Countdown to Kickoff - 19 days

September 27, 2008

Michigan 27 - Wisconsin 25

Not much to celebrate about the 2008 Michigan football team. They finished 3-9, but probably should have been 2-10.
In this the 500th game at Michigan Stadium, Wisconsin hit the 4th field goal of the half with about 10 seconds left. Michigan went to the locker room trailing 19-0. I don't think I've ever heard the Wolverines booed quite so lustily as they were heading to the locker room.

The only pluses you could take out of the first half was that the defense had been able to keep Wisconsin out of the endzone on 4 of their 5 scores. Two turnovers also helped keep the Badgers within 3 scores. That was no easy feat, as Michigan had 5 first half turnovers and netted only 21 yards of offense.

Finally Michigan got on board late in the 3rd quarter as Steven Threet hit Kevin Koger on a 26 yard scoring pass. Early in the 4th Brandon Minor broke a long TD run to cut the Badger lead to 19-14. After a touchback on the kickoff, John Thompson took a deflected Wisconsin pass and rumbled into the endzone giving Michigan the lead.
Michigan tried a two-point attempt to get up by 3 points, but failed, leaving the score Michigan 20-Wisconsin 19. The defense held again and then perhaps the most surprising play of the day. Steven Threet kept an option fake and ran(?) for 58 yards down inside the Badgers 20.
Sam McGuffie took it in from the 3 a few plays later. With just over 5 minutes left, Michigan held a surprising 27-19 lead. In those last 5 minutes, the Badgers almost made turned the amazing comeback into overtime.
With about 2 minutes to go, Wisconsin was inside the Michigan 10. Brandon Graham ended this drive when his sack Alan Evridge knocked the ball loose. Terrance Taylor pounced on the loose ball and M dodged the bullet. But the offense couldn't close it out.
Wisconsin got the ball back at their own 36 with 1:19 remaining. Michigan wouldn't stop them this time. Evridge his David Galreath for the score with 13 seconds left. A 2-point conversion would tie the score and it looked like they had, but an illegal formation penalty negated the 2 points, forcing a second tying attempt for the Badgers.
Evridge's pass sailed high and after a failed onside kick the Wolverines took a knee and secured perhaps the most unlikely win in the 500 games played at Michigan Stadium.