The Michigan Wolverines' football team has had plenty of nail-biting and thrilling wins during head coach Jim Harbaugh's five years at the helm, and today we take a look back at the three most suspenseful of the bunch.
Opinions may differ on which games should be constituted as more suspenseful than others, but the following three choices are the ones we've deemed as the most 'edge of your set,' 'heart-pounding' games U-M has seen over the last five years.
3. Sept. 29, 2018 — @ Northwestern (W, 20-17)
After an ugly 24-17 loss at Notre Dame to kick off the 2018 season, Michigan entered the Sept. 29 contest at Northwestern on a roll. It had blown out Western Michigan and Nebraska in back-to-back games and looked to have turned a corner, with the lowly 1-2 Wildcats not expected to pose a significant threat.
The game couldn't have started worse for Michigan, however, as the Wolverines slept walked through much of the first half and watched Northwestern grab a 17-0 lead at the 12:56 mark of the second quarter.
Running back Karan Higdon finally got the Maize and Blue on the board with a four-yard touchdown run with 9:14 remaining in the half to trim Northwestern's lead to 17-7, which is where things stood at the break.
A U-M defense that had allowed the Wildcats to score points on their first three possessions of the game finally clamped down in the second half, though the Michigan offense could only muster two Quinn Nordin field goals in the third quarter.
This cut Northwestern's advantage to just 17-13, setting up a suspenseful fourth and final quarter in Evanston. In just his fourth game in a Michigan uniform, quarterback Shea Patterson displayed the grit he possessed as a junior when he willed the Maize and Blue on an 11-play, 67-yard drive that took 5:59 off the clock and concluded with the game-winning touchdown run by Higdon with just 4:06 left.
This put U-M up 20-17 and represented the club's first lead of the day. Both Northwestern and Michigan each punted on their ensuing drives, giving the Wildcats one last chance to either tie or win the game.
They drove to midfield and were in position to fire off one last Hail Mary attempt toward the end zone with four seconds to play, but instead never even got the throw off. Linebacker Josh Uche blew by his defender and sacked Wildcat quarterback Clayton Thorson, ending the game in dramatic fashion as a result.
The victory represented the biggest road deficit Michigan had ever come back from to win in school history (17 points). The triumph also took on more significance as the season went on, with Northwestern going on to enjoy a 9-5 campaign that saw it win the Big Ten's West division.
2. Sept. 7, 2019 — Army (W, 24-21 in Double Overtime)
What was supposed to be a fairly comfortable win for Michigan turned into a suspenseful, double-overtime, grind-it-out affair. Army struck first at 5:01 of the first quarter with a one-yard touchdown run to go up 7-0, but U-M quickly answered when Zach Charbonnet found the end zone from two yards out with 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The Black Knights broke the 7-7 tie just before halftime with another one-yard touchdown run with 2:51 to go in the half, taking a 14-7 advantage into the break. Ineffective offensive play wound up being the story of the day on both sides, with Michigan's offense failing to get much going all game long (finished with 340 yards) and Army's triple-option attack being held in check (just 243 yards).
The poor offensive play on both sides resulted in only one touchdown being scored in the second half, a one-yard TD plunge by Charbonnet with 2:24 left in the third quarter. The Black Knights actually had a chance to go up either 17-7 or 21-7 midway through the third frame, but instead saw their offensive series come to an end when cornerback Lavert Hill intercepted their pass at his own two-yard line.
U-M's final offensive series of regulation saw it get stopped on fourth-and-two at midfield, before Army missed a 50-yard field goal as time expired that would have won the game.
The two clubs traded TD runs during the first extra session (a six-yarder by Black Knight quarterback Kelvin Hopkins and a three-yarder by Charbonnet) to make it 21-all, before Jake Moody hit a 43-yard field goal on the Wolverines' double-overtime offensive series to give U-M its first lead of the day.
Michigan's defense then sealed the deal when defensive ends Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson forced a Black Knight fumble on a third-and-11 play, with the former recovering.
1. Nov. 14, 2015 — @ Indiana (W, 48-41 in Double Overtime)
This is somewhat of an easy choice for the top spot on this list. Michigan entered the game with a 7-2 record and hopes of a Big Ten title still on the line, while the Hoosiers came in at 4-5 and riding a five-game losing streak.
IU always seems to give Michigan (and most other teams) a battle, however, and that's exactly how it played out. The Wolverines had no problem moving the ball throughout the first half, taking a 21-9 lead with 5:18 to go in the second quarter and an eventual 24-16 advantage into the locker room.
IU grabbed its first lead, however, at 26-24 with 7:40 to go in the third quarter, thanks in large part to its ground game, which gashed the Maize and Blue front seven for 307 yards.
U-M reclaimed the lead at 27-26 on a 20-yard Kenny Allen field goal with only 6:30 to go in the game, but most assumed we hadn't seen the last of the fireworks yet. Sure enough, Indiana answered with a 24-yard touchdown run by running back Jordan Howard with 2:52 left, and successfully converted the two-point conversion to go up 34-27.
The next drive, however, is when U-M quarterback Jake Rudock truly made a name for himself and etched himself into the Michigan record books. He took the Wolverines on an eight-play, 66-yard drive, and capped things off with a fourth down five-yard touchdown pass to wideout Jehu Chesson with no time left on the clock, sending the game into overtime.
The Hoosiers struck first in the extra session, with Howard finding the end zone from a yard out to put his club up 41-34. It took the U-M offense just two plays to respond though, as Rudock hit tight end Jake Butt on a 21-yard touchdown pass to knot things up and send the game into a second overtime.
Michigan quickly went up 48-41 on a one-play drive that saw Rudock find receiver Amara Darboh in the end zone from 25 yards out. The Wolverine defense finally stepped up and stopped Indiana on the Hoosiers' ensuing possession, with quarterback Nate Sudfeld's pass to wideout Mitchell Paige on fourth-and-goal at the two-yard line broken up by safety Delano Hill, sealing the Wolverine victory.
Rudock set the U-M single-game touchdown record that day with six, while Chesson matched the school mark for most touchdown catches in a game with four.
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