Michigan fourth quarter rally knocks off Michigan State
Published 10:29 am Monday, November 5, 2007
By By RICK SWANSON / Special to the Niles Daily Star
EAST LANSING – In the end, the Wolverines of the University of Michigan squeaked out a hard fought win Saturday night at Spartan Stadium.
The Michigan State Spartans showed signs of hope against their cross state rivals, but in the end it was not enough with a final score of 28-24. Since 1953, the two schools have battled for the prized Paul Bunyan Trophy. The wooden statue awarded to the yearly victor was a given by the then-Governor G. Mennen Williams to celebrate the entrance of MSU into the Big Ten Conference. This beauty of a trophy has Paul Bunyan standing on a map of the State of Michigan with the Spartan and Wolverine flags representing their schools. Since 1953, Michigan has held the trophy 33 years, with East Lansing holding claim 19 times and they have shared it through 2 ties.
Saturday's game is a story of two teams unable to work both sides of the ball consistently and control of the play of the game. Neither team exhibited the full potential gathered on their respective sidelines with many dropped passes, missed blocks and a slew of MSU penalties, until Chad Henne took control late in the fourth quarter.
After coming out strong with a 56-yard drive, MSU put three points on the board with a 36-yard field goal kick from Brett Swenson.
But from then on the Spartans were thrown off their game and could only complete two first downs before halftime due to a strong Wolverine defense. The Spartan defense compiled 35 yards on five penalties in the first quarter alone, giving way to the Wolverines offence momentum to lead 14-3 at the half.
Mike Hart lead with way with 99 yards rushing before halftime, with a game total of 110.
Once again, the MSU squad came out fighting after halftime getting their first touchdown of the game with a convincing 75 yard, 14-play drive, ending with a one yard rush by Jehuu Caulcrick. MSU controlled the third quarter on both sides of the ball with Michigan only able to secure one first down and having possession for only 5:41.
But then the fireworks were about to start. Five seconds into the fourth quarter, the Spartans scored their second touchdown taking a lead 17 to 14, sparked by an amazing 72-yard run by Javon Ringer. On the second snap of the drive, Ringer ran right out of the back field and encountered a wall of Michigan yellow at the line of scrimmage, but they could not take him down.
He headed back right and with the help of three timely blocks, he was finally tackled by Michigan linebacker Shawn Crable at the Michigan 5-yard line.
A 5-yard touchdown toss to tight end Kellen Davis ended the dive and gave the Spartans the momentum they were looking for all game.
The Spartans went on to score their final touchdown with 7:40 to go in the game on a 1-yard run by Caulcrick, bringing the score to 24-14.
But the momentum was not enough against the Wolverine offensive machine lead by Henne. The senior quarterback showed his brilliance as he marched his team down the field twice in the last seven minutes of the game, controlling the ball with ease, scoring first with a 14-yard pass to Greg Mathews and second with a 31-yard pass to Mario Manningham, capping the final score at 28-24.
The Wolverines' quarterback, Henne, who had thrown 1,258 yards coming into the game with 10 touchdowns, added 211 yards passing and four touchdowns to his yearly totals. Manningham caught a game leading 129 receiving yards for Michigan.
Spartan quarterback Brian Hoyer threw for 161-yards with 19 completions on 35 attempts, keeping possession of the ball for 33 minutes 15 seconds over the Wolverines' 26:45. Ringer ran 15 times for 128 yards and Devin Thomas caught seven passes from Hoyer for 65 yards.
Over the 100 year history of the meeting of these two teams, the Maize and Blue of Ann Arbor added to their mark of 66-25-5 record against the Green and White and will keep the Paul Bunyan Trophy for another year.