Facing an Army overrun, Michigan called out the cavalry just in time.
A host of Wolverine defenders charged over the hill, swarming Army quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. Sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and junior defensive end Kwity Paye hit him, raking the ball away to preserve Michigan’s 24-21, double-overtime win.
A field goal in the second OT gave the Wolverines their first lead on a big-scare afternoon at The Big House. It also left the Black Knights a touchdown away from a trophy-case victory.
That’s when the defense stepped in to hammer Hopkins, with senior linebacker Josh Uche and Paye scrambling to secure the football.
“We were just in our base defense,” Hutchinson said. “I don’t recall anything that happened. I just remember hitting the quarterback. Whatever I did, hopefully it was good.
“All I know is, we hit the quarterback, the ball came free, and at that moment, I knew it was game. I just started running and celebrating.”
So did a host of relieved and jubilant Wolverines. They sprinted toward the Michigan student section to celebrate a victory after turning the ball over three times in the first half and on downs twice in the fourth quarter.
Houdini had nothing on this escape.
“That’s how you fight,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “That’s how you scratch and claw. Both teams did that. … Our team, the way they hung in there, their courage, their resilience, their sharpness of mind, it seems to be at a little higher level this year with this ball club.”
The head coach also knows his 2-0 team is only a play away from being 1-1, with a shocker of a loss. But it isn’t, and he’ll take it into a bye week unblemished — at least on the bottom line.
Senior quarterback Shea Patterson hit 19 of 29 throws for 207 yards to help his team survive, but lost two big fumbles early. Freshman tailback Zach Charbonnet carried 33 times for 100 yards and three touchdowns, but found himself overrun on two fourth-down plays in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Army (1-1) just kept plugging away, putting the ball in their air just five times all afternoon. Running back Connor Slomka carried 29 times for 92 yards, while Hopkins ran for 41 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for 43 yards.
Only a missed Army field goal from the 50 as time expired even got Michigan to overtime.
“We just saw it as another opportunity,” Hutchinson said. “We went out there and tried our hardest to block it. We didn’t do it, but they ended up missing it. That’s another opportunity, and we took advantage of it.”
Army ran through the Wolverines on the opening possession of overtime. Michigan’s defense jumped offside on third-and-four to keep the march alive. Hopkins then picked his way around the left end from six yards out for a TD, putting Michigan’s back against the wall at 21-14.
U-M matched that TD, Patterson hitting sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell (seven catches, 81 yards) for nine yards on a key third-and-six. Army then interfered with redshirt sophomore wideout Tarik Black on a slant, setting up Charbonnet’s game-tying three-yard TD run.
“You line up, you see the sticks, and you understand — you’ve got to get the first down,” Bell said. “Shea did a good job of scanning the field and finding me, making plays the way he does.”
Three straight Patterson incompletions led to sophomore Jake Moody’s 43-yard field goal to open the second overtime. Michigan’s first lead of the game still loomed precarious, with Army getting a chance to win it.
“We knew the game was on the line,” Hutchinson said. “The offense kicked a field goal. We knew if they scored [a touchdown], it’s game. We all came together as one unit. As I said before the season started, this is a tight unit. Those are my brothers out there. We came together, and we did what we do.”
A wild-and-scoreless fourth quarter set up the overtime. Michigan eschewed a 37-yard field goal attempt for a fourth-down handoff to Charbonnet that Army absolutely buried. Michigan’s next possession took it inside Army territory, but the Black Knights lanced Charbonnet again on fourth-and-two, setting Army up at its own 42.
The Black Knights drove to the Michigan 33, but the 50-yard field goal attempt by freshman kicker Cole Talley to win it fell short.
Harbaugh noted the charts advocated going for it on both fourth-down chances.
“Our analytics had it that the best thing to do if we got in that situation, fourth-and-three from that distance, was to go for it,” he said. “Ended up being fourth-and-two, and we didn’t convert. Same with the second one. It was a fourth-and-two, and fourth-and-two analytics told us to go for it and we didn’t make it again.”
