After Michigan was able to eke out a 36-33 ugly victory last week versus Indiana Martavious Odoms, wide receiver for the Wolverines said, we are the only team who can beat us. With their passing game stifled, a running game that was nonexistent and gaping holes in the defense, Michigan succeeded in doing just that on Saturday. However in the loss the Wolverines did have a last minute comeback attempt which seems to becoming their trademark.

The Wolverines made a valiant attempt to avoid their first loss this season. In the final five minutes of the fourth quarter they scored 14 points and sent the game to overtime. However, the Spartans then picked off a third down pass from Tate Forcier, Michigan quarterback, during the first possession in overtime. On Michigan State’s ensuing drive, Larry Caper, Michigan State running back, rushed for a 23 yard touchdown to give the Spartans a 26-20 victory.

It took the Wolverines 55 minutes to finally get a big play. Darryl Stonum, sophomore wide receiver, caught a 60 yard pass for a touchdown which brought Michigan to within seven points. In a heavy rain, the defense for the Wolverines force a three plays and out. Forcier and the Michigan offense took over again with a little under three minutes left to play in the game. They strung together a scoring drive of 92 yards, capped off by a touchdown pass of 9 yards on third down and eight with just two seconds left to Roy Roundtree.

Rich Rodriguez said he was very proud of how Tate battled. The whole game we didn’t get into a rhythm, but we at least were are able to hang in enough to at least have a chance.

The last minute effort by Michigan was not enough to overcome all of their bad play during most of the game. The Wolverines ended up losing by just six points, however in reality it should have been a much wider gap. At halftime Michigan State had 223 offensive yards and 12 first downs. Michigan, on the other hand, had just a 50 percent rate of completion and minus three yards rushing. The Wolverines appeared to be intimidated and disjointed and weren’t able to get into any kind of groove until the Stonum touchdown catch.

Michigan (4-1) was able to make an early statement before allowing Michigan State (2-3) to take the game over. On the third play for Michigan State of the game, Ryan Van Bergen, sophomore defensive tackle for Michigan, tipped a Kirk Cousin pass and Stevie Brown, Wolverines senior linebacker, picked off the ball, running it back 18 yards to Michigan State’s 14 yard line. On the drive the Spartans defense was able to the Wolverines to minus five yards. Michigan got a field goal from 36 yards.

On the second drive for Michigan State the pass defense for Michigan was nonexistent. The Spartans drive went for a total of 130 offensive yards and was over 10 minutes in duration. The Spartans were able to easily move the ball against the Wolverines secondary, however their progress was hindered by four penalties for a total of 50 yards, with three of the penalties being for personal fouls.

On the drive Keshawn Martin, wide receiver had a run of 18 yards nullified by a personal foul 15 yard penalty by Obi Ezeh, junior linebacker, for a late hit. On the Spartans next play another personal foul was called after an 8 yard pass completion. This one went against Donovan Warren, junior cornerback, for another late hit. However, the Spartans were eventually able to move the ball to inside the one, making it fourth down with inches to go. Michigan was unable to stop them, and Caper scored on the play to give Michigan State a 7-3 lead.

Forcier, in his first road college game, looked a bit rattled from the hostile atmosphere. During their two drives in the first quarter Michigan’s offense had minus five and then 5 yards. The Michigan State offense, meanwhile, continued to beat Michigan’s defense on long pass plays, including an early second quarter third down and 18 conversion when Cousins connected with B.J. Cunningham for 27 yards and first down. For the game Michigan State went 8 for 18 on their attempts on third down.

Rodriguez said the third downs killed us. I don’t even know the number of times their quarterback was able to scramble and get first downs. That is very frustrating after playing great for two snaps and they get the big first down on the third snap.

The cornerbacks for Michigan continued giving the Wolverines receivers plenty of room, which easily allowed them to catch the throws from Cousins and drive down field. They scored a field goal and went into halftime with a 10-6 lead.

In the first half, Cousins went 13 for 16 and had 140 passing yards as he tore up the Wolverines defense.

Michigan has claimed to be a second half team all season. But coming out after halftime they didn’t look any better. On their first possession, with the opportunity to start fresh, they went three plays and out with minus eight yards for the drive. Michigan State received the ball near midfield and drove the ball steadily down field. However on third down Cousins, facing pressure, threw an interception which was picked off by Warren.

However, once again the offense for Michigan was unable to string a drive together to capitalize on the turnover. The offense and Forcier were unable to make a first down. On fourth down and inches from the 16 yard line of Michigan, Zoltan Mesko, senior punter, ran on a fake punt attempt, but was stopped short of making a first down. The Spartans took over on the 13 yard line of Michigan. After a few plays they scored a field goal, which extended their lead up to 7 points. Early in the first quarter they scored again and took a 20-6 lead.

The Wolverine got a perfect opportunity for building momentum when Ezeh was able to recover a fumble from Michigan State with 11 minutes to play. Forcier then made a 10 yard pass completion. Following the play Michigan State received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on a late hit. The penalty moved Michigan down another 16 yards to the 27 yard line of Michigan State. However Stonum, on the very next play, fumbled and Michigan State recovered the football. At that point in the game, Michigan was negative twenty yards in rushing.

After Michigan State failed to score, Michigan got the ball back and Forcier rallied the Wolverines to score two touchdowns. However, when it came down to the end, the Spartans needed just three plays on their drive in overtime to score and finish out the game.

In 42 years it is the only time Michigan has lost to Michigan State two times in a row.

Brandon Graham, senior defensive end said, it hurts to lose period, and especially to State. They won and that’s all I can really say.