Photo Credit: Aaron J. Thornton
By: Aaron J. Thornton
Michigan Football made its second straight appearance in the College Football Playoffs Semifinal Game on Saturday at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl played in Glendale, Arizona. After losing to Georgia last year in the semifinals, it was the Wolverines taking on the TCU Horned Frogs this year for a chance to play in the final game to close out the college football season. However, undoubtedly, turnovers would end up costing the Maize and Blue their first trip to the championship game.
Michigan, favored to win by a touchdown in the game, came out strong looking to set the tone. On the very first play of the game, Running Back Donovan Edwards broke free and ran up the middle for 53 yards all the way down to the 22 yard line of TCU. Unfortunately, the Wolverines couldn’t turn that first drive into any points. After getting down to the 2 yard line, Michigan went for it on 4th and goal with a trick play but TCU’s defense was not fooled and forced a turnover on downs.
After getting the ball back, on the first play of Michigan’s second possession, JJ McCarthy would throw his 4th interception of the season as Bud Clark of TCU picked him off and ran it back for a touchdown giving the Horned Frogs the first points of the game.
Michigan would end up punting on their next possession. TCU would then drive down field and find the end zone again with Quarterback Max Duggan running the ball in from the one yard line. Michigan, shockingly, would find themselves in a 14 point deficit at the end of the first quarter.
The Wolverines would finally get points on the scoreboard with a 42 yard field goal by Kicker Jake Moody at the beginning of the second quarter, making it 14-3 TCU on top of Michigan. Soon after, Rod Moore of the Wolverines would pick off Duggan and give Michigan the ball back with good field position. McCarthy would then throw on the first play of the drive and find Receiver Roman Wilson for a 50 yard reception that appeared to be good for a touchdown. However, after review, Wilson was ruled down at the half yard line, despite many believing it was indeed a touchdown. A play later, and looking to score on the drive, McCarthy would attempt to hand off to Running Back Kalel Mullings on the one yard line and the two would misconnect resulting in a fumble recovered by TCU and Michigan’s second turnover in the first half of the game. This also marked the second time in the half that Michigan drove the ball down within the two yard line of TCU and ended up leaving points on the field, something which would ultimately hurt them later in the game.
The Horned Frogs would add one more touchdown in the first half when Duggan completed a six yard touchdown pass to Receiver Taye Barber after scrambling out of the pocket and finding Barber in the end zone. On the next possession, Michigan’s award winning place kicker Jake Moody would make history as he added a school record long field goal of 59 yards to his resume as time expired. At the halftime break it was TCU up 21-6 over Michigan with the story of the half being turnovers and points left on the field by the Wolverines.
The second half had anyone and everyone watching the game on the edge of their seats. Michigan and TCU would score a total of 69 points in the second half, making it an exciting action filled game. The Wolverines would fight back, and cut the deficit to three points, but would fall just short of a comeback victory.
TCU started the half with the ball and would end up punting the ball as Michigan’s defense would come alive with a stop. Right away, you could see a different Michigan team as McCarthy would connect with Receivers Wilson and Ronnie Bell for gains of 20 and 43 yards, the latter putting the Wolverines inside the 10 yard line. Michigan would add points on the drive, but only 3 points, on another Moody field goal to cut the lead to 12.
The Wolverine’s defense also had a highlight in the third quarter on an interception by Defensive Back Mike Sainristil to give the ball back to Michigan. Soon thereafter, Bell caught another touchdown pass from McCarthy, this one for 34 yards. The score was 21-16, TCU on top of Michigan but with the momentum in the game shifting to the Maize and Blue.
The Horned Frogs though would answer, with a quick drive for a touchdown in about a two minute time span increasing their lead back to 12 points. It was then TCUs defense forcing another Michigan turnover with second pick six interception on a McCarthy pass attempt, this time by Linebacker Dee Winters of the Horned Frogs. McCarthy would shake off the turnover and come back the next drive with a long run of 39 yards and then on a play later, he would score Michigan’s second touchdown on the day with a 20 yard touchdown run.
Not to be underdone, TCUs QB Duggan would bring the Horned Frogs downfield and find the end zone on a one yard touchdown run of his own. This was followed by a Michigan rushing touchdown by Mullings, as the teams traded scoring drives in the third quarter and making the score 41-30, TCU over Michigan. Michigan’s Defensive Lineman Mazi Smith would close the third quarter with another big play for the defense, forcing a fumble and recovering it to give the Wolverines the ball back to start the final quarter.
With the fumble, Michigan started the fourth quarter on the 28 yard line of TCU and would take advantage. Wilson would take the hand off and score a rushing touchdown from 18 yards out. After a two point conversion scored by Bell of Michigan, the Wolverines were within a field goal of tying the game. TCU was not done though, and on their next possession, Duggan found Receiver Quinton Johnston who broke a tackle attempt by Michigan’s D.J. Turner and scored on a 76 yard reception. TCU was back up by 10 points with just over thirteen minutes left in the game and looking for a way to stop the Michigan offense which had caught fire after the half.
The Horned Frogs forced the Wolverines to punt, and saw a big punt return by Darius Davis to give them a start at the Michigan 16 yard line. A few plays later and unable to get a touchdown out of the drive, TCU increased the score to 51-38 on a 33 yard field goal by Kicker Griffin Kell.
With just over ten minutes left, Michigan would still have plenty of time but would need to play flawlessly on offense and defense both to win and move on to the National Championship. However, the Wolverines would go three and out on their next possession and punt the ball back to the Horned Frogs.
The Michigan defense stood tall, just as they needed to do, by forcing a three and out on TCU. Michigan’s offense would then put together a drive of 56 yards on the next series and with time running under three and a half minutes, McCarthy found Wilson again in the end zone to cut the lead to 6 points.
TCU received the ball back and successfully converted on third down to continue their drive and keep the clock running. Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh would be forced to use the team’s three time outs to try to give the team another chance to get the ball back and score. Michigan’s defense found a way to stop the TCU drive and force a punt. This gave the ball back to Michigan for one last drive with approximately 58 seconds but they would need a touchdown out of it. Despite a valiant effort, the Wolverine offense couldn’t convert on their four down attempts and fought for a targeting penalty on the final down. After review, the targeting penalty was not confirmed, creating a controversial call in the end, and thus the TCU defense would stand and force the turnover on downs, giving them the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl win and opportunity to play in the National Championship game.
The two teams scored a total of 96 points, the most ever in a Fiesta Bowl. The Horned Frogs scored 51 points in the game (30 in the second half) to a Michigan team that had given up an average of 13.4 points a game all season (5.7 points per game in the second half). Some might call it a game of mistakes and turnovers by the Wolverines, others might say Michigan didn’t prepare properly whereas TCU did. Whatever the case it was the end of a great and historic season as the Michigan Football Team went 13-0 for the first time in program history. Over the past two seasons, they won a remarkable 25 games with only 3 losses and made back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoffs (reserved for the top four college football teams in the country). With a number of key players returning next year, including McCarthy, Edwards, and potentially a healthy Blake Corum, you can bet they will be a favorite to potentially return to the College Football Playoffs again. In fact, McCarthy has promised a return, as he successfully did the year before.
Final Score: TCU 51 – Michigan 45
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