Michigan Wolverines football won a triple-overtime thriller over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 48-42, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway Saturday night.
Earlier this season, Rutgers notched its first Big Ten win since 2017, but had lost three straight entering the game against the Wolverines. The Scarlet Knights were close to snapping their losing streak in the first of three overtimes, but failed to do so as junior kicker Valentinio Ambrosio missed a 45-yard field goal for the win.
After U-M missed a kick on the prior possession, the Scarlet Knights only needed three points to win. Head coach Greg Schiano was asked about his decision to run the ball three straight times leading up to the attempt.
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"The two plays [beforehand] we weren’t going to be overly aggressive," Schiano explained postgame. "We thought we could gain yardage, and we did. I guess it was third and six. We just said, ‘Let’s center it.’ That’s where we wanted it, in the middle.
"You know what, sometimes you make ‘em, sometimes you don’t. I definitely thought that was in his range. Just wasn’t tonight — wasn’t meant to be."
Rutgers had lost five straight to U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh's crew and was outscored, 256-37, in those meetings, with four of those five victories coming by at least 33 points. Schiano discussed the heartbreak of coming so close to the team's first signature win since he took back over this year.
"Painful, really painful for our guys and our coaches, but that’s competitive sports — one team’s going to win and one’s going to lose," he said.
U-M made a quarterback switch when down 17-0, with redshirt sophomore Cade McNamara entering the game for redshirt sophomore starter Joe Milton. Milton struggled to 5-of-12 for 89 yards, while McNamara broke out for 260 yards and four touchdown throws on 27-of-36 passing and adding a scoring run. Schiano said it was no shock to see both signal-callers receive snaps in the game.
"We fully expected to see multiple quarterbacks," he said. "That was not a surprise. Certainly, the second quarterback had a little bit more success than the starter, but we planned for both."
On the flip side, Schiano's man behind center, redshirt junior Noah Vedral, also stood out, completing 29-of-43 for 378 yards and three touchdowns.
"I thought Noah played really well," Schiano said. "Certainly statistically, that played out. But I really felt he just executed well."
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