The thud heard ‘round the college football world late Saturday night confirmed disasters happen in threes.
First, the Sooner Schooner rolled over, sending its occupants tumbling down a turf prairie. Next, Wisconsin took its undefeated roll and chucked it away at Illinois, in the upset of the season thus far.
Finally, Michigan played itself out of a Big Ten championship, barely into the season’s second half.
It didn’t have to happen. It nearly didn’t. Hand anybody a stat sheet without a final score, and they’d swear the Wolverines stole a win in a whiteout at No. 7 Penn State. They’d be convinced Jim Harbaugh’s team rocketed into the back half of its year 6-1 and still in control of its own destiny.
Not so. It would have taken a miracle comeback for the Wolverines to dig out of the 21-0 hole they and a whiteout-wooed officiating crew dug in Beaver Stadium. The miracle stopped three yards shy of the goal line.
