Week 12 - Game Report
#9 Michigan Wolverines (9-1) (5-1) at #3 Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-1) (5-1)
[Size=+3]Incredible Highs & Lower Than Low's In The Snow[/Size]
Heisman Hopeful HB Rex Burkhead Made His Presence Known
Ann Arbor, MI (AP) - The inaugural Big Ten matchup between the #3 Nebraska Cornhuskers & the #9 Michigan Wolverines takes place at the Big House, glazed with a white field as snow continued to fall for the remainder of the game. Let's dig into the numbers more shall we? It's the #1 rushing offense (Nebraska) vs. the #1 run defense (Michigan). That not good enough for you? It's 2 Junior Heisman hopefulls in the Wolverines QB Denard "Shoelace" Robinson and the Huskers HB Rex Burkhead trying to outdo the other and not only win the Heisman Trophy, but lead their team to a potential National Championship. All eyes are on this freezing afternoon in Ann Arbor.
After Nebraska's offense started off the game with a quick 3 and out, Michigan's offense trotted onto the field for the first time facing three consecutive 3rd downs in which were all converted by the likes of Denard's legs. However his passes were all off on the drive as the team struggled to convert it's fourth 3rd down conversion having to punt the ball back to the Cornhuskers. Nebraska retaliated with a three 3rd down conversion drive of it's own mainly on the legs of it's Heisman hopeful Junior HB Rex Burkhead. The Huskers got all the way down to the Wolverines 22 before Michigan's defense brought it for 2 straight tackles in the backfield followed by an overthrown pass into the endzone by redshirt Sophomore QB Taylor Martinez. In the heavy snow, true Freshman K Mauro Bondi from the Sunshine State came out onto the field and booted a 49 yard kick wide right to give the Wolverines the ball right back at the start of the 2nd quarter.
Both teams seemed to be mirror images of themselves in the aspect that this time Michigan's offense drove down the field to the Huskers 29 yard line before their offense stalled out and attempted a 44 yard field goal with their true Freshman K Matt Wile, who's not quite from the sunshine state, but a sunny state nonetheless in California. Wile's kick was on target but didn't have the leg as he's struggled all season long on long kicks.
The Huskers offense finally put the first points on the board in the game 2 minutes into the 2nd quarter on a drive that took a couple seconds over a minute. Martinez faced a 3rd and 10 where he found his wide open receiver just before he was hit with an all out blitz who gained 51 yards on the play. Michigan's defense respected Burkhead to much as they run blitzed the following play on a perfect playaction call that led to another wide open 18 yard touchdown pass to Martinez's redshirt Junior TE Kyler Reed. 7-0 Huskers.
Both offenses struggled on the ensuing drives resulting in quick 3 and outs. D-Rob made sure that wouldn't last long though as on the very first play of the Wolverines next drive, Robinson made a couple of hot routes before putting one of his favorite targets, Senior WR Darryl Stonum in motion to the right, snapped the ball with a second remaining before heaving a 50 yard pass into the endzone to the speedster receiver who was all alone for the touchdown! 7-7 Michigan as the Big House erupted once more.
Not to be outdone however, Burkhead received a pitch from Martinez on a speed option play to the outside that had huge gaps as he rumbled down the sideline spinning past one defender with redshirt Senior CB Troy Woolfolk making the huge open field wrap up tackle. A few plays later Martinez decided to take it on his own in another option, but this time Sophomore FS Carvin Johnson (who's had a surprisingly exceptional year so far) forced a strip at the Wolverines 10 yard line where Junior DE Craig Roh pounced on top of it to give Denard & Co the ball back on their own 8 yard line with under 3 minutes to go in the half. The Huskers defense redeemed themselves with a steller 3 and out performance giving their offense the ball back on Michigan's own 38 yard line.
Out of the shotgun once more, Martinez handed off to Burkhead who faked to the left and countered back to the right to a huge hole after juking past a lineman and racing down the sidelines with only Carvin Johnson to beat, Johnson made the tackle pushing Burkhead out of bounds, but not before he got to the 3 yard line with 1:50 remaining in the half. Michigan's defense almost came up with a great goal line stop, but Burkhead walked into the endzone on 3rd down to put Nebraska up 14-7 at halftime.
The second half started off much like the first with both teams going back and forth, but with no one being able to strike until late in the 3rd quarter where Michigan connected on a 34 yard field goal to bring them within 4. Nebraska still holding on 14-10. An offensive struggle ensued again with big plays here and there, but no substance to finish the drive for scores. Nebraska attempted a 42 yard field goal early in the 4th quarter but the freshman kicker missed wide left this time. A potential momentum shift happened following the missed field goal as on a 3rd down Denard scrambled for a 1st but was hit pretty hard resulting in a fumble that was recovered by the Huskers. Albeit their drive resulted in yet another missed field goal as the snow was certainly playing a factor in this game. Late in the game now, seemingly looking like the Wolverines had to score on this drive with 5 minutes remaining as they slowly moved the ball down field before stalling in Nebraska's territory with a holding penalty and a bad screen pass that combined for a loss of 16 forced Michigan to punt with just 2:14 left in the game, although the Wolverines had all 3 timeouts remaining.
