Henne, Manningham Fuel Michigan Comeback to Defeat Spartans

Anything can happen in a rivalry game, and with the way this season has gone already, anything can happen in any game. With that being said, we saw a Michigan State team that looked down and out after one half fight back to take the lead as time was slowly running out. Leading the game by 10 points with 7 minutes left, MSU appeared to be in full control. However, that would quickly change after Chad Henne orchestrated a quick drive to get Michigan within 7. After a defensive stop, Henne again got the Wolverines down the field and then hit Mario Manningham for a spectacular catch in the endzone. That TD gave U-M the lead and the defense kept MSU out of the endzone on the final drive of the game by forcing them to turn the ball over on downs. With the stop, Michigan took a knee and left Spartan Stadium with a 28-24 win, making it the Wolverines' 8th straight win this season.

As the game started, the one question that everyone had about the injuries that Chad Henne and Mike Hart had were answered fairly quickly. Although the starting lineups announced in the stadium didn't include anyone at QB or HB for Michigan, it was pretty evident that both would be the starters just from watching the warm-ups. Both would have to wait to get the ball, though, as Michigan State received to start the game.

The Spartans knew coming out and scoring quickly would be important just to build momentum and to keep the crowd pumped up. Knowing that was necessary, MSU did move the ball well on the games opening drive. Brian Hoyer was hitting his receivers and nearly connected with Kellen Davis for a touchdown. Michigan's defense did make a stop, though, as the drive eventually stalled, so MSU had to settle for a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.

After moving the ball thanks to three straight Michigan State penalties, Michigan looked as though it would be able to answer the field goal with points of its own. They did, but it just wasn't on this drive. Michigan had to punt after being held to a fourth down, but the defense did its job when MSU got the ball back and three and out. This time, the Wolverines offense got going. Mike Hart got a handoff, juked out of a potential tackle right after getting the ball, and then ran downfield for a gain of 37. For the last 10 or so yards of the run Hart was carrying defenders, making for a truly great play. Two plays after the big run, Chad Henne connected with Mario Manningham for an 11-yard touchdown, making it 7-3 in Michigan's favor.

The two teams traded punts after the touchdown and it would be Michigan's defense that came up with a big play to get the offense on the board again. Jamar Adams was playing center field on a Brian Hoyer pass and intercepted it. The return got Michigan down to the MSU 42-yard line, giving U-M great field position. To get Michigan down the field even more, Mike Hart took off for a gain of 32 to put the Maize and Blue in position to score a TD. That TD would come on 3rd and goal as Henne hit Carson Butler from 5 yards out, giving the Wolverines a 14-3 lead.

From this point in the game until halftime, both teams would go three and out on nearly every single drive. Michigan was able to start with good field position thanks to a Zoltan Mesko punt that got them out of the shadow of their own goalposts, but Chad Henne would throw an interception on 4th down to give MSU the ball back. They still would go three and out, but Michigan just took a knee when getting the ball back. So, at the half, Michigan leads 14-3.

With such poor play from the offense after scoring the game's second touchdown, there was some concern. Still, Michigan State wasn't able to do anything on offense either after they kicked a field goal on the game's opening drive, so there was some relief. Or at least we thought there was. Instead of coming out flat like they had so many times already, Michigan State made halftime adjustments and came out ready to play.

The same couldn't be said for Michigan as it would be three and out for the Wolverines to start the second half. After getting the ball back, Michigan State somehow was suddenly able to run the ball, and boy were they able to run. On MSU's first drive of the second half, the Spartans would run the ball a whopping 13 times with a combination of Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick. Despite knowing that the run was coming, Michigan just couldn't stop either player as both powered the ball down the field. There was one pass in the middle of the drive that went for 21 yards, but everything else was on the ground. After nearly 7 minutes and 75 yards, it was Jehuu Caulcrick from 1 yard out that got MSU into the endzone, cutting the deficit to only 4 points.

