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It was the closest the Wolverines have come in a long while to not only beating the Buckeyes, but making it to Indianapolis and the College Football Playoff for the first time.
2016 felt like a special year for the maize and blue, from the outset with a trouncing of nearly every team Michigan faced with just a handful of exceptions. Even in closer games — Colorado, Wisconsin and Indiana — the Wolverines seemed to be in close to full control, or at least had the games mostly in hand by the end. It even decimated eventual 2016 Big Ten champion Penn State 49-10 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score indicated.
However, everything started falling apart in Week 11, when Michigan not only lost at Iowa, but starting quarterback Wilton Speight suffered a catastrophic injury.
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He missed the following week hosting Indiana, but returned against Ohio State in Columbus. And Michigan controlled most of that game — though not at all in the dominant fashion it had earlier in the season — until near the end, when some costly mistakes, questionable penalties and a Buckeyes comeback saw the Wolverines lose in double overtime.
ESPN replayed The Game on Thursday evening, and several current and former Michigan players tweeted along while rewatching.
Needless to say, while they have fond memories of that season, it was somewhat tainted by what transpired that afternoon in Columbus.
Former CB Channing Stribling
Michigan had stymied the Buckeyes with first-year Wolverines defensive coordinator Don Brown employing a half-man, half-zone concept. Ohio State couldn’t seem to figure it out, and the passing game lagged as a result.
However, things took a turn on OSU’s final drive in regulation.
Michigan’s offense had become somewhat anemic, and after a turnover and a subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on head coach Jim Harbaugh, the Buckeyes got the game within striking distance.
The Wolverines defense went out to make a stand and started out strong, sacking OSU QB J.T. Barrett on first down for a loss of six yards. On second down, Barrett got 9 yards back, and while it looked like Michigan forced an errant throw on pressure on third down, the refs awarded H-back Curtis Samuel a pass interference call, with the call being on U-M safety Delano Hill.
It was a call that after the game, Harbaugh called egregious, noting that it was ‘uncatchable and by.’
11 plays later, Ohio State had marched down the field and secured the game-tying field goal.
In double overtime, Michigan settled for a field goal as the third down pass to Grant Perry was incomplete — with no flags, despite what looked to be obvious interference. Four plays later, the Wolverines had seemingly stopped OSU on a fourth-and-one — which would have won the game — but the refs signaled that Barrett had made the line to gain, and there was no conclusive evidence either way in the replay.
On the very next play, Samuel marched into the endzone securing defeat for the Wolverines.
Cornerback Channing Stribling naturally still feels hosed by the officials refereeing the game, reacting on his rewatch to how they performed on that late November day.
FB Khalid Hill
One of the bright spots for Michigan that afternoon was fullback Khalid ‘the Hammerin’ Panda’ Hill, who accounted for both of the Wolverines’ touchdowns in regulation that game.
But, on top of Speight’s injury, there were some self-imposed mistakes the team made that kept the game close. A fumble at the goal line and two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, kept OSU within striking distance, and ultimately, it capitalized in the end.
Hill was reacting throughout the re-broadcast of The Game, and while it’s not obvious as to what he was reacting to, he did share the following:
Regardless, he was a bright spot in what ended up being a dreary day for the maize and blue.
Holder Garrett Moores
One thing that gets somewhat left in the dark, especially considering that Michigan lost three of its final four games, is how cohesive the team was for most of the season.
The Wolverines blew the doors off of Hawaii and UCF before finding themselves down 21-7 to Colorado. They fought back and won convincingly in that game. Penn State was a laugher before a close, 14-7 win over Wisconsin. At Rutgers saw Michigan start slow in the rain only to win 78-0 based off an incredible running attack while not letting the Scarlet Knights get a first down until the fourth quarter.
Illinois was over before it started. MSU mounted a comeback, but too little, too late. Against Maryland, Wilton Speight had the best-ever half by a Michigan QB.
But then it all came tumbling down at Iowa.
The Wolverines looked like they were just starting to assert themselves, but a fumble in the endzone and a passing game that couldn’t get off the ground in a cold Iowa City night kept the game close, until the Hawkeyes won the game in walk-off fashion. Then there was the close game against Indiana, Ohio State and a loss in the Capital One Orange Bowl against Florida State.
However the season played out, former holder of the year Garrett Moores recalls how close knit the team was while rewatching The Game. Had it not been for the foibles in the OSU game, the 2016 team would be remembered much differently.
Defensive end Luiji Vilain
Vilain wasn’t actually a Michigan player just yet, just a commit at the time. But on his rewatch of the game, he still had the same feeling about J.T. Barrett’s fourth-and-one rush attempt as most maize and blue faithful do.
