The mood had darkened like the skies above. It was quiet as a sanctuary inside the cavernous Big House with the home crowd subdued and on edge. Ohio State had just cobbled together its most impressive drive of the game, tearing through Michigan football’s defensive front on a 75-yard march to the end zone that left the score tied at 17. Team captain and right guard Zak Zinter was down on the turf after suffering a gruesome injury to his lower left leg late in the third quarter.
This was the moment when everything could have changed, when a rivalry could have flipped again, when the Wolverines could have folded and finally succumbed to all the adversity that has rocked this program over the past three months.
“But,” running back Blake Corum reminded everyone afterward, “we’re battle-tested.”
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy arrives at Michigan Stadium before the Ohio State game in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023.
They’re also confident.
So, they didn’t blink, cringe or cower. As soon as their best offensive lineman was wheeled away and play resumed, they instead lined up and unleashed their fury on the unsuspecting Buckeyes. Corum took a handoff, surged through a hole that opened on the left side, slipped an oncoming tackler, and sprinted 22 yards for a touchdown. It was the defining moment of a thrilling 30-24 triumph that may go down as the most significant victory since the Wolverines were reborn three years ago.
Corum certainly thought so.
“One-hundred percent,” he said. “There is going to be more to come. But as of right now this is, to me, my greatest win.”
It certainly was the most symbolic. After all, it captured the ethos of a program that has concocted a potent recipe for success by mixing talent with resolve and unbreakable confidence.
Jim Harbaugh opened this week by invoking Ted…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/win-over-ohio-state-clear-110747919.html
Author : Detroit Free Press
Publish date : 2023-11-26 11:07:47
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