Following yet another three and out by Michigan, the Spartans got the ball back and were forced to punt. The punt was downed at the 1, giving Michigan horrible field position again. That would change quickly after a 47-yard pass to Mario Manningham, getting Michigan out of a deep hole and a first down for the first time in a long time, but the drive ended there. The Wolverines couldn't get another first down and were forced to punt, setting up one of the biggest plays of the game.

On a 2nd and 4 from MSU's own 23, Javon Ringer got the ball and looked as though he would be tackled for a loss by Shawn Crable. Instead, Crable missed the tackle, Ringer reversed the field, and then took off for a gain of 71 yards. Crable eventually was the one that tackled him short of the endzone after missing him 70+ yards back, but the damage was already done. On the very next play, Brian Hoyer hit Kellen Davis in the endzone on a play-action for a 5-yard touchdown, putting MSU ahead 17-14.

With everything going in Michigan State's favor, it would continue after the kickoff. Unsurprisingly, Michigan went three and out again and had to punt. MSU took over almost at midfield, but did it really even matter? The answer to that question is no. Jehuu Caulcrick got nearly every handoff on the drive and again just ran through Michigan's defense. There were a couple passes that were important on the drive, but it was all Caulcrick in the end as he rumbled into the endzone for another 1-yard touchdown. That put the Spartans up 24-14, and with only 7:40 to go, Michigan's chances of winning were quickly fading, especially since the offense couldn't even pick up a first down.

The next series of plays would be the difference in this game. On first down from Michigan's own 21-yard line, Chad Henne completed a pass to Adrian Arrington for 12 yards, but Henne tweaked his ankle after stepping on Stephen Schilling's foot (his own teammate). It looked pretty serious at the time, so Ryan Mallett came into the game without warming up at all. Earlier in the week I said there would be plenty of fumbles if he played a lot in this game, but it only took 1 play to make that prediction accurate. Mallett dropped back to pass and was quickly hit by a Michigan State blitzer. The ball was jarred loose and for a very brief moment, any chance of Michigan winning was up in the air. Think about what would've happened if MSU recovered the fumble. They would've been deep in Michigan territory and would've probably scored as all the momentum was on their side. Instead of recovering the fumble, though, it bounced right into the hands of Mike Hart, who then took the ball and ran down the field for a first down, making it look like it was just a handoff.

I can't completely blame Ryan Mallett for fumbling as Hart should've picked up the blitzer as he came into the backfield untouched, but Mallett has got to take better care of the football. The way he holds it is just so careless, and again, it wasn't completely his fault, but thank God the ball bounced right to Hart. If not for that, the game would've likely been over. But Hart got the ball and ran upfield, breaking a tackle and picking up the first down.

Promptly after the fumble turned first down, Chad Henne returned to the game as it would be necessary for him to play if this team was to win. Apparently he walked out the injury and was fine as he really turned it up. Henne hit Manningham for 13 yards on an out, then hit Mathews for only 3 yards, but a late hit by MSU would move the ball up 15 yards. It would be an 11-yard pass to Adrian Arrington on the next play, moving U-M down to the 14-yard line. Two plays later, Henne found Greg Mathews in the endzone for a huge touchdown. Henne made a perfect pass, just barely even getting it off with the blitz coming. He did, though, and put it right where it needed to be, allowing Mathews to run under the ball to make the catch.

Still trailing 24-21, the defense would have to come up with a stop. Seeing as they had been struggling against the run so much, I had a lot of doubt that a stop would be possible, but they proved me wrong. With 3rd and 2 after a pair of runs by Michigan State, Jehuu Caulcrick got the ball on a toss and was stopped short of the first down by a swarm of Michigan defenders. The huge stand by the defense gave Michigan the ball at its own 35-yard line, needing only a field goal to tie the game.

With nearly four and a half minutes to play, it gave the offense plenty of time to get something going. After picking up a first down, Michigan got the ball up near midfield. On 2nd and 10, Henne found Manningham for a gain 9 yards on a play that looked as though it could've been the difference in the outcome of this game. Mario caught the pass and was heading towards the sidelines, but instead of cutting upfield to get that extra yard for a first down, he just ran straight out of bounds. On 3rd and 1, Michigan was flagged for holding, making it 3rd and 11.

