After DeAndra Cobb busted out for his second long touchdown run of the game to put Michigan State 17 points ahead of Michigan midway through the fourth quarter, the Spartans’ defense was dancing on the sidelines, confident that their first victory in Ann Arbor since 1990 was just around the
corner.

Instead, the Spartans fell victim to arguably the greatest comeback in the history of Michigan Stadium, as Michigan scored 17 points in the final 6:27 to force overtime before overcoming Michigan State 45-37 in three overtimes.

Senior wide receiver Braylon Edwards keyed the comeback, catching fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 36 and 21 yards and catching a 24-yard touchdown on the second play of the third overtime to give the Wolverines (8-1, 6-0) the lead for good. Edwards ended up catching 11 balls for 189 yards, providing most of Chad Henne’s 273 passing yards.

Before that though, it looked as if the Spartans (4-4, 3-2) were going to pull the upset. Michigan State riddled a previously stout Michigan defense for 535 yards, including 368 on the ground. Most of those yards came on draw plays to Cobb, who ran for 205 yards on 22 carries. Cobb started off the scoring with a 72-yard touchdown run off a draw play on Michigan State’s first drive and added a 64-yarder for a score to put the Spartans up 27-10 with 8:43 left in regulation.

The Spartans extended a 17-10 halftime lead to 27-10 early in the fourth despite the loss of quarterback Drew Stanton, who separated his shoulder when Michigan defensive end LaMarr Woodley slammed him into the turf late in the second quarter. Before that, Stanton was dicing up the Wolverines, running for 80 yards and a touchdown and throwing for 95 yards.

After Cobb’s fourth-quarter touchdown, the Wolverines drove 86 yards to the Michigan State 7 thanks to several big runs by Michael Hart, who ran for over 200 yards for the third straight game in netting 224 yards on 35 carries and a first-quarter touchdown. Garrett Rivas kicked a 24-yard field goal with 6:27 left to make the score 27-13 but fullback Brian Thompson recovered Michigan’s ensuing onside kick to keep hope alive.

Edwards scored his first touchdown 15 seconds later, jumping over Spartan cornerback Jaren Hayes to suddenly bring Michigan within 27-20 with 6:12 left. He pulled the trick again at the 2:59 mark on the 21-yard touchdown, while Michigan State missed a field goal at the end of regulation to win the game.

The teams exchanged field goals in the first overtime and touchdowns in the second, with Jason Teague running in from 3 yards out for MSU and Jason Avant catching a tip-toe 5-yard touchdown pass for Michigan. After Edwards’ third touchdown and an ensuing 2-point conversion pass to tight end Tim Massaquoi. MSU went four and out on the next possession, as the Wolverines tortured the Spartans yet again.

Michigan was of course huge underdogs – as the buckeyes were ranked #2 in the country with the Heisman winner Eddie George – and other names like Olrando Pace, Terry Glenn, Mike Vrabel and Shawn Springs to name a few.

Before gameday UM had Terry Glenn to thank as he says this, “We should keep Michigan down here where dey belong just like da resta dem teams and go up there and just…kick dey but like we did everybody else.”

“BIAKABATUKA!”
Biakabutuka was THE man on that November Saturday rolling up over 300 yards – 195 by halftime! Play after play, 10 yards, 15 yards, 31 yards – chunk after chunk Michigan’s running attack chewed up that buckeye D. Woodson really starts to make a name for himself by picking off two Hoying passes and one that sealed the victory. Man – hell of a day to be a Michigan Wolverine!

Michigan spoils a Rose Bowl Berth, perfect season and possible national championship for the buckeyes – ultimately sending OSU to the Citrus Bowl and Northwestern to the Rose Bowl.

The beginning memories of watching Michigan was in the early nineties, during Desmond Howard’s run of a couple great seasons as a wolverine. As of right now, these plays are in no particular order. As more Big House memories come back to me, I will assemble the list, and what a top ten list it will be!

Desmond Howard’s diving catch on 4th and 1 to put Michigan ahead of Notre Dame 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter

Mr. Charles Woodson picks off a pass that MSU QB Jeff Schultz was simply trying to throw out of bounds. This was a play that truly showed the Michigan faithful and the rest of the country what an amazing athlete Chuck Woodson was. Amazing play – definitely has it’s place on this list.

Desmond does it again – takes a punt to the house back in those beautiful nineties when Michigan owned Columbus. Desmond had some great plays during this game. Catching a deep ball from Elvis Grbac with two defenders draped all over him. What a great day to be a Michigan Wolverine!

The 1995 season opener against Virginia – down 17-0 going into the 4th quarter. Michigan fights there way back. Here’s how the final set of downs happened. 1st down – Incomplete. 2nd down – Incomplete. Sigh. 3rd down – Ball goes right through the hands of Tyrone Butterfield into the air – luckily it’s not intercepted. 4th down – Mercury Hayes in the back of the end zone on a fade route!! But did he get a foot down? YES!!

It was a bit of a tough season already not living up to expectations and losing to Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and a terrible loss to a Minnesota team that had no business beating the Wolverines in the Big House. Just when it looked like it would be two losses in a row – Stevie Breaston gets a good return and Manningham makes a HUGE catch on a slant in the back of the end zone on a rope thrown by Henne.

Bad video quality – but simply an amazing catch by Marquise Walker on a ball that John Navarre threw high and hard.

This is Charles Woodson solidifying his claim as the best player in the country. Another great day to be a Michigan Wolverine.