Most underrated play of the season?

Rayshaun Benny strip + Makari Paige fumble recovery against Penn State at the start of the 2nd half.  The game was on a knife's edge and they might have built some at-home momentum with a score to take the lead at the start of the half.  These two made a big play which is mostly forgotten in the broader arc of that game (Harbaugh suspension, run-run-run, etc.)

Link to YouTube WD Highlights of that moment

Josh Wallace on 3rd down in OT against Bama, keeping that receiver in front of him and taking him down immediately at the 3, to set up the 4th down stop. 

I would say that Tommy Doman punt to the 1 yard line against MD.  MD had all the momentum and that pretty much stopped that.  Losing that game would probably mean we'd be out of the playoffs.

I think it was Mike Sainristil - but whoever it was that absolutely laid the wood on TreVeyon Henderson at the end of the first half.  I think that hit left them with a 4th and short, and that's the 2nd time Ryan Day got skittish on 4th down.  To his credit, TreVeyon got up and was even jumping up and down when Ryan Day decided to let the clock bleed all the way down and play for the long field goal.  But I think the thunderous hit that Sainristil put on Henderson pushed Day into a tougher decision.  And of course...the FG was missed and OSU missed a big chance end the half with points on the board. 

Thaw getting on the fumble against Alabama. Saved the season. 

I'd need to look up the exact situation, but Mike Sainristil had a perfectly executed tackle in space on a big Washington third down early in that game. Phenomenal form tackling rarely gets celebrated, but Michigan's DBs did it as well as anyone in 2023. And as we saw with the Lions on Sunday, bad tackling is all too noticeable and costly

Kenneth Grants tackle on PSUs RB in the open field preventing an explosive play and momentum changing in not so happy valley. 

I don't know that they are underrated since they were both fairly loud, but JJ McCarthy salvaging two trick plays in the Rose Bowl was another thing that saved our season.  The first one, where Edward's throwback was errant, JJ spears the ball and gets the completion to Roman that eventually leads to the Morris TD. 

The second one where Corum rushes the flea flicker, if JJ doesn't recover the ball that could well have been a scoop and score which loses us the game.

Without the former, maybe we still score a TD, but that was a 20 yd play. Without the latter, we missed the FG that drive but a TO near midfield mightve been fatal at that point in the game.

A play that didn't happen, Bama getting the illegal substitution penalty on their final regulation drive, pushing it to 1st and 15, getting them behind the sticks. They'd been doing just enough to move the ball up til then, and then suddenly the play calling had to change, obviously leading to the last sack and forcing the long FG. They could have put us away.

Man so many to choose from that all could have had huge impacts. 

Rayshawn Benny forcing the fumble on Allar to start the second half. PSU was already at the 50 and was going to get a first down on the play. If they go on to kick even a field goal, we likely are unable to do the "run the ball 30 times in a row" thing and who knows how that game finally turns out. 

Quinten Johson hit vs OSU, that's a 7 point game and a ball that was very close to being completed to our side of the 50 later in the 2nd half. They ended up punting on that drive and we followed up with a field goal to go up 10. 

All of our open field tackling against Washington. We all remember what happened with Quintin Johnston for TCU breaking off a long TD on a missed tackle. This year that tackle was made, nearly every time. 

Any number of plays vs Bama. Forcing that fumble and flipping the field, JJ catching Edwards throwback pass, Thaw holding onto the ball after the muff. 

Quinten Johnson leveling Emeka Egbuka late in the second half, following that emotional series before where Zinter broke his leg and Corum scored on the next play. 

You didn't hear Quinten Johnson's name too much this past season, but man he made an absolutely critical play at a critical moment in The Game. Was right where he needed to be, exactly when he needed to be there, with great closing speed. Had Egbuka caught that, it would've easily been a 20-25 yard completion and taken a lot of wind out of Michigan's sails. 

Still can hear Gus Johnson in my head, calling that play:

QUENTIN JOHNSON!! LAYIN' THE WOOD!!

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Michigan's secondary showed up so big in this game, especially after Will Johnson went down. How they were able to prevent Marvin Harrison Jr from going all world after that is nothing short of immaculate coaching by Jesse Minter. 

my wife letting me spend $(absurd) on natty tickets was the underrated play of the season.

I like the Rod Moore tackle. Getting them down at the 9 yard line with 1st and goal was also very lucky considering our defense. I remember thinking at time about the best case scenario to have that down and distance in OT.

Zinter and Benny (and maybe someone I'm forgetting) aside, I'd say the most underrated plays were the ones that didn't happen. Michigan was very fortunate with injuries this year.

Out of all the plays, this year, Moore's tackle is  the one I think I've watched the most.  It's a quietly incredible play.  If we had a mere mortal back there, Milroe scores. 

More of a call than a play, but Sherrone's TO on the OSU FG attempt turned out to be big. It led them from a made kick to a miss and made a huge impact on OSU's last drive.

Moore's tackle on Milroe is a good choice.

Also in the Rose Bowl, Sabb's open field tackle in the flat, where he had to cover over 15 yards to get there is another underrated play.  Missed tackle would have been a TD.

Q Johnson delivers a huge hit on an otherwise big play to Ebuka resulting in an incomplete pass and eventual punt

Blake Corum TD against Penn State to seal it.

Mikey open field tackle against Alabama to prevent a first down.

Not sure if this can be called underrated, but both of Johnson's picks in the OSU and Wash game.

OSU - that essentially was the difference in the game. Relatively evenly matched game, except M had one drive start at the 10 and OSU didnt.

Wash - They had all the momentum coming out of half and we looked to be in a total battle. That pick gave just the cushion we needed. Plus, it was a damn good play. 

The sainristil pick against Rutgers. That game could have gotten weirdly close, the PBU alone makes it a forgotten game. The pick 6 really slammed the door shut.

Cornelius Johnson had a bunch of super clutch catches late in the season, including a handful of sideline toe-drag 3rd down conversions. None of them were super flashy and didn't gain a lot of yards but were very important for extending drives. I'm going to have to go with one of those plays from the most underrated player on the team.

That was an important play. Sticking with the playoffs, JJs 3rd down run deep in our territory to pick up the first was the first contraction by the boa constrictor 

For me:  Jake Thaw falling on the ball at the 1 yard line in the title game.  It was the biggest emotional roller coaster I have felt in a long time from "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" to "THANK YOU FOR HAVING THE AWARENESS TO SAVE OUR SEASON!".

I feel bad for the shit Jake took on some of those plays, he probably had more impact on our season in his limited snaps than Corum/McCarthy, etc.