Needing a first down to stay alive, Chad Henne threw a rocket to Adrian Arrington. The pass nearly was intercepted, but it got through all of the defenders to Arrington, who then took it up field to get the first down by only a yard. Henne found Manningham all alone in the middle of the field on the next play, and Mario spun around after the catch to run for a gain of 15 yards.

After a loss of 2 yards on a Brandon Minor run and an incompletion to Mario Manningham, Michigan faced 3rd and 12 on the 31-yard line. Not really being in field goal range in the sense that it would be a very tough kick, the Wolverines had to either get a 1st down or at least gain something to make the kick easier. Rather than go for either of those options, Michigan went for it all as Chad Henne threw a pass deep to Mario Manningham in the endzone. The ball was thrown perfectly and the MSU defender was out of position and couldn't make a play. With that, Super Mario caught the pass as he fell backwards and held on for the touchdown, giving Michigan a 28-24 lead after the extra point was good.

When Mario Manningham caught that TD pass, Spartan Stadium went completely silent. That is, except for the Michigan section as that was going crazy. But it was so amazing to hear how loud it was on 3rd down to how quiet it was after the catch. Just shows you how quickly things can change in the game off football. With that being said, Michigan had to prevent MSU from scoring a touchdown, and with 2:28 to go, that was plenty of time for the Spartans to get into the endzone.

Brian Hoyer came out and completed 4 straight short passes to get MSU up to its own 46 yard line. Then, on 3rd and 2, Hoyer hit Devin Thomas for a gain of 16, down to the Michigan 34. At this point, all I could think about was what happened in Spartan Stadium exactly 6 years ago to the day. MSU was trailing by 4 points and drove down the field to score a TD on the last play of the game. That was the last time the Spartans won a game against U-M, and really, the win probably should have never happened as the clock should have run out, but that discussion of that is for another day.

Regardless, all I could picture in my mind was MSU driving down the field to score the winning touchdown. With only 34 yards to go, the Michigan defense had to step it up, and that was exactly what they did on 1st down. A blitz caused a sack on Brian Hoyer and backed the Spartans up 8 yards and forced them to use their final timeout. On 2nd and long, Hoyer threw an incompletion that would've gone only for a short gain, but it set up 3rd and long instead. On 3rd and long, Morgan Trent made a great play on the ball to knock it down. That meant that it was 4th and 18, setting up one more play to determine the game. Hoyer threw a pass across the middle of the field, but it was incomplete. There were no flags, meaning the game was over. Chad Henne took a knee and the clock counted down to 0. This time, it wouldn't stop at 1, and the Wolverines wouldn't be on the losing end of things.

The miraculous comeback after Michigan seemed to be down and out goes back to a few things. The first is the fumble by Ryan Mallett. Hart picking it up kept Michigan's hopes of winning alive. The second thing is the play of Chad Henne. He was obviously hurting out there, but yet again sucked it up and played lights out when it mattered most to tie a career-high with 4 touchdown passes. Just as we saw against Illinois, Henne playing through his injuries got Michigan a win. The third and final thing from this game that was the difference was Mario Manningham. In a Braylon-esque move, he caught the TD pass that put Michigan ahead. The coverage may have stunk, but to catch it in that situation, falling backwards, still is tough to do.

With its 6th straight win over Michigan State, Michigan now heads to Wisconsin to do battle with the Badgers. Although I want a win against Wisconsin a lot, a loss doesn't kill hopes of a Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Regardless of the outcome against the Badgers, Michigan will play for a Big Ten title and a second consecutive trip to Pasadena on November 17th against Ohio State. After the way this season started, I bet very few would've expected those two things to be on the line against OSU. Either way, OSU week doesn't begin for another 8 days, so all concentration has to be on Wisconsin right now. Kickoff in Madison is set for noon on ESPN. Until then, Go Blue!