Michigan 35, Oregon State 7
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
The English language often comes up short in describing certain difficult-to-describe feelings. To capture the collective sentiment of Michigan fans after this game, I need to reference a story about bat flips in Korea:
You probably didn't know the term shiwonhada, but you knew the feeling this afternoon, whether it came over you after the wild sequence to end the first half or when Michigan imposed their will on Oregon State in the second. Every successful De'Veon Smith power run went down easy; every three-and-out met with a content "ahhhhhh."
Early on, another adopted word came to mind: schadenfreude, as rival fans watched with glee while Oregon State ripped off 136 first-quarter yards and Michigan couldn't get much going.
Then the offensive line started ripping open holes the likes of which Michigan hasn't seen against a Power 5 opponent in years. De'Veon Smith hit those holes and then hit the back seven even harder, finishing with a punishing 126 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries while establishing himself as this team's lead back. The passing game barely needed to exist.
Asked about his thoughts during the game, Smith said, "I want the ball more. Give me the ball more." He got stronger as the game went on, as did the offensive line. While Oregon State's defensive front isn't as good as Utah's, there's no question the team got better this week, and it was most apparent in the run game.
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
Or, possibly, the defense, which ceded two—two!—yards in the final three quarters.
"The mindset is score points on offense, stop them on defense," said Chris Wormley, who looked unblockable on his way to three TFLs and a sack. Wormley and Co. held up their end of that simple bargain. After having trouble with dual-threat freshman Seth Collins in the first quarter, they adjusted and dominated, generating constant pressure and eventually forcing an ill-fated switch to backup QB Marcus McMaryion, who could do no better.
To add to the good feelings, the game turned on a special teams play—in favor of Michigan. The Wolverines looked all set to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room when the Beavers appeared to pin them on their own two-yard line with 1:29 left in the half; Michigan was down to a lone timeout after burning one before the play to prevent an illegal substition penalty. The officials flagged OSU for an illegal formation, however, and on the re-kick the snap cleared the punter's head and bounced all the way down to OSU's three—a 95-yard flip in field position.
Three plays later, Smith rumbled off tackle to the right, and Michigan went into the locker room up 17-7. OSU's second-half drives went for four, three, three, three, and three plays, all ending in punts. Michigan's final drive of consequence nearly matched OSU's entire second-half play count, covering 73 yards in 14 plays—all but one of them runs, culminating in a two-yard score for Derrick Green.
The concerns after this game are minor. Jake Rudock didn't have a great outing, losing a fumble when the line didn't adjust to an overload blitz and a rusher came free and throwing a pick when he stared down Jake Butt, but he was otherwise steady and had a couple potential big plays taken away by either missed calls or poor adjustments by the receivers. Jourdan Lewis left the game with an apparent head injury following a hard fall after a great pass breakup and spent the second half in street clothes. While any long-term absence for him would be hard to handle, Michigan should be able to deal if he can't go against UNLV next weekend.
"I'm glad we won the football game. The happiest thing would be that," said Jim Harbaugh after his triumphant debut coaching at Michigan Stadium.
With Harbaugh stalking the sideline in front of a packed Big House, the maize on the home jerseys back to maize, running backs powering through downfield tackles, and the defense ruthlessly battering their opponent into submission, it was impossible to take in this game and not feel that—for the moment, at least—all is well, and the future is bright.
Shiwonhada. I can get used to this.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^
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September 12th, 2015 at 4:51 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 5:48 PM ^
I hadn't seen the team play that way, safely dominating, in years. Oregon St. is a very young team and that was a big factor in us imposing our will upon them, but it was like we'd taken a video from a game of the past. I'm not going to suggest we'll beat MSU or OSU this year but Coach Harbaugh has turned this team around in a hurry. I'll be fanboy enough to say that if Coach Harbaugh stays we are going to win a National Championship in the not so distant future.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:55 PM ^
Here's to going 2-1 vs. the PAC-12 this year.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:15 PM ^
That long snap was one of the more amazing things I've ever seen watching football. It was a good six or seven feet over the punter's head and in all the ball traveled nearly fifty yards.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:18 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
I guess it is good we have a scholarship long snapper.
September 12th, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^
If I was the coach I would coach my punter to just kick it past the endzone for a safety. Let's all remember this moment if Coach Harbaugh uses a scholly on a long snapper in the future.
September 12th, 2015 at 6:15 PM ^
If the punter were to kick it, it's a penalty for illegal kicking -- 15 yards (or half the distance, in this case) and loss of down. Michigan would have had the option to take the safety or the ball at the 1 1/2 yard line.
However, it is legal to bat the ball backwards (with any part of the body besides the leg or foot). So, the proper play in that instance is likely to bat it out of the end zone.
September 12th, 2015 at 11:03 PM ^
run into the endzone
September 12th, 2015 at 5:04 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^
While it was an amazing field-position flip, I wouldn't say it completely changed the game. OSU was already reeling. We were taking over on the line of scrimmage and it was just going to be a matter of time before we pulled away.
