Kornacki: It Was 'The Game' That Got Away

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It was "The Game" that got away.

That really ate away at University of Michigan quarterback John O'Korn, who made some big plays and bad plays en route to taking a 14-point lead and eventually suffering an 11-point loss to Ohio State.

O'Korn wanted so badly to break the five-game losing streak to the Wolverines' archrivals, and send his entire senior class off with a meaningful win in their Michigan Stadium finale.

However, with one last chance to pull out a victory, O'Korn, according to head coach Jim Harbaugh, "misread the coverage" and sailed an interception into the waiting arms of Buckeyes safety Jordan Fuller. The game-winning touchdown drive he had hoped for had ended with a thud, and the Buckeyes would score their own touchdown on the ensuing possession for a 31-20 win Saturday afternoon (Nov. 25).

"The Game" of such great promise had ended in despair.

"You know, I think," said O'Korn, pausing while becoming overcome with emotion trying to put it all into words. "The hardest part for me is you come here to win this game, and our senior class wasn't able to do it.

"And you know, I hold myself responsible for a lot of that. And it sucks. I can't imagine a worse feeling than right now."

Defensive end Rashan Gary, who had a monster of a game with 10 tackles and two sacks, was two seats to the left of O'Korn at the press conference and tried to let him know he did not have to shoulder that blame. Gary leaned toward O'Korn and said, "Bro …" His voice trailed off, and the questions for the quarterback and his teammates ended there.

There is another side to defeat that many do not fully appreciate, and so they are quick to criticize and pin blame. They would do well to take a look at the red eyes nearly every Wolverine interviewed after the game had.

Senior linebacker and co-captain Mike McCray said he cried afterward, and senior defensive end Chase Winovich, who has a year of eligibility remaining, had his voice crack several times while answering questions.

Watching a great beginning go down in flames is tough to handle.

Michigan got off to a start that nobody expected, taking a 14-point lead on Ohio State with a 77-yard scoring drive followed by another touchdown that came two plays after Donovan Peoples-Jones electrified the Big House with a pinball-action 42-yard punt return.

The Buckeyes had six yards of total offense in the first quarter and did not get a first down until the second quarter.

But then Wolverines safety Josh Metellus dropped an interception and OSU scored a touchdown as a result. Then a pass coverage was blown and the Buckeyes reached the end zone again. And even when Michigan responded with a touchdown to retake the lead midway through the third quarter, the point-after kick was blocked.

When asked if the game had been there for the taking, O'Korn said, "Absolutely. I think that's obvious. We don't build on that. We let them get back in the game. And in the second half, we just couldn't win the game."

Why weren't the Wolverines able to build on such a stirring start?

O'Korn said: "I think, honestly, it's just my personal opinion, I think we got a little complacent as players. We took our foot off the gas, and this game didn't have to be close. We could've ran away with it, and we had plenty of opportunities, and we just didn't take advantage."

He found out Monday that he would start in place of Brandon Peters, whom Harbaugh said had concussion symptoms from the hit suffered in the previous game at Wisconsin that kept him from resuming practice. Wilton Speight, out since being injured in the Big Ten opener against Purdue when O'Korn led a stunning comeback victory, also could not practice.

Michigan defensive end Rashan Gary (3), who had 10 tackles against Ohio State, said of the defense in Saturday's loss, "We just failed to stop what we'd been practicing and preparing for all week. We weren't capitalizing on what we knew."

And so it was up to O'Korn, who ended up completing 17-of-32 passes for 195 yards with one touchdown and that one interception. He also was sacked five times, and probably wishes he had been able to throw away the ball on some of those.

Harbaugh was asked to assess the emotion shown by O'Korn.

"It was an emotional game played by emotional guys," said Harbaugh. "They had the same regret and wished the seniors could've gone out with a win."

Fingers seemed to be pointed O'Korn's way after this tough defeat.

However, there was blamed to spread around in this loss. The defense that ranked in the top three in the Big Ten in scoring, total and passing defense was unable to hold that big lead and build off its punishing first-quarter performance.

"To be honest," said Gary, "it was just mistakes on our end. They did nothing special. We just failed to stop what we'd been practicing and preparing for all week. We weren't capitalizing on what we knew."

McCray said, "We didn't execute. The (25-yard) touchdown that the tight end (Marcus Baugh) caught up the middle, it was on us. I made a mistake and they took advantage of it. If we wouldn't have a made a mistake, he wouldn't have been wide open, and maybe he wouldn't have scored. Or maybe we hold them to a field goal. But they executed, and we didn't."

Buckeyes senior quarterback J.T. Barrett ran for 67 yards but had passed for only 30 yards on eight attempts when McCray tackled him midway through the third quarter to end his day with a knee injury.

However, freshman backup Dwayne Haskins responded by completing all but one of his seven passes for 94 yards and ran three times for 24 yards. The understudy ended up making the difference.

"The Game" often comes down to quarterback play.

O'Korn misfired on several passes, but also completed a 27-yarder to tight end Zach Gentry to spark the first touchdown drive and fired a three-yard touchdown to tight end Sean McKeon to make it 14-0. He also hit Kekoa Crawford in stride for his 43-yard screen pass that was the big play on the go-ahead touchdown.

Despite the team's earlier failings, O'Korn had a chance to become the first Wolverine quarterback since Denard Robinson to beat the Buckeyes when OSU missed a field goal and Michigan got the ball at its own 27-yard line with 2:47 remaining to play.

The crowd of 112,028 was energized again, and hope had blown back into the Big House on a cold, blustery day.

O'Korn dropped back confidently and fired a long pass down the middle of the field to Fuller, who was the only player near the ball's final destination.

"It was an option route and (wide receiver Crawford) did the right thing," said O'Korn. "It was all on me, and it was one of those that you just see it wrong, and as soon as the ball's in the air, you wish you could have it back, and you know what the result's going to be.

"But you can't change it."

Harbaugh said, "John misread the coverage, and Kekoa was running a deep curl route. … And John didn't see the safety rotate to the middle of the field."

The No. 8 Buckeyes, headed to the Big Ten championship game, sealed all doubt by covering 66 yards on three running plays on the ensuing drive to score another touchdown.

"The Game" that got away ended in as unlikely a manner as it had begun.