A swing and a miss on both occasions left the Wolverines thankful for overtime, and another chance.
For the second straight game, Michigan dug its own hole early via slippery fingers. After driving the Wolverines into Army territory on Michigan’s first possession, Patterson got spun around on the pass rush, seeing the ball squirt out onto the turf.
Army dove on it, and 10 plays later the Black Knights were in the end zone. They never once threw the football, running back Kell Walker’s 31-yard bolt setting up Sandon McCoy’s one-yard touchdown plunge over the left side at 5:01 of the first quarter.
“The first fumble we missed a protection,” Harbaugh said. “Then Shea got loose with the ball. That caused that fumble.”
The Wolverines struck back following an apparent stall out later in the quarter. They lined up to punt on fourth down at their own 47, but redshirt freshman linebacker Michael Barrett — the up man on the punt team — took a direct snap and floated a pass to freshman safety Daxton Hill, who bolted down the western sideline.
The play went for 25 yards, and Patterson followed it up with a 24-yard strike to redshirt junior tight end Nick Eubanks. Charbonnet ran the touchdown in from two yards out, finishing off a 70-yard TD drive kept alive via the nifty trickery.
Michigan could have scored on the very next play from scrimmage — and 111,474 in the stands were convinced they did. Walker dropped a pitch from Hopkins, senior safety Josh Metellus scooping up the football and rolling into the end zone from 21 yards out amid a caravan of Wolverines.
Officials ruled Metellus down when he picked the ball up. Despite replays showing the U-M defensive back clearly making a clean scoop and score, officials blew the play dead, rendering the play immune to challenge. One play later, a golden opportunity died with it.
Nobody picked up Army cornerback Elijah Riley coming from Patterson’s blind side, and he blew up the QB’s pass attempt. He strafed Patterson’s extended passing arm, diving on the ball after ripping it loose.
Redshirt freshman tailback Ben VanSumeren later made it 3 for 3 on Michigan lost fumbles in the first half. Army took over at Michigan’s 40, poised to again take the lead.
They did so, thanks in part to a defensive holding call on senior cornerback Lavert Hill on a fourth-and-five play. Eleven other runs put Army into paydirt, Hopkins executing the one-yard sneak to give the Black Knights the upper hand, 14-7, with 2:51 left in the half.
Redshirt junior placekicker Quinn Nordin’s 55-yard field goal attempt missed the mark as time ran out in the half. The Wolverines exited for the locker room, and those weren’t “Oooohs” they were hearing from a smattering of the semi-faithful.
The upset meter pegged into the red early in the second half, when Army marched from its own 35 to the Michigan 1. But a false start penalty moved it back, and Hopkins then turned a play fake into a crucial turnover.
He soft-tossed a pass right to Lavert Hill near the goal line, and he bolted back to the 22. Instead of 21-7 deep into the third quarter, the Wolverines knotted everything up 5:19 later.
“The interception on the goal line was huge,” Harbaugh pointed out. “That was a big play in the game.”
Junior wideout Nico Collins stood tall during the 12-play, 78-yard scoring drive. He drew a key pass interference penalty on third down to keep the drive alive and then snagged an 18-yard slant, down to the Army 30.
Patterson threaded a 25-yard throw over the middle to Bell, and Charbonnet punched it in from one yard out two plays later. At 14-14 with 2:24 left in the third quarter, nobody in the building felt comfortable.
But for the home crowd, it sure beat the alternative.
That crowd experienced a host of scary moments down the stretch. But somehow, some way, it saw a 2-0 team run off the field, with plenty of questions still to answer.
“Everybody was just very proud of one another and happy for one another,” Bell said. “Army was playing great, and we were not. The adversity was all there. We all answered and responded defensively and offensively, and won the game.”
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