Wolverines win triple-OT thriller, 45-37
By JOHN ELIGON and JEMELE HILL
DETROIT FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS
Saturday, October 30, 2004
freep.com
ANN ARBOR -- Michigan State often complains that Michigan doesn’t respect the rivalry -- especially when the games are played in Ann Arbor.
Well, the Spartans finally might have won the Wolverines’ respect. But MSU still hasn’t won a game at Michigan Stadium since 1990.
MSU outplayed U-M for three-and-a-half quarters before the Wolverines scored 17 unanswered points late in the fourth and then won, 45-37, in triple overtime.
It was the Wolverines’ third straight victory over the Spartans and their seventh in a row at home. This was the first time a game between these teams had gone to overtime.
In the third overtime, Michigan quarterback Chad Henne hit Braylon Edwards on a crossing pattern on third-and-nine, and the senior took it 24 yards for a touchdown. Henne completed a pass to tight end Tim Massquoi for the two-point conversion and the final score.
The Spartans had a chance to answer, but quarterback Damon Dowdell’s pass on fourth down flew over the head of wideout Aaron Alexander.
"You got to love it when you’re on the edge," said U-M linebacker LaMarr Woodley. "We were on the edge and we came out here and we won. It’s real nice to beat Michigan State. They came in here, they were talking and they didn’t back it up."
For most of the game, the Spartans (4-4 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) did back it up. The Spartans ground game absolutely shredded the Wolverines, piling up 368 yards on the nation’s No. 3 rush defense.
Tailback DeAndra Cobb finished with a career-high 205 yards, and he slid through U-M’s defense for lengthy touchdown runs of 72 and 64 yards.
"They won it and we didn’t make the plays to win it," said coach John L. Smith, who is 0-2 against the Wolverines. "We played a good football team and we played well, at times. We made some mistakes, but for the most part, we controlled the football game. When it came time to win it at the end, they had a lot of momentum going there and they made some big-time plays."
After Cobb’s 64-yard score on a draw play, the Spartans were ahead, 27-10, and just 8:43 separated them from one of their most dominating wins ever over U-M.
But the Wolverines erased that possibility in a span of 3:46. U-M kicker Garrett Rivas’ reduced MSU’s lead to 27-13 with a 24-yard field goal with 6:27 left in regulation.
After Rivas’ score, Brian Thompson recovered a Troy Nienberg onside kick. U-M went to its playmakers, tailback Mike Hart and Edwards. After the onside kick, Hart -- whose 224 rushing yards against MSU marked his third consecutive 200-yard game -- caught a screen pass for 11 yards and got an extra 15 tacked on when linebacker David Herron grabbed his facemask. That set up a 36-yard touchdown pass from Henne to Edwards, who leaped over 5-foot-9 cornerback Jaren Hayes and ripped the ball from his hands, making the score 27-20 with 6:12 remaining.
Edwards’ grab was just the beginning of a stretch run that revived his Heisman Trophy campaign. Three minutes after his first TD, Edwards out-leapt Hayes again for a 21-yard score, tying the game at 27. Edwards scored three of the Wolverines’ last four TDs, part of an 11-catch, 189-yard day that cemented him in U-M’s record books The three TDs were a career best and the yardage allowed him to surpass receiver Anthony Carter as the school’s all-time receiving yards leader.
"There is no question Braylon made plays he has to make or we don’t win," U-M coach Lloyd Carr said. "Those were great catches. All three of those catches were plays where the defender was in pretty good position."
The performance of the U-M offense in the latter part of the game was a stark contrast to what it had done the rest of the game.
In the first half, Henne completed only 8 of 15 passes for 56 yards. Edwards was held to three catches for 35 yards. And, MSU’s defense, which had the fewest sacks in the Big Ten, got to Henne three times in the first half and four overall. But Henne rebounded, passing for 273 yards and four scores after completing 24-of-35 passes.
While U-M celebrated one of its greatest victories, the Spartans were dealt one of their most devastating losses -- and not just because of the final score.
Quarterback Drew Stanton, who kept the U-M defense off-balance, left the game in the second quarter with a separated right shoulder that Smith said might keep him out for up to three weeks. Before he was knocked out of the game, he gained 80 yards on the ground -- including a 5-yard TD run -- and 95 in the air.
"We fought to the end, and it’s no doubt we should have won that game," linebacker Ronald Stanley. "We just came up short, but I think we earned a lot of respect today." |
