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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Things were looking way up for Michigan football at Michigan State, as the Spartan offense struggled early against the Wolverine defense. But as MSU started finding a rhythm behind the legs of Kenneth Walker III, the Michigan defense started to fall apart. The maize and blue had a 16-point lead early in the second half, but Walker was relentless en route to a 23 carry, 197 yard, and 5 touchdown performance against his new rival.
So, what went wrong for the Michigan defense? It stymied Payton Thorne and the explosive passing game. But Walker, even when hit behind the line of scrimmage, constantly managed to find a way. In the eyes of Aidan Hutchinson, the defense didn’t live up to the standard set in the seven games previous.
“Just didn’t execute, didn’t execute our game plan,” Hutchinson said. “Tackling wasn’t good enough. Just let our offense down a little bit. Gotta be better.”
With that in mind, the defense lost momentum as MSU captured it late and ran away with it, scoring 23 points in the second half to Michigan’s 10.
“I thought we made some really good adjustments, I thought we were really stopping them well,” Hutchinson said. “At the end of the day, we weren’t really executing our game plan. I thought we had the momentum, things were going our way. Just couldn’t capitalize completely on that momentum like we’d like to.”
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Things may have been different if a late first-half touchdown apparently scored by Hutchinson would have stood.
With MSU backed up on its goal line, outside linebacker David Ojabo stripped the ball from Payton Thorne, and as the ball bounced into the end zone, Hutchinson pounced on it, for an apparent score, but call was reversed on official review — certain to spark a controversy coming out of this game for years to come.
With a score, Michigan would have led 27-14. Instead, it forced a punt, stalled out on the subsequent drive and settled for its third field goal of the game to take a 23-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Hutchinson appeared as flabbergasted after the game about the reversal, but he says he doesn’t intend on dwelling on it.
“Said his shin was down I guess — but I didn’t see it,” Hutchinson said. “It is what it is. Game’s over. Can’t change it.”
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