After getting out to a 14-0 start, on a touchdown by Khalid Hill and another touchdown by Sean McKeon
The Big House is rockin pic.twitter.com/pWq9dxJh9r
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 25, 2017
The Wolverine offense sputtered to it being almost non-existent because they simply couldn’t throw the ball. It seemed that open wide receivers were missed or simply ignored on every drive. JT Barrett went down with an injury, and the OSU offense did not skip a beat when redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins entered the game. An interception thrown by O’Korn let Ohio State ice this game by the way of a 25 yard touchdown run by Mike Weber.
The game started to slip away in the third quarter and Michigan just couldn’t keep up.
Let’s make this clear – this game was not Urban Meyer out-coaching Jim Harbaugh. This was a game that was lost because of player execution. The playcalling at the beginning of the game was impressive by Michigan, but it was pretty obvious early on that this one would have to get ugly for Michigan to win.
Offense
John O’Korn was very not good. He missed throws a ton of wide open throws, took sacks, missed reads, and couldn’t handle snaps.?Just looking at the stat line, you wouldn’t get the whole picture of the game that O’Korn played. The Senior QB completed 17 of his 32 passes for 195 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 (big) interception. His inability to hit wide open receivers really stunted the offense. For having so much experience in college football, O?Korn looked like it was his first start.
The running game didn’t amount to much. Both Higdon and Evans had big runs, but other than one run each neither brought consistency to the run game, granted that is not all on the running backs. It is easy for the defense to stack the box when they know that Michigan can’t throw.
Offensive Player of the Game
Chris Evans played a pretty good game relative to the offense as a whole. The sophomore has bounced back a bit from the beginning of the season when Karan Higdon was the obvious no. 1 back. Evans ran for 67 yards on 11 carries. He also lead the team in receptions with 5 for 34 yards, but a few of those receptions came in garbage time.
Defense
This Wolverine defense dominated the first quarter. Ohio State earned all of -7 total yards.
From there, JT Barrett decided he wanted to run the ball. Michigan really struggled stopping Barrett on the ground. The QB ran for 67 and a touchdown, then back up QB Dwayne Haskins added 24 more yards on just 3 carries.
Ohio State’s offense ended the game with 350 total yards, and 226 of those came on the ground. OSU’s quarterbacks only threw a combined 15 passes, since they had so much success running with quarter backs and running backs sans the first quarter.
In a game like this, any defensive miscue can completely change the game. A great example of this is the Josh Metellus dropping that interception inside the red zone. Instead of Michigan getting the ball with a chance to drive down the field, OSU gets 7 points.
Defensive Player of the Game
Rashan Gary had possibly his best game in a Michigan uniform. TFLs, sacks, tackles, hurries, the big man did it all. Gary ended the game with 10 total tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 TFLs. When Michigan needed a big stop to get the ball back, Rashan was in on the tackle. Michigan fans should admire this guy while he is here, because he will be greatly missed when he leaves to play on Sundays.
Unfortunately, this game will probably be forgotten by many due to the final score… or Michigan fans burying it as deep as they can in the back of their heads.
Box Score
