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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When Michigan’s offense carved up the No. 1 defense in the country through the air to start The Game on Saturday, it looked like the Wolverines were intent on giving No. 1 Ohio State a fight. So to see a red-eyed Shea Patterson struggling to find words in the aftermath, something had to go wrong.
And that it did. Terribly wrong.
First, the defense. But the offense, which put up up 285 yards to Ohio State’s 318 in the first-half, stopped itself. And then did it in perpetuity.
It started with a seven-play, 65-yard drive which resulted in a Patterson fumble deep in the redzone, as Michigan seemed poised to score. After OSU capitalized, turning that into seven points, the Wolverines failed to answer in-kind, with a pattern emerging that repeated throughout the next 31 minutes.
Drops.
The eight-point deficit ballooned to 15, but as Michigan looked to answer with a touchdown of its own, as he went to the ground, receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones failed to hold on, with the ball slipping out of his hands on contact, hitting the ground in the process.
A quintessential leader and late-named team captain (he was an alternate to begin the season) Patterson put the blame on himself, knowing that the fumble was the turning point in the game.
“We knew (Ohio State) was gonna put up points and we needed to score a couple touchdowns in the red area,” Patterson said. “The turnover by myself was huge. You can’t fumble the ball down there. We game-planned all week and we tried to execute as best as possible.”
As OSU added on to begin the second-half, Michigan needed to strike — and fast. And Patterson was delivering on that necessity.
But there was a problem. Drop after drop after drop after drop.
Patterson made nine throws in the third quarter, with eight incompletions, with all but the first target to Peoples-Jones and the last to senior tight end Sean McKeon being imminently catchable, yet the receivers failed to hold on.
One to Peoples-Jones. A 17-yard strike and run after catch by Ronnie Bell. A pass that hit tight end Nick Eubanks in the numbers. Another to Bell that he couldn’t reel in. Three straight seemingly easy catches that weren’t to be to Peoples-Jones. A deeper throw to freshman speedster Giles Jackson which he couldn’t hang onto as he was hit out of bounds. Then the errant throw to McKeon.
“Just made too many mistakes, too many drops,” McKeon said. “Not getting into rhythm, not executing like we have been in the past couple games.”
Patterson still finished with 305 passing yards, making him the first quarterback in Michigan history to have three-straight games eclipsing the 300 mark.
But with the defense struggling, the offense didn’t stand a chance. Being one-dimensional and refusing to run is a fine choice when the game is close. When it’s out of hand, a defense can just pin its ears back.
Now Patterson is out of time in trying to beat his arch-rival, a team he’s hated since his childhood growing up in Toledo, Ohio.
And for all involved in the offense, a unit that used to get bailed out by its defense only to find itself the side of the ball carrying the maize and blue water this time around, one word encapsulated its feelings:
Frustrating.
“In the first half, we came out firing, got things rolling a little bit offensively,” Patterson said. “It’s very frustrating to not be able to get this win. But I love my teammates and I love my coaches and I love everything about this university. So yeah — it’s very frustrating.”
“No one’s happy, definitely really frustrating, especially for the seniors,” McKeon said. “It’s just kind of the same thing every year, just gotta execute better. It gets old, but just gotta play better against them.”
Patterson and McKeon won’t get another shot at the Buckeyes. For them, their time as Wolverines is relegated to just one more game, against an unknown opponent in an unknown location come bowl season. But against Ohio State, despite the many miscues, Michigan’s offense gave it a chance to win.
But it slipped away in a hurry — literally. With Patterson’s fumble, with every expertly placed ball that wasn’t reeled in.
The senior quarterback shined in his final performance, even if the numbers look ugly. Fans will look back at an 18-for-43 performance, with an interception and a touchdown and be underwhelmed, despite the 305 yards. Even though it was against the nation’s best pass defense and no other team got beyond 218 yards passing on the season.
So why does this happen? Is it a talent gap?
McKeon says no, it’s a matter of focus and execution. And, ultimately, despite Patterson’s insistence on elevating his play, it’s an 11-man game. And unfortunately, he can’t make his pass catchers hold onto the ball.
“I don’t think so. They’re just a team,” McKeon said, when asked if there’s a talent gap between Michigan and Ohio State. “They’re not an NFL team. Just gotta win your one-on-one matchups — and just gotta have every guy on the field do their job on that play. They did their job better than we did ours in the second-half.”
Sometimes it’s that simple. And if you want to upset the top-rated team in the nation, you’ve got to make plays.
And no matter how electric Patterson has been as of late, if playmakers don’t do that in this particular game, Michigan doesn’t stand a chance.
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