Jake Thaw looking for redemption during national championship game
Michigan punt returner Jake Thaw made one of the bigger mistakes of the game as well as one of the most crucial plays in the same breath during the Wolverines' win against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
With the game tied and under two minutes left to play in regulation, Thaw was backed up deep in his end ready to receive a punt as the Wolverines looked to put together one final drive to win the game.
Thaw backed up as the punt was well-struck and muffed the punt as the ball slowly dribbled toward the endzone.
With the season, and national championship hopes, on the brink, Thaw redeemed himself with his quick thinking and secured the ball at the one yard line, allowing the Wolverines to run out the clock and take the game to overtime, where the Wolverines would knock off the Tide.
"Initially had my heels at the 10, didn't want to back up past the 8," Thaw said. "When I saw the ball leave the foot, I thought it was going to land at the 10 right where I was standing. If I could do it all over again, I'd run forward and walk away from the ball. Once I did it obviously try to secure the football, strike two, that's two mistakes I made in one play. Tried to do everything I can to not make a bad play worse. I was just lucky that I was able to get on the football. I owe a lot of things to Coach Moore and that offensive line for getting us off the goal line and going out there and winning that football game for us.
"I made the biggest mistake of my life on the biggest stage of my life. It hurts but I am not wavering in confidence. I'm ready for Monday."
While Thaw’s mistake could’ve been catastrophic for the Wolverines, it wasn’t the only mistake on special teams it had last week.
Another muffed punt earlier in the game, a missed field goal and punts that weren’t up to standards, the special teams had an uncharacteristically bad game on all fronts.
Thaw made it clear that the down time leading up to the Rose Bowl didn’t play a factor in the game and is looking for redemption during the national championship game.
"I don't want to put it on the month off," Thaw said. "We practice really hard and Coach Jay puts an emphasis on special teams. I never think we let our guard down. Unfortunately, we had a few bad plays in one game so obviously there's a lot of spotlight that shines on that and we're going to make sure that never happens again, we never want to put our team in that situation. I don't want to speak for any of the guys here who might've made a mistake on special teams and they're all incredible players. I know what they're going to do on Monday, they're going to be perfect.
"As for myself, I want to make sure I never put my team in that situation again."
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