If the film “Groundhog Day” happened to have been put in the hands of Wes Craven or another horror film director, it might have looked like this.
One year after Michigan (9-3, 6-3 Big Ten) suffered a beatdown in Ohio Stadium, allowing 62 points, they were primed for revenge. Senior quarterback, offensive talent, statistically strong defense, momentum in the back half of the season, and…
And the Buckeyes (12-0, 9-0) did it again. Ryan Day’s crew made it a nightmare once again, this time 56-27 in front of 112,071 fans, way too many of them clad in scarlet.
The Wolverines hung within a dozen at halftime, 28-16, despite some significant errors. In the second half, the hordes of hades turned up the heat, and Michigan melted.
“It was a good football fight,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh offered. “It got away from us today. Give them credit for playing well.”
In this instance, “well” translates to dominating. The Buckeyes rolled up 577 total yards to Michigan’s 396, outrushing U-M, 264-91.
OSU back J.K. Dobbins did most of that damage, bolting away for 211 yards and four touchdowns, both personal highs. The Wolverines countered with 305 yards and a touchdown through the air from senior QB Shea Patterson (18-of-43 passing), but he went 4 for 24 in the second half, amid a torrent of dropped passes.
“The first half, we came out firing and had things rolling a little bit, offensively,” Patterson said. “It’s very frustrating not to be able to get this win.”
For the second straight year, they didn’t come close.
Michigan came out firing, covering 75 yards in seven plays for a game-opening touchdown. Patterson’s seven-yard toss to sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell (six catches, 78 yards), combined with a late hit out of bounds by OSU cornerback Jeff Okudah, set the Wolverines up at the Buckeyes’ 30.
Two plays later, freshman wideout Giles Jackson jetted into the south end zone on a 22-yard end-around. Redshirt junior placekicker Quinn Nordin missed the extra point, but the Wolverine still served notice, going up 6-0 in the opening 3:17.
The Buckeyes answered right back, taking nine plays to go 75 yards for a touchdown. U-M’s defense had the visitors at third-and-14 from the Michigan 33, but quarterback Justin Fields (14-of-25 passing, 302 yards, four TDs) flipped a short pass over the middle to Dobbins, who got twice the yardage he needed to move the chains.
On the very next play, Dobbins rushed in from five yards out, OSU ripping away the lead and grabbing a 7-6 edge at 8:50 of the first quarter.
Fields then unloaded a 57-yard bomb to Chris Olave, streaking down the eastern sideline behind the Michigan defense. The explosive-play touchdown put OSU in control, 14-6, with 1:27 left in the first quarter.
If the Buckeyes were hoping to see cracks in Michigan’s armor, the Wolverines instead cracked back. They scored on a three-pass, 75-yard drive, Patterson floating one to uncovered senior tight end Sean McKeon for 41 yards before gunning a 25-yard scoring toss to junior wideout Donovan People-Jones (three catches, 69 yards).
The answer arrived with 19 seconds left on the clock in the opening quarter. If the Buckeyes were going to get this one, the Wolverines indicated they’d have to take it.
Ohio State kept demonstrating the capacity to do just that.
Facing second-and-19 in his own territory, Fields again waited behind strong protection and flipped a toss to an uncovered crossing receiver. Garrett Wilson sprinted away 41 yards down to the Michigan 12, and three plays later, Dobbins swept into the end zone from six yards out.
Down 21-13 with 10:12 left in the half, the Wolverines found themselves in a full-fledged shootout. They then dropped the next bullet.
Patterson drove them from their own 22 to the Ohio State nine, but couldn’t hang onto a shotgun snap. The ball tumbled away, Buckeyes defensive tackle Robert Landers corralling it at the OSU 16.
“We knew we were going to have to put up points,” Patterson said. “We needed to score a couple of touchdowns in the red area. The turnover on myself was huge. You can’t fumble the ball down there.”
That one hurt. The next one crushed.
U-M stopped OSU’s march on the succeeding possession — apparently. But on fourth-and-four, senior captain and viper Khaleke Hudson jumped early on the punt, giving the Buckeyes a first down. Two plays later, they celebrated in Michigan’s end zone.
Fields unleashed a 47-yard bomb to Wilson, followed by Dobbins’ five-yard touchdown run. The Buckeyes stood fully in control, 28-13, with 3:15 left in the half.
“The first half was being played pretty tight, and then the difference?” Harbaugh said. “We were down in the red zone and came away with no points. The next drive, we extended their drive on the punt. We gave them that and took some points off the board ourselves. That was a pretty big difference. That was the difference in the first half.”
Michigan refused to give in, driving from its own 25 to the OSU 5. But on third down, Peoples-Jones couldn’t handle an on-the-money throw from Patterson, forcing U-M to settle for Nordin’s 23-yard field goal with 19 seconds left in the half.
What-ifs peppered the Wolverines' 28-16 halftime deficit, but they saw 30 minutes remaining to flip the script.
The Buckeyes had other ideas. They’re writing a script that calls for a ghoul in a red hockey mask to come back every Thanksgiving weekend and kill Michigan’s last game of the regular season.
It took a half-dozen plays of the second half for OSU to again find the end zone. Dobbins’ 41-yard bolt on the first play started the 75-yard drive, and Fields' six-yard TD toss to K.J. Hill Jr. ended it.
“He’s a really good back,” Harbaugh said of Dobbins. “He’s got tremendous ability, and he’s really fast. We made some mistakes in the defense. That particular play, we didn’t have an edge. We got sucked down inside, had a soft edge and he ran around us.”
At 35-16, it looked over for U-M. But with 26:18 remaining, Michigan refused to concede anything.
What the Wolverines thought didn’t matter moments later, when Fields unloaded a scrambling, 30-yard touchdown pass to Wilson. At 42-16 with 3:46 left in the third quarter, there wasn’t a comeback coming.
Nordin did cash in a 45-yard field goal after Wilson muffed a punt, and junior wideout Jake McCurry covered it at the Ohio State 26.
The Wolverines then drove 60 yards in seven plays for a touchdown, redshirt freshman running back Hassan Haskins (12 carries, 78 yards) scoring from two yards out on a wildcat snap, then doing the same with the two-point conversion. At 42-27 with 14:23 left, Michigan saw a glimmer of hope.
That got torn away like a Michigan jersey in Ohio Stadium when the Wolverines failed to make fourth-and-one from their own 29. Haskins’ wildcat attempt got tossed for a one-yard loss.
Three plays later, Fields found wideout Austin Mack for a 16-yard touchdown throw, pushing it back to 49-27 with 10:11 remaining. Moments later, they added a 33-yard Dobbins touchdown run, pushing it to 56-27.
The Wolverines simply couldn’t keep up — again.
“We didn’t really put them in a position to have the pressure on them,” Harbaugh said. “And they played really well. They made those plays, they had those drives, they got those stops. They played good football.”
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