September 13th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^
Yeah, you would hope that some of the 28 points we beat them by would still have happened without a bad snap.
September 12th, 2015 at 9:35 PM ^
NO- Bolden's fumble recovery deep in our own end following Rudock's fumble COMPLETELY changed the game. The crazy field position switch on the punts definitely exacerbated an already inexorable momentum swing in our direction.
Honestly, if not for the questionable PF on the punt that caused JH to go ballistic, the punt thing would've never even happened. We were already dominating...
September 12th, 2015 at 4:21 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^
Tacosnaps!
September 12th, 2015 at 4:41 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 4:42 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 5:54 PM ^
sitting at home on the couch.
September 13th, 2015 at 10:19 AM ^
I can't be sure, but I think it knocked down a drone.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^
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September 12th, 2015 at 8:38 PM ^
a bad one right before that one too now that you mention it.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^
the above field cable camera! I wonder what the protocol is if that were to happen, live ball I would assume.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:52 PM ^
Holy shit! What a turning point that play was. I can't imagine how the snapper shot the ball that far down the field - very impressive. Going into halftime 17-7 was big at the time.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:17 PM ^
:)))) that was fun, especially the second half!
September 12th, 2015 at 4:17 PM ^
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September 12th, 2015 at 4:18 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 4:19 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 6:24 PM ^
Being Korean, I'm very familiar with this term and concept. My wife and I said that very thing after the landscapers had removed all the overgrown brush and some large bushes by our driveway. It was wide open, clean, and 시원해 (or shi-won-hae).
This game was like that.
September 13th, 2015 at 3:33 AM ^
My son is already starting to forget Korean but I'll say this when he gets his hair cut.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:24 PM ^
Certainly glad Michigan won, but, let's not go overboard here.
September 12th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 4:43 PM ^
We cannot take for granted that we will dominate bad football teams.
It was great to see both the defense and the offense put this one away in a methodical manner.
September 12th, 2015 at 6:24 PM ^
the difference is night and day between what Coach Rod or Coach Hoke were able to put on the field, and that's no slight to either one of them; Coach Harbaugh can out coach either one of them.
This team is going to be very good by the end of the year. The guys know the fundamentals, they know the plays, they are well coached. Really, is there any one of us who doesn't feel we're going to win next two weeks, just like we used to 10 years or so ago?
September 12th, 2015 at 6:20 PM ^
A rare example over the past few years and an opponent more comparable to UNLV than Oregon St..
September 12th, 2015 at 5:08 PM ^
Yeah, Oregaon State was bad. They had only 2 returning starters on D and QB's who were only true freshman. So let's not get ahead of ourselves. We looked great against App State last year too and we saw what happened after that.
But still . . . it felt good to take care of business against a P5 team we should beat That has not happened with much regularity lately.
September 12th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
This doesn't mean anything for the future, I don't expect the run game to be this good beyond UNLV. But when they should have done it they did.
I will take that for now. It felt great just to start pounding and ball controlling again, even if it was against a down defense. It's been awhile since we could even do that.
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September 12th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
That would be 5 in two games.
We really cannot win big games with this kind of turnovers. Hope the coaches can correct him.
A good win, of course!
September 12th, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 4:41 PM ^
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September 12th, 2015 at 10:19 PM ^
September 13th, 2015 at 1:08 AM ^
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September 12th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 5:21 PM ^
September 12th, 2015 at 5:56 PM ^
if you asked Harbaugh he'd say the same thing too.
2 of the 3 turnovers last week weren't his fault. Plus you can't realistically expect a quarterback to go on the road into a top 25 program and play perfect football. It be nice if it happened but it's not expected either. Add in the fact the Michigan run game was completely awful as it didn't have a single carry more than 7 yards last game. Today a blitzing linebacker comes in untouched and causes a fumble, again that's not his fault.
In fact I think he played very well today. I don't think people realize how good of a job he did with reads in this game. He spread the ball around to 9 different guys in the game.
Nobody said this guy is the next Andrew Luck but the fact is we should all be very thankful that he chose to come to Michigan this year as this team would be in big trouble without him.
September 12th, 2015 at 6:07 PM ^
September 14th, 2015 at 8:46 AM ^
September 13th, 2015 at 10:28 AM ^
Rudock's case is unusual in that he plays quite well except for about 12 sesonds a game. Then he's a disaster.
Devin, once we broke him, could never hit a third and 10 under pressure. Rudock will hit all of them beautifully except for that one where he will throw it straight to the defender.
If you can fix that one thing, he's a very good QB for this offense. With post-broken Devin, there was no one thing you could fix.
September 12th, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^
If his name was Gardner or Morris this blog would crucify him.Rudock went 18-26 (69%) for 180 yards and one pick. I don't think we'd crucify anyone with that stat line.
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