Michigan holds on late to beat Minnesota, 27-24

Maybe not as competitive as the score indicates, but the Gophers battled

Michigan wins the 106th meeting between the Gophers and Wolverines, 27-24 and keeps The Little Brown Jug in Ann Arbor. A tale of two halves where Minnesota battled back in the 4th quarter but came up short.

Michigan jumped out to an early lead with an impressive opening drive and taking advantage of several Gopher mistakes they extended that lead. Penalties, turnovers and special teams gaffes gave Michigan short fields in the first half and they looked comfortable with a 21-0 lead at the two-minute warning in the second quarter.

A Daniel Jackson fumble on the Minnesota 16, resulted in a Michigan touchdown three plays later. The two teams exchanged punts and Minnesota took the ball on their own 42 after a 22-yard punt return from Koi Perich.

This drive went backwards. A run for zero yards, a sack for a loss of one and a sack for -10 put the ball at the Gopher 31. The Mark Crawford punt was blocked and Michigan took over at the Gopher 11. Again, starting an offensive drive inside the red-zone and Michigan scored immediately.

Again, the offense was unable to answer. On their first play, down 21-0, Brosmer is intercepted by Jyaire Hill and Michigan took possession again.

In the first half, Minnesota committed four penalties for 31 yards, had two turnovers, a missed field goal and gave up four sacks. But they did not go into the break without points.

Now that the clock was running out in the first half, and trailing by three touchdowns, the Gopher offense went up-tempo. Brosmer moved the ball into Michigan territory down to the 32 with 24 seconds left. As they had done throughout the afternoon, mistakes were made. A Greg Johnson false start followed by a sack, pushed them back to the 45. Now facing 3rd and 23 with 10 seconds remaining, Brosmer threw a ball deep to the goal line. Miraculously, Nick Kallerup came down with the ball, ripping it from the Michigan defender and landing on the 1-yard line.

With the clock stopped, PJ Fleck had a quick decision to make. Trailing by three touchdowns and looking outclassed in all phases he had a chance to roll the dice and plunge into the endzone for a touchdown. Instead he had his field goal team sprint into place and Kesich kicked a 20-yard field goal. The score was 21-3 at the half and Michigan looked very comfortable and the second half was simply a formality.

Michigan received the third quarter kickoff ate up 7:24 of clock and ended up kicking a field goal to push the lead back up to 24-3. Minnesota answered that three-point drive by going three-and-out, giving the ball right back. The formality of the second half appeared to be on the minds of both teams.

And then things turned and the Gophers showed some resiliency.

Michigan’s offense was called for a holding penalty yet still managed to overcome that setback. But on 1st and 10, Wolverine’s quarterback Alex Orgi was intercepted by Ethan Robinson at the Gopher 24.

Brosmer led his offense 76 yards and scored a touchdown when Darius Taylor took it in the end zone from the three.

The Gopher defense forced Michigan to punt in three quick plays and Perich broke free down the sidelines, returning the punt 60 yards to the Michigan 17. And the offense scored in three quick plays, again on the legs of Darius Taylor.

And just like that the Gophers had closed the gap to 24-17 with 11:05 remaining.

Michigan got back on track, drove 58 yards, and ate 6:32 of the clock Dominic Zvada hit a 35-yard field goal, pushing the lead back to a two-possession game, the Gopher momentum appeared to be thwarted. But the final 4:33 would not be without more drama and excitement.

Running more up-tempo offense, Brosmer and the Gopher offense took possession at their own 25. Brosmer went 8/12 on the drive, throwing for 76 yards and finished off the drive with Jackson making a phenomenal 1-handed catch in the back of the end zone.

But time was running out on the Gopher comeback. The touchdown brought them to within three points but with just one timeout and 1:37 on the clock, they needed a successful onside recovery.

Which they did…until the officials called an offsides penalty on the kicking team.

Michigan recovered the second onside attempt and were able to run out the clock, winning 27-24.

Another example this season of Minnesota being incapable of playing four quarters of football and making far too many mistakes to be able to overcome.

The Gopher defense played well enough to win this afternoon. When the other units stopped giving Michigan short fields, they only allowed six points after the opening drive. Maverick Baranowski and Cody Lindenberg were flying all over the field, both finishing with nine tackles. Jah Joyner and Jalen Logan-Redding were making key plays in the backfield. And it was Ethan Robinson’s interception that really sparked the Gopher comeback.

Offensively? The Gophers have to figure out how to play with tempo, consistency and eliminate penalties from the offensive line.

With today’s loss, the team sits with a 2-3 record and USC coming to Huntington Bank Stadium next Saturday for an primetime game.