered a third consecutive loss to Michigan was cautious, conservative and without the kinds of ingenious wrinkles that should be saved for games of this magnitude. From his poor decision to drain the clock at the end of the first half to his refusal to take risks the way Michigan converted all three of its fourth-down tries, Day appeared to be coaching like he didn’t want to lose. His counterpart, meanwhile, was coaching like he wanted to win.
Will Ryan Day stay with Ohio State?
Ohio State‘s defense: Based on the way defensive coordinator Jim Knowles deployed his safeties this season, the Buckeyes’ plan for eliminating the explosive plays that doomed them in losses to Michigan and Georgia last season grew increasingly clear. No matter what, they were going to keep the opposing offense in front of them by always protecting the deep middle of the field. No more blown coverages without help over the top. No more running plays that exploded into marathon touchdowns because the defensive backs were too tight to the line of scrimmage. As a result, the Buckeyes entered The Game having allowed the fewest gains over 40 yards of any team in the country, with just one such play surrendered all season.
The cruel irony from Saturday’s loss is that once again Knowles’ defense prevented the big plays he was so desperate to avoid. Michigan’s longest run was the 22-yard touchdown by Corum. Its longest pass was a 34-yard trick play from Edwards to tight end Colston Loveland. But when it mattered most — when the Buckeyes were trailing by a field goal in the fourth quarter and needed to stand tall by getting Michigan’s offense off the field — Ohio State got pushed around in the trenches for a third straight year. If last year’s lengthy touchdown runs by Edwards formed the memories that haunted Knowles all offseason, then Michigan’s 13-play, 56-yard march that milked seven of the final eight minutes off the clock will be his nightmare from now until the 2024 campaign. He still doesn’t have the right answers.
Michigan‘s wide receivers: For the third time in the last three years, Michigan is on the verge of winning a Big Ten title and qualifying for the College Football Playoff despite an underwhelming receiving corps that must raise its level of play in the postseason. McCarthy and Edwards combined to throw for 182 yards and one touchdown in Saturday’s win over Ohio State, but Loveland and fellow tight end AJ Barner were responsible for more than 62% of the yardage against the No. 1 pass defense in the country (147.4 yards per game). The mismatches Michigan created for its tight ends against Ohio State’s linebackers and safeties overshadowed another pedestrian performance from the wideouts on a massive stage.
Consider the production from Michigan’s receivers: Roman Wilson caught three passes for 36 yards and a score. Cornelius Johnson caught four passes for 33 yards with just a single yard after the catch. The only other wideout to snare a pass was true freshman Semaj Morgan, whose single reception lost 5 yards on a screen that was blown up by the Buckeyes. The longest gain from McCarthy to a wide receiver was the 22-yard touchdown pass to Wilson courtesy of a threaded throw against double coverage. Any semblance of a vertical passing attack was nonexistent on an afternoon when McCarthy finished 0-for-2 on passes traveling at least 20 yards downfield. In total, 16 of his 20 passes were thrown to targets within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, according to Pro Football Focus. It’s something to watch as the Wolverines continue their push for a national title.
Michigan beats Ohio State again: Let’s break it down
Tommy Eichenberg, inside linebacker, Ohio State: After his team disposed of Minnesota in Week 12, Day told reporters that Eichenberg, who had missed several games with an arm injury, would finally return to the field against Michigan. Eichenberg had been desperate to face the Gophers on Senior Day two weeks ago, Day said, and joked that their conversation about resting him until The Game nearly devolved into a fistfight. That’s how badly Eichenberg, who was a second-team All-America selection last season, wanted to play regardless of the potential long-term consequences.
As promised, Eichenberg was back in the starting lineup against Michigan, albeit with a clunky brace on his injured arm. But rather than punctuating his fifth and final season with an emphatic win over an arch rival, Eichenberg turned in arguably his worst performance of the year on an afternoon when the Wolverines exploited his lack of speed and poor coverage skills time and time again.
Though Eichenberg’s final tally of seven tackles was tied with safety Sonny Styles for second on the team, the underlying numbers from his performance told a far different story. Saturday marked just the second time this season that Eichenberg was charged with multiple missed tackles in a single game, according to Pro Football Focus, and his whiff on Loveland after a short pass over the middle led to a lengthy gain that set up a Michigan field goal in the third quarter. The Wolverines completed all three passes they attempted with Eichenberg as the primary defender and turned those receptions into 55 yards, which accounted for more than one-third of McCarthy’s passing yardage. Eichenberg’s overall defensive grade of 47.7 on Pro Football Focus was his worst of the season and his lowest against a Power 5 opponent since 2021.
Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.
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