Michigan’s misery-wracked, confidence-bending, three-game losing streak has ended. It took three overtimes, 48 points and a quarterback change to get there, but it’s done.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara led the Wolverines (2-3) in the 48-42 offensive onslaught over Rutgers (1-4). Redshirt sophomore tailback Hassan Haskins’ leap into the end zone on a fourth-and-goal from Rutgers’ 1-yard line in triple overtime provided the final margin of victory.
It still came down to Michigan’s beleaguered defense making a stop, after a mandatory two-point conversion failed. Sophomore safety Daxton Hill’s leaping interception in the end zone sealed the deal.
“It reminds me of some of the great comeback wins I’ve been a part of,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Our guys stayed the course and did what they could to stay in it. Both teams played with a lot of heart.”
McNamara played with heart, arm, legs, head and more in helping dig the Wolverines out of a 17-0 hole. His brilliant performance included 27 completions in 36 attempts for 260 yards and four touchdowns without an interception.
He found help from sophomore wideout Cornelius Johnson, who made five catches for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Haskins pitched in with 109 yards and a touchdown on 25 tries.
“My role is to be a distributor — get the ball in the receivers’ hands as fast as possible,” McNamara said. “The running game came up for us huge.”
Everything came up huge in the moment of truth, even when it looked like the game was slipping away.
After sending the game to overtime with only 27 seconds remaining in regulation, Rutgers looked ready to deliver a heartbreaker to the Wolverines. Fifth-year senior placekicker Quinn Nordin barely missed a 35-yard field goal in the first overtime, meaning Rutgers needed only to make one to win.
But Scarlet Knights kicker Valentino Ambrosio hooked a 45-yarder left, keeping the Wolverines alive.
It took only one play in the second overtime to put Michigan in another precarious position. Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral (29-of-43 passing for 381 yards, three touchdowns) rolled right, drawing the entire Michigan defense with him, and lofted a throwback left to Jovani Haskins, who raced away 25 yards to put the Scarlet Knights on top, 42-35.
“It was a blown play,” U-M redshirt junior linebacker Josh Ross offered.
But the Wolverines scrambled back to tie it, McNamara hitting sophomore wideout Giles Jackson with a 17-yard throw, setting up McNamara’s own one-yard TD keeper. That set the stage for a final overtime, and a major exhale at the end.
“Winning meant everything,” Ross said. “Our goal this week was just to be 1-0 … we fought our butt off all game, all the way to the end.”
The game started off like the end … period.
Michigan’s first two drives got torpedoed in Rutgers' territory, first by a fumble, then by a fourth-and-one play the Scarlet Knights stuffed by stopping starting quarterback Joe Milton (5-of-12 passing for 89 yards) short.
The home team immediately took advantage. Vedral unloaded a 43-yard bomb to Aron Cruickshank, setting up a three-yard touchdown bolt by backup quarterback Johnny Langan. The Wolverines moved the ball better early, but still fell behind, 7-0, at the 4:33 mark of the first quarter.
Milton got U-M into scoring position again on a 31-yard floater to Jackson. But the drive stalled, and Nordin’s 49-yard field goal attempt slid wide right.
Rutgers then grabbed a two-touchdown lead, going 69 yards in nine plays to go up 14-0, with 8:45 left in the half. A 33-yard gain on a reverse set up the TD, and once again, Langan cashed it in on a one-yard plunge.
Michigan’s latest unfolding nightmare went to 17-0 when the Wolverines refused to get off the field on third-and-long. Rutgers converted on third-and-15 and third-and-16 — the latter on a roughing-the-passer penalty — extending the lead on Ambrosio’s 38-yard field goal with 4:23 left in the half.
Michigan desperately needed something, anything positive before intermission. The Wolverines got it almost instantly for the second week in a row.
McNamara came on, taking the Wolverines 63 yards in three plays for a touchdown. Johnson executed a perfect double move, McNamara hung tough in the pocket and delivered a 46-yard TD bomb behind the Rutgers defense.
In 52 seconds, Michigan did what it couldn’t in more than 26 minutes of football — put points on the board. The Wolverines pulled within 10, 17-7, at the 3:26 mark.
“He always preaches for us to fight,” McNamara said of Harbaugh. “He wants us to be warriors. When we came back, we had to keep battling.”
McNamara moved the Wolverines again just before the half. But a high snap on a 53-yard field goal attempt by Nordin disrupted the timing, sending the kick left and sending Nordin raging off the field.
It marked Michigan’s biggest show of emotion in several quarters of football. Bigger ones followed, right after intermission.
Jackson raced 95 yards with the second-half kickoff. He burned down the left sideline like a Ferrari on the autobahn, pulling the Wolverines within three, 17-14.
“That was a huge start,” Harbaugh said. “It got the momentum back.”
Immediately, Michigan’s secondary gave it back.
Vedral unloaded a 61-yard touchdown pass to Bo Melton, who blazed wide open behind the defensive backs. In the opening 1:12 of the second half, the teams swapped big-play TDs.
McNamara wasn’t done moving U-M’s previously mud-mired offense. He took the Wolverines 58 yards in eight plays for the score that pulled them back within three, 24-21, at 10:07 of the third quarter.
A clutch third-down pass to sophomore tight end Erick All, followed by Haskins’ 25-yard run, set up McNamara’s eight-yard TD toss to fifth-year senior tight end Nick Eubanks.
Ambrosio’s 42-yard field goal with six minutes left in the third quarter pushed the margin to 27-21, with injuries for U-M continuing to stack up. Senior safety Brad Hawkins left the game during the 50-yard drive, following redshirt sophomore linebacker Cam McGrone, who had to be carted off earlier.
But Michigan’s revived offense wasn’t finished, by any means. McNamara led U-M on a nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive. The QB’s clutch slant pass to senior running back Chris Evans on fourth-and-five went for 21 yards, keeping the drive alive. Four plays later, McNamara hit sophomore wideout Mike Sainristil on a six-yard slant route for the touchdown.
At 13:38 of the fourth, the Wolverines actually clutched a lead, 28-27.
They didn’t sit on it, either. McNamara drove them 85 yards in 12 plays, mixing strong rushing by Haskins and sophomore tailback Zach Charbonnet with effective short passing. U-M drained 6:10 off the clock and grabbed a 35-27 lead when McNamara fired a flash throw to Johnson, who raced in from nine yards out.
With 5:07 left, Rutgers went into desperation mode.
The Scarlet Knights took it down to the wire, on a 16-play, 75-yard drive that found them facing fourth-and-nine at Michigan’s 11-yard line. Vedral scrambled out of pressure, placing a perfectly thrown floater into the leaping Cruickshank’s hands in the middle of the end zone.
The Knights still needed a two-point conversion to tie it. They got that as well, Vedral keeping and riding a surge into the end zone, tying the game with 27 seconds left.
They then looked to put it away in overtime, but couldn’t. This time around, Michigan made enough plays to win, and can breathe again for a day or two.
“I love it,” Harbaugh said. “I love coaching the team. Just how they played. It was good to see them just letting it rip, letting the talent come out and having fun with doing it. It was all great.”
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