Error processing SSI fileSix Moments That Changed The Game
Mike Hart is pursued by Michigan State bandit Sir Darean Adams on a 45-yard run that set up Michigan's first touchdown.
Why U-M won
Why did U-M beat MSU?
Chad Henne cheers on Mario Manningham after his 43-yard touchdown pass to Manningham gave Michigan a 14-0 lead.
Willis Barringer steps in front of MSU tight end Dwayne Holmes for an interception. Michigan then drove 87 yards to score for a 21-7 lead.
Michigan State's Domata Peko, who is 6-foot-2, 320 pounds, leaps over Michigan running back Mike Hart to score on a 74-yard fumble return that made it 31-31.
Garrett Rivas connects on the winning field goal from 37 yards into the wind in overtime. He missed an attempt in the final minute of regulation that could have won it for Michigan.
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1 Hart's first-quarter burst
Think the Wolverines didn't miss Mike Hart the last few weeks?
Think again.
Hart, a sophomore tailback who had not played since Sept. 10 against Notre Dame because of a hamstring injury, didn't take long to make his presence known at Spartan Stadium.
With Michigan pinned deep in its own territory on its first possession, Carr decided to start Hart, who has just one turnover in his entire U-M career. Carr was glad he did. Sprung by a big isolation block from fullback Brian Thompson, Hart raced 45 yards up the middle on a third-and-2 from the Michigan 10. Afterward, he turned to the MSU sideline and screamed a few choice words.
Said Hart: "I just wanted to tell them: 'We're coming. We came to play and we came to win.'"
Hart's big run set up the Wolverines' first score: a 2-yard touchdown pass from Chad Henne to Jason Avant that capped a 10-play, 98-yard opening drive.
2 Michigan puts Hayes in a daze ... again
For Michigan State cornerback Jaren Hayes, it was déjÀ vu all over again early Saturday. Hayes was the goat in last year's improbable fourth-quarter Michigan comeback, burned on several crucial pass plays by the Wolverines' Braylon Edwards.
On Saturday, Hayes left the field shaking his head again after getting beat deep by Michigan freshman Mario Manningham for a 43-yard touchdown that gave the Wolverines a 14-0 lead and silencing the MSU crowd midway through the first quarter. Hayes got turned around as he bit on an outside fake by Manningham, and Hayes, a senior, couldn't recover in time as Manningham waltzed into the end zone.
3 Trick is no treat for Spartans
Michigan State's first critical missed opportunity came on its final play of the first quarter. A drive that seemed destined to reach the end zone came up short -- and into the hands of Michigan safety Willis Barringer.
Barringer's interception of a pass by wide receiver Jerramy Scott at the goal line was initially ruled an incomplete pass. But replay judge Jim Augustyn correctly ruled that Barringer had possession of the football before getting stripped by MSU's Dwayne Holmes at the 13-yard line. The Wolverines' Prescott Burgess pounced on the fumble and Michigan then drove the length of the field -- 87 yards in 11 plays -- for a 21-7 lead.
4 MSU's big screen pass fences in Michigan
Just when Michigan's offense started to stall, Michigan State's got on a roll. Not surprisingly, it was Drew Stanton who provided the spark, rushing for one touchdown and then passing for another to tie the score at 21.
His 61-yard touchdown pass to junior Kerry Reed had the fans jumping in the stands as the Spartans scored with 3:30 left before halftime. The play was a perfectly executed wide-receiver screen, and Reed caught the quick flare near the Michigan sideline, cut inside -- U-M freshman safety Brandon Harrison misplayed the coverage -- and outran Darnell Hood to the end zone.
Michigan kicked a field goal just before halftime to lead 24-21, but MSU headed to the locker room feeling as if it had taken back the momentum in the game.
5 Big man Peko's 74-yard run to glory
It's hard to decide what was more impressive. Was it when Domata Peko, Michigan State's 320-pound defensive tackle, managed to scoop up a fumble and race 74 yards down the sideline? Or was it that Peko, a Samoan with the distinctive, free-flowing hair, was able to hurdle the Wolverines' Mike Hart to reach the end zone on a play that -- after the extra point -- tied the score at 31.
From Michigan's perspective, the question had nothing to do with Peko's run to glory. Instead, it was a replay judge's review that upheld the initial call on the play. Chad Henne's arm was moving forward when he was sacked by MSU's Bobby Jones, forcing the fumble.
After the game, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr was still convinced that the play should've been ruled an incomplete pass. Unlike the NFL, there is no "tuck rule" in college football, and Rule 2, Section 19, Article 2b of the NCAA rulebook seems to back Carr's claim.
6 Finicky field-goal attempts
Both teams were kicking themselves for most of the day. Three missed field-goal attempts of shorter than 40 yards -- two by Michigan State and one by Michigan -- proved costly. John Goss yanked a 23-yard chip shot early in the fourth quarter, then watched as Michigan's Garrett Rivas miss wide right on a 27-yard attempt that could've won the game in the final minute of regulation.
"I asked him, 'What did you do?'" U-M coach Lloyd Carr said of Rivas. "He told me, 'I just pushed it.' So I said, 'Well, just go out there and make the next one.' And like any good Michigan football player, he did what his coach told him to do."
Rivas' winner in overtime -- a 35-yarder into the wind -- came after Goss missed another try, this time from 37 yards as the Spartans could not move the ball on the opening possession.
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