Wolverines Explain Loss to Badgers, Discuss 'Gut Check' Time

By Steve Kornacki

MADISON, Wis. -- What happened?

There weren't many University of Michigan football fans who didn't ask that question after Saturday afternoon's (Sept. 21) 35-14 loss at Wisconsin.

This was expected to be a classic battle between two of the Big Ten's best teams. The No. 11 Wolverines and No. 13 Badgers ranked behind only No. 6 Ohio State among conference foes.

Michigan held a 5-4 edge in their last nine meetings, and had a dominating 38-13 win over Wisconsin last year in Ann Arbor.

The tables turned, though, in one short year. The Wolverines were 0-for-10 on third-down opportunities and allowed 487 yards in total offense.

"Wisconsin had a great game plan and executed it extremely well," said Wolverine head coach Jim Harbaugh. "They outplayed us offensively and defensively. Things they did really well, we were unable to do in terms of establishing a running game and having the play-action come off of that.

Metellus

"They blocked better, they tackle better. They had a better plan. We got out-played, out-prepared, out-coached, the whole thing. It was thorough."

So, still, how did that happen?

How did an evenly-matched game become what could've been a TKO at halftime, when the Badgers led, 28-0.

Well, it began with the defense. Michigan couldn't stop almost anything Wisconsin called.

There were many reasons for that, but none greater than the defensive line getting gashed, particularly up the middle, by Badger blockers. Then there was a time when tailback Jonathan Taylor found nothing going up the middle, and scooted around the right corner for 18 yards.

"There were holes inside," said Harbaugh, "and when we shut those holes off inside, he had the ability to bounce them to the outside. They controlled the game with the running game. He was impressive."

Taylor carried 23 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

Safety Josh Metellus noted, "... We tried to limit it as much as possible, but we just couldn't get it done on the defensive side. Some plays, we had guys make mistakes. That's every football game -- people make mistakes. Gaps get open, and they were capitalizing on all the little mistakes we made."

Taylor was held to a reasonable 101 yards on 17 carries by Michigan in 2018, and he didn't score or break one longer than 23 yards. This time, he doubled that yardage while busting a 72-yarder on his second scoring run.

Getting down to basics, Michigan could not shed blocks with regularity.

Taylor, a Heisman Trophy candidate, carried 12 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter alone.

Then Taylor missed the entire second quarter with cramps, and the Badgers tacked on another two touchdowns without him. They went more to the air, and quarterback Jack Coan, who completed 13-of-16 passes for 128 yards, scored on a 25-yard scramble and one-yard run.

Taylor rushed just 11 times for 60 yards in the second half, and Wisconsin still had nine times the rushing yardage (359 to 40) and three times the yards per carry (6.3 to 2.1) of the Wolverines.

Harbaugh said Michigan freshman tailback Zach Charbonnet, who had 190 yards rushing in the first two games, wasn't hurt but then conceded Charbonnet was "limited," and he finished with two carries for six yards.

The Badgers had a 312-96 total-yardage edge at the half, and a 28-0 lead.

Which brings us to the offense, and its problems.

Ronnie Bell Bell

It had a chance to answer Wisconsin's touchdown on the game's opening possession with one of its own. Quarterback Shea Patterson rolled right and hit receiver Ronnie Bell in stride in one-on-one coverage. Bell took off for the right sideline and scampered 68 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the Wisconsin seven-yard line.

The sellout crowd of 80,245 -- which later literally rocked the stadium by bounding up and down in unison -- was hushed.

Patterson missed Nico Collins on a slant route off a play fake on first down, and then gave it to lone back Ben Mason on the next play. Mason (6-foot-3, 270 pounds) had played fullback his first two seasons, but switched to defensive tackle in January. Still, he practiced at running back and became a two-way player in this game.

Mason scored seven touchdowns last season, becoming a crowd favorite. He had his chance to add to that total, and gained three yards on the run. However, Mason lost the ball while going down and Wisconsin recovered.

"That was another good play by them," said Harbaugh, adding that they worked Mason at tailback some during the week. "The tackle was right on the ball and the ball came out."

It was a lost opportunity the Wolverines never recovered from, and Mason didn't get another carry.

They would not score until 8:02 remained in the third quarter, when Dylan McCaffrey came in and moved the chains. However, McCaffrey was knocked out of the game on a play that resulted in safety Reggie Pearson getting ejected for targeting, and becoming the second Badger to leave the game on that call during that drive.

"He's got a concussion," Harbaugh said of McCaffrey, who was the leading rusher with three carries for 21 yards and passed for 40 yards. "... It looked like it was clearing up for him."

Tarik Black Black completes the two-point conversion on Michigan's first touchdown

Patterson returned and immediately found tight end Sean McKeon in the right corner of the end zone for a six-yard touchdown, but McKeon left the game with an injury after scoring. Patterson then connected with Tarik Black for a two-point conversion pass.

The passing game came together during a desperate comeback attempt.

Patterson found Black for 32 yards while getting crushed an instant after releasing the ball, and then scrambled to hit Nico Collins for 32 yards. Patterson had to run for his life again before finding Donovan Peoples-Jones at the back of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown on fourth down. The two-point play failed that time.

It appeared Michigan had one more touchdown pass, a 19-yarder from Patterson to Black, but a review ruled it an incompletion. Patterson had 20– and 23–yard completions on that drive, which ended when Patterson fumbled at the Wisconsin 16-yard line.

Patterson threw for 219 yards with two touchdowns, a two-point conversion and one interception on a tipped pass.

It was all too little, too late. But it provided some hope moving forward.

Michigan (2-1) will have a chance to regroup in the next three games. It has home games with Rutgers and Iowa followed by a road game at Illinois. The Wolverines are expected to be favored in at least two of those games, and will need some momentum before then traveling to Penn State and hosting Notre Dame.

"It's early," said Metellus, who had eight tackles and broke up one pass. "It's week three. We've got a lot more football left, and as we all know, one game doesn't define a season in college football. We've got a lot to look forward to. I feel we played great in the fourth quarter on both sides of the ball.

"I told everybody to keep their heads up. ... We've still got a great team and we've got trust in one another. We've just got to keep pushing."

Tight end Nick Eubanks said, "As a whole group, we don't have an identity yet. It's up to us to find our identity. With a game coming up next week, we've got to find it quick."

Defensive tackle Aidan Hutchinson, who had nine tackles and broke up one pass, added, "We had our first Big Ten game, and we lose it. So, now we have our backs to the wall and we've got to fight to get out of this position we're in, and we'll do it. I'm confident. We'll be fine."

Runyan provided last year's win at Northwestern as an example of how quick turnarounds can come. Michigan trailed, 17-0, before it stormed back for a 20-17 victory.

"We were able to come back from that one," said Runyan, "and that was a gut check. Same thing, early on in the season this game is a real gut check for us. Moving forward, we've just got to get our heads down and keep working…Guys are hungry to be better.

"We've got guys who are banged up, but we're going to come back stronger. I promise that. ... We just can't play like that all year or we're going to get our butts kicked every week. We've just got to get better."

Harbaugh concluded, "It's a gut check, for sure. You go back to work."