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To this game, here are some notes:
- These Nailbiters. It
is worth recapping these ridiculously tight battles that make up Michigan's
Big Ten schedule this year:
|
Date |
Opponent |
Margin |
Result |
Note |
|
9/24 |
Wisconsin |
3 |
L |
Wisconsin TD with :24 left |
|
10/1 |
MSU |
3 |
W |
OT - Field Goal on last play of game |
|
10/8 |
Minnesota |
3 |
L |
Field Goal with :01 left |
|
10/15 |
Penn State |
2 |
W |
TD on last play of game |
|
10/22 |
Iowa |
3 |
W |
OT - TD on last play of game |
| |
|
|
|
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Michigan surrendered leads in all of these games.
This was a little different, in that Michigan was actually down most
of the game until 8:51 in the fourth quarter when Chad Henne hit
Steve Breaston on a screen. Breaston broke 1 tackle and took
it 51 yards to the house.
- Streak Extended. Michigan
is now 5-0 all time in overtime, with three of the wins coming
within the past 2 seasons. Here are the teams they've taken
down:
- Iowa today
- Michigan
State three weeks ago
- The Spartans again in the
triple-overtime
classic in 2004
-
Penn State in 2002
- Alabama in the
2000 Orange Bowl after the 'Tide missed their extra point.
- Streaks Ended. Michigan
had lost 2 straight in Iowa City as part of the Hawkeye's 22 straight home
game win streak. Michigan won consecutive games for the first
time since defeating Northwestern in November 2004. More importantly, the webmaster's unique distinction of
being in attendance at each Michigan overtime games ended as I was
seated on K's basement couch. Lew and I actually discussed the
chances of this streak staying alive for a while this week.
Lew calculated a 95% probability that the streak would fall at some
point in the next 3 years on the road in the Big Ten. Per
Lew's email this week, "... chances are high that we'll have a
Big-10 road OT within 3 years and this Saturday in Iowa City is a
definite possibility." Well done Lew.
- 100th Win. This
was Lloyd Carr's 100th win all time in 11 seasons (all with
Michigan) and this brings his all-time record to 100-32. The
players presented the game ball to him to commemorate the occasion.
Carr promptly ran with the ball three times in a circle and then
punted it into the pink Iowa locker room ceiling.
- The "Black-Out". Memo
to all the Iowa Hawkeye fans that wore black clothing to the game
Saturday. If you are going to mix those shirts with other
colors, make sure you set your washer to the cold cycle. The
"[insert team color]-out"s are kind of tired, the weakest of which
was definitely the Michigan attempt at a stadium-wide "Maize out"
against Penn State. I'd bet more people ended up wearing Blue.
Let the students do their thing, but don't ask the rest of the
stadium to join, because it just doesn't work. Another weak
attempt: someone told me Michigan State tried to have one side of
the stadium wear White, another wear Green during a game (Michigan?)
this year. Good luck with that.
- You Saw What? Someone
needs to clarify the replay that reversed the call on the field and
ruled that Antonio Bass fumbled. He appeared to clearly have
the ball in his possession, he was up-ended by at least one Iowa
defender, then his elbow, then
arm, hit the ground before the ball popped out. I was stunned
when they ruled that Iowa had the ball. On top of that, I
swear I heard a bunch of whistles blowing the play dead. I
really look forward to further explanation of this one. Mike
Tirico, who was calling the game on ABC, was dumbfounded as well.
During the next play that was replayed (an Iowa reception), Tirico
refused to predict what the refs would come back with given the
inexplicable ruling on the Bass play.
- Tough Season for Falk. Michigan's
longtime equipment manager, Jon Falk, was carted off the field after
being hit by an Iowa player that was trying to tackle Carl Tabb.
It's been a tough year in general for Falk, who had to hand over the
Little Brown Jug to the Minnesota team. He also got an earful
from Coach Carr during the Penn State game after the Blue received a
sideline warning for having players too close to the field: It's
Falk's responsibility to keep the sideline clear!
- Stevie B. the MVP? Quietly
again, WR Jason Avant is doing some great things. He made an
acrobatic 18 yard reception in overtime to set up the winning run.
He ended up with 7 catches for 105 yards, one being a great TD
grab. ABC gave Steve Breaston the player of the game award,
presumably because the big touchdown, but they missed the mark.
While no one really stood out for Michigan, it should have gone to
Avant who not only made these big plays, he called the crucial OT
coin toss. Also, Chevrolet keeps giving $1000 to each school's
general scholarship fund in the name of the player of the game. That's great, but isn't it time to
start moving that a bit higher? Can't we tie that figure to a
cost of living index or something?
- No Coin Toss Issues. There
were no coin toss blunders this week, but some Michigan did do
something interesting upon winning the opening toss: they took the
ball. This allowed Michigan to take the wind in the fourth
quarter, which they thankfully did. Iowa has had a lot of
success this year on opening drives and Michigan wanted to set the
tone. Michigan won another huge overtime coin toss, choosing
"tails" again. Like in the Michigan State game, Michigan's D
really stepped up in the first series and set-up the offense to win
the game.
- Key Injuries. The
leader of the team is probably Mike Hart. The best player on
defense is Lamarr Woodley. Michigan was basically without both
players this game but the Wolverines recovered. Hearing Coach
Carr after the game, it looks like Woodley's injury was kind of a
fluke ding he took in a practice drill, and Hart rolled his ankle.
He was optimistic about both players returning for Northwestern.
** Update: It looks like Woodley
might be ok,
based on this photo of him after the Iowa game.
- Fool me twice. Just
like in the Penn State game, Michigan had the ball late in the
fourth quarter with a chance to salt away the game. Just like
in that game, Michigan played conservative by running the ball, and
failed to keep the ball moving down field. Just as Penn State
did, Iowa marched easily down the field with a chance to win,
fortunately they only managed a field goal. Coach Carr
admitted this week he was wrong about the Penn State game: "If
we'd have lost this game, I would have second-guessed myself on that
possession. We were trying to make Penn State run the ball and use
all of their timeouts, and we didn't get a first down and we didn't
kick the ball very well so we left our defense out there to win the
game." Well, sure enough the same situation presented
itself and Michigan played too conservative and ended up having to
punt it away again. Come on Coach Carr, this is poor.
Michigan should have attacked. Iowa didn't even need to use
all of its timeouts to get into field goal range. The other
teams' timeouts are just not a factor with 4 minutes to go.
- Turd in the Punch Bowl. Callers
to 1050AM we're considerably brutal after the game once again.
The hosts of the show tried to keep the talk upbeat and praise Coach
Carr on his big victory, but critics dumped on the play calling, the
Coach, Chad Henne, and more.
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