Jim Harbaugh is finally coaching his team effectively. They are disciplined. They are resilient. They play for each other. This is Jim Harbaugh’s first 6-0 start since 2016 and the future looks bright.
The Cornhuskers are on the cusp of greatness. They thought they could pull off a win in front of 90,000 in Lincoln. They were wrong…but not by much. This year’s Cornhuskers have some fight to them. They lost to Oklahoma by only seven points. They lost to Michigan State by only 3 points. They will win more games this year. It just wasn’t their night.
High-level college football is difficult. It is supposed to be. Anyone looking who thinks Nebraska is a cupcake squad and that Michigan should have walked all over them needs to have their head examined. Michigan and Nebraska are very well coached. Michigan has a slight edge on talent and that may have been the difference tonight, but then again perhaps not. During Nebraska’s first offensive possession, the Cornhuskers drove the length of the field down to the Michigan 3-yard line. Instead of kicking a field goal, Scott Frost opted to go for the touchdown on fourth down. Normally this would be the right call on your home turf. However, the Wolverine defense stood tall and turned the ball over to their offense on downs. Had Nebraska opted for the field goal in the first drive, the game would have likely ended up in overtime based on how the last two minutes of the game went. Three points is the difference in this game. The Cornhuskers could have used that field goal at the end of the game.
Michigan’s start to the game was shaky. They made several uncharacteristic false starts. Sometimes that happens in a hostile stadium with 90,000 screaming fans. While the Wolverines start was not ideal, they persevered. After three offensive possessions ending in punts, the defense snagged an interception. This led to Michigan’s first points of the game. The defense forced a punt on the next possession and the Cade McNamara led the Wolverines offense 11 plays and 76 yards to a touchdown, basically ending the first half of the game. Michigan maintained the lead in the game until late in the 3rd quarter when Nebraska seized the initiative went up 22 to 19 after snagging McNamara’s first interception of the season. Michigan and Nebraska went on to score an additional touchdown each. After Nebraska scored, Michigan drove 69 yards to only kick a field goal. The defense snagged a fumble away from Adrian Martinez, quarterback for Nebraska, and the Wolverines promptly scored another field goal. What was key here is that Harbaugh forced Frost to use his timeouts as Harbaugh called run-play after run-play before kicking the winning field goal. When Nebraska got the ball back, they were panicked. They were not ready for the moment. They rushed their plays and the Michigan defense held strong one last time.
This was a great win for the Wolverine squad in a very hostile environment against a talented Cornhusker squad. This game had the makings of a trap game for the Wolverines, hence the prime-time TV spot. The Michigan Wolverines rose to the challenge. Hopefully they continue to do so the rest of the season.