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The 114th installment of The Game had it all — dramatic swings, some historically bad offense, a rabid Big House crowd, an incredible punt return, key injuries, hold-your-breath fumbles that rolled around the turf, dropped interceptions, at least one controversial call and … oh yeah, a head coach calling for an investigation.
After ninth-ranked Ohio State kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a 31-20 victory over Michigan, things got weird.
Urban Meyer took forever to reach the interview room and when he did, steam was rising from his scalp. And he was the winning coach.
“I’m so upset with myself,” he said. “Too many damn people on the sideline.”
Turns out someone collided with J.T. Barrett on the sidelines and the quarterback hyperextended his right knee while warming up during the game’s first series while the Buckeyes defense was on the field. Still, he played into the third quarter before his knee locked up.
“Think about that,” Meyer said. “I’m still angry right now because I let that happen. … This is major college football. Major college football. I’ll find out what that was.”
He promised an “all-out investigation.”
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It turned out to be a bizarre footnote, for two reasons: 1) Replacement Dwayne Haskins did not drop the baton, completing 6 of 7 passes with a key scramble on the Buckeyes’ go-ahead touchdown drive and; 2) Barrett said he will be OK to play Saturday night in the Big Ten title game against Wisconsin.
Barrett said he didn’t think the guilty party had collided with him on purpose.
“I hope not,” he said. “I don’t think it’s that type of rivalry.”
At one point Barrett rose from the podium, microphone in hand, to show reporters how the injury occurred.
He said the offending party might not have been a cameraman but that the person “was wearing gray and continued to walk. I think he got nervous.”
Yeah, and he will be more nervous after reading Meyer’s quotes.
Meyer also had much to be thankful for, though. He improved to 6-0 against Michigan, while Jim Harbaugh fell to 1-5 against chief rivals Ohio State (0-3) and Michigan State (1-2).
And there’s this: Until Saturday, Ohio State never had rallied from 14 down to beat its rival.
The Wolverines dominated at the start, controlling the action with its lines. The first quarter produced this incredible stat line: TOTAL YARDS — Michigan: 106, Ohio State: minus-6.
It ranked as the fewest yards a Meyer-coached team had produced in any of his 313 quarters.
Barrett finally got the offense going, scoring the Buckeyes’ first touchdown on a 21-yard scramble.
Asked about awaking from a team “slumber,” Meyer took exception.
“The amount of respect we have for this rivalry and that team we play … a slumber? Absolutely not,” he said. “We were playing against a good football team, one of the best defenses in America, on their home turf. So I disagree with that vehemently and I’m somewhat pissed.We hung in there for four quarters.”
After Barrett said his knee “locked up” in the third quarter, Haskins got the call. The Buckeyes trailed 20-14, but the redshirt freshman said he was not nervous.
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On third-and-13, he fired a 27-yard strike to receiver/roommate Austin Mack, leading to the go-ahead score.
Mack said of his confidence level in Haskins: “All the way. I believe he can do it. Dwayne brings that seriousness to the game.”
Contrast that to Michigan’s backup quarterback, John O’Korn, playing after Brandon Peters got knocked out last week at Wisconsin.
O’Korn’s numbers (17-for-32, 195 yards) were better than his performance. He missed a half-dozen open receivers and chucked his last meaningful pass into the stratosphere, resulting in an easy interception for safety Jordan Fuller.
He also panicked on a fourth-and-4 throw, rushing a pass to an open Chris Evans.
“We had a good play call,” Harbaugh said. “Wish we could have executed it better.”
The controversial call came with 29 seconds left in the first half. O’Korn scrambled and reached the ball out toward the first-down marker on the sideline but was ruled short. A replay confirmed the call. Michigan opted to punt from its own 42.
It ended up having little or no impact on the outcome.
Same for the man in gray who collided with Barrett.
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein