LINCOLN — For much of the No. 21 Michigan football team’s game against Nebraska, the Wolverines’ offense was ineffective. Michigan lost the time of possession battle, went 4-for-12 on third downs and freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood passed for a meager 105 yards.
But for the other couple of plays that combined for roughly one minute of Saturday’s contest, the Wolverines were unstoppable.
Buoyed by big plays on both sides of the ball, Michigan (3-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) bested Nebraska (3-1, 0-1), 30-27, to kick off conference play with a win.
Neither offense got much going in the first quarter. After the Cornhuskers missed a 44-yard field goal right on their second drive, the Wolverines found themselves in positive territory. Then Michigan junior wide receiver Semaj Morgan underthrew graduate wide receiver Donaven McCulley on a flea-flicker, junior Justice Haynes rushed for no gain and Underwood just barely overthrew sophomore wide receiver Channing Goodwin in the end zone.
After that misbegotten set of downs, even senior kicker Dominic Zvada’s 46-yard field goal felt like an underachievement.
Then came the Wolverines’ first big play. With under a minute left in the first quarter, junior defensive back Jyaire Hill tipped Raiola’s pass, and sophomore linebacker Cole Sullivan reeled it in with one hand. Seventeen seconds were on the clock when Underwood kept the ball and — with the nearest defender in Omaha — dashed untouched into the end zone to go up, 10-0.
Almost exactly 15 minutes later, Raiola responded with a big play of his own, dotting his receiver with a 26-yard touchdown on a crucial third down.
Michigan didn’t need the two minutes that remained in the half for its next big play. Suddenly, as he has in every game this season, Haynes found a gap in at the line of scrimmage. Breaking free and leaving several Nebraska defensemen in the dust, Haynes continued his touchdown streak for a 75-yard score.
Up 17-10 and with the clock ticking down, the Wolverines were poised to finish the second quarter up a score.
Several Michigan coaches, assistants and players had already begun their walk across the field and to the locker room — under the impression that the clock had ran out — when they were corralled back to the sideline for the final play of the second quarter. As they stood and watched, Raiola rolled out right, set his feet and launched a prayer to the end zone. With zeroes on the clock and Nebraska’s last hope of the half whistling through the air, wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. leapt up amid a pack of Wolverines and secured the football.
The hail-mary knotted the score, 17-17, and reinvigorated a weary Nebraska crowd that had just witnessed Haynes’ run.
After Zvada’s nailed 56-yarder returned the lead to Michigan and the Cornhuskers punted, the Wolverines had an opportunity to go up two scores in the third quarter.
This time, it was sophomore running back Jordan Marshall’s turn. After muscling through several tackles on first down, Marshall darted around Nebraska’s blocks on second down, breaking off for the longest rush of his career to put Michigan up, 27-17.
Another Zvada field goal in the fourth meant that Raiola’s late touchdown drive in the third quarter didn’t matter. Neither did the Wolverines’ inefficiency in the air, nor their several penalties in key moments.
When Michigan needed to score on Saturday, it did. All the Wolverines needed was a few big plays.