In their own endzone at the 10 yard line, Nebraska ran the first two plays to lead to a 3rd and 4 before Martinez zinged a pass over the middle for 11 yards and a first down. Michigan fans now getting really anxious as the clock ticked down, but on the very next play there might have been an earthquake in Michigan as on a speed option to the right, Martinez attempted to pitch the ball to Burkhead, but while the ball was in mid-air redshirt Senior CB Troy Woolfolk came out of nowhere and caught the ball returning it for an easy 7 points to give the Wolverines the 17-14 lead with a little over a minute remaining in the game!
Nebraska's offense took the field once more, this time Martinez was sacked on the very first play by who else but Ryan Van Bergen (his 3rd of the game) giving Van Bergen the school record for most sacks in a season with 13.5! Congratulations to Van Bergen (he had a monster of a game with 14 total tackles, 7 for a loss, and a forced fumble), although bigger things were at hand. After an incompletion Martinez threw a strike to his wide out for 22 yards and a first down with 43 seconds to go. Another incompletion was followed by a devastating throw that will keep Coach Kleinbauer up at night. On 2nd down the Wolverines sent a safety blitz but wasn't able to get to Martinez in time as he lofted a pass into the endzone to Senior WR Brandon Kinnie who beat out Woolfolk for the 43 yard touchdown with just 30 seconds remaining! The Big House went silent as the Huskers kicked the PAT to put them back up by 4, 21-17 Nebraska.
Could Denard pull another comeback out like he did against San Diego State earlier this season? Starting from his 23 yard line with 2 timeouts left, Denard found Stonum on a slant for 28 yards running out of bounds with Nebraska playing off a little. Now on the Huskers 49 yard line with 22 seconds left, Robinson went deep down the sidelines 3 times, all incomplete, but all close plays for Nebraska. Now with 6 seconds left a Hail Mary was all Michigan could do, Denard drops back maneuvers around the pocket before stepping up and cocking his arm back to throw, as motions his arm forward a defensive lineman jumps in front of him to swat the ball way up into the air as it fell to the ground with the clock at 0.
Nebraska holds on to win in a winter classic at the Big House, 21-17!
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Play of the Game[/size]
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Box Score
- 0 - 7 - 3 - 7 -
17
- 0 - 14 - 0 - 7 -
21
Players Of The Game
- DE #53
Ryan Van Bergen - 14 TAK, 7 TFL, 3 Sacks, 1 FF
- HB #22
Rex Burkhead - 20 ATT, 147 Yds, 1 TD, 7.3 AVG, 1 REC, 6 Yds, 6 YAC
Player Stats
QB#16 Denard Robinson - 92.9 QB Rating, 14/31, 137 Yds, 1 TD, 14 ATT, 77 Yds, 5.4 AVG, 1 FUM
HB#20 Michael Shaw - 12 ATT, 38 Yds, 3.1 AVG, 2 REC, 0 Yds, 2 YAC
WR#22 Darryl Stonum - 5 REC, 103 Yds, 1 TD, 20.6 AVG, 25 YAC, 4 KR, 82 Yds, 20.5 AVG, 3 KR, 25 Yds, 8.3 AVG
DE#88 Craig Roh - 7 TAK, 1 Sack, 1 FR, 1 DEF
DE#53 Ryan Van Bergen - 14 TAK, 7 TFL, 3 Sacks, 1 FF
FS#13 Carvin Johnson - 5 TAK, 1 TFL, 1 FF
CB#29 Troy Woolfolk - 6 TAK, 1 FR, 1 TD, 1 DEF
K#45 Matt Wile - 1/2 FG, 2/2 XP, 34 Long
QB#3 Taylor Martinez - 155.2 QB Rating, 10/22, 2 TD, 11 ATT, 16 Yds, 1.4 AVG, 3 FUM
HB#22 Rex Burkhead - 20 ATT, 147 Yds, 1 TD, 7.3 AVG, 1 REC, 6 Yds, 6 YAC
WR#84 Brandon Kinnie - 3 REC, 117 Yds, 1 TD, 39.0 AVG, 35 YAC
TE#25 Kyler Reed - 1 REC, 18 Yds, 1 TD, 7 YAC
DE#34 Cameron Meredith - 6 TAK, 2 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 DEF
OLB#4 LaVonte David - 5 TAK, 1 FF, 1 DEF
DT#55 Baker Steinkuhler - 6 TAK, 1 FR
K#35 Mauro Bondi - 0/3 FG, 3/3 XP
