| Michigan Upends Buckeyes 40-34 |
| By Jason Behr November 27, 2011 On a gorgeous fall afternoon in Ann Arbor, MI, the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes once again proved rankings and records mean nothing in this storied rivalry. Here was Ohio State limping into this last game unranked at 6-5 and waiting to see which no name bowl they will be invited to. Michigan on the other hand was trying to reach the 10 win mark and reestablish themselves as a national power. However, both teams showed how much this game means and how much heart and passion gets put into this game. No player exemplified this better than Michigan’s all world quarter back Denard Robinson who put on a dazzling display with both his arms and his legs. Robinson became just the 10th player in Michigan history to have back to back 1000 yard rushing seasons. He got to a 1000 yards with a 26 carry 170 yard two touchdown effort, that really showed his toughness and his heart. This was an old fashion hard hitting fight for every yard game on both sides of the ball. Time and time again Robinson took the ball into the teeth of Ohio States defense and took hit after hit. He also fought for every yard he could get and several times moved the pile for that extra yard. He also found out why ball security is so important in this rivalry, as he lost 2 fumbles on the ground with 1 being recovered by Ohio State and leading to an easy score for them. Robinson also had plenty of help in the ground game from newly discovered feature back Fitzgerald Toussaint. Toussaint continued his lead role at running back going over 100 yards in 4 of the last 5 games. He gained 120 yards on 20 carries in this game. When Robinson wasn’t busy making plays with his legs, he did plenty of damage through the air with his arms. He went 14 for 17 and at one point completed 11 straight passes for 167 yards on the day. Time and time again he moved the chains on crucial 3rd downs to keep drives going. He connected on 3 touchdown passes to Junior Hemingway, Kevin Kogur and Martavious Odoms for a total of 5 touchdowns on the day. Ohio State tried to counter Denard Robinson with a duel threat quarterback of their own in Braxton Miller. He also had over 300 combined yards through the air and on the ground. The biggest difference being he is only a true freshman while Denard is more experienced as a junior. This was very evident on several missed long throws to wide open receivers. This reminded me of the same growing pains that Denard has gone through in his progression as a passer. Miller did made plenty of plays with his legs and hurt the Michigan defense going for 100 yards on 16 carries. However running back Don Herron was bottled up by a stout Michigan defense and held to just 37 yards on 15 carries unlike Michigan’s Fitzgerald Toussaint. Ohio State scored first with a 54 yard touchdown pass to Corey Brown from Braxton Miller to kick off this high scoring and high drama affair. Michigan responded with a surge scoring the next 16 points highlighted by a 2 point safety and another score off of the free kick. The 16-7 lead would be the largest lead for either team until mid way through the 4th quarter. Ohio State continually fought back to wrestle the lead away several times and resulted in 6 total lead changes. Ohio State went into halftime with a slim 24-23 lead. The biggest sequence in the game came at the start of the 4th quarter after Michigan botched the snap on a punt and turned over the ball on downs to Ohio State at their own 32 yard line. Braxton Miller got the ball down to the Michigan 5 yard line on a dazzling 23 yard run to set up 1st and goal with a chance to take the lead again. Ohio State got the ball down to the 2 yard line and set up the key play of the game on 3rd down. If Ohio State could at least get the ball to the 1 yard line they could reasonably go for it on 4th down, but if not they would have to settle for a field goal to cut the lead to 30-27 for Michigan. That is when the Michigan defense made the biggest play of the day sacking Braxton Miller for a 2 yard loss and forced Ohio State to settle for the field goal. That defensive stand became all the more important when Michigan came back on the field and promptly drove the ball 75 yards, resulting in Denard Robinson’s third touchdown pass of the day to make it a 37-27 game with just over 8 minutes to play. The 10 point lead was the largest of the game for either team and proved too much for Ohio State to over come. The game ended on a Courtney Avery interception and set off a raucous celebration at the “Big House” and coast to coast for Michigan fans celebrating this 40 to 34 triumph of Ohio State. |
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