Michael Cohen
College football and college basketball writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As the pregame countdown and kickoff of a college football game tick by, the importance of the meeting between teams becomes clear on the field. The bigger the event, the higher the stakes, the bigger the crowds of key supporters, world-famous alumni and hotly coveted recruits. Everyone wants to be as close to the action as possible and document the occasion with one selfie or self-shot video after another.
The sidelines of Michigan Stadium told a story of the utmost importance Saturday: two participants in last January’s College Football Playoff squabbled in one of the most eagerly anticipated nonconference games of the season. Nearly two dozen NFL scouts and personnel officials, including at least three general managers, roamed the bench areas to get a glimpse of rosters loaded with future pros. Former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and former Sacramento Kings star Chris Webber chatted near the centerline, two famous Michigan alumni enjoying the spotlight of their former home. Michael Phelps, the former swimmer and most decorated Olympian of all time, scurried from spot to spot, and the throngs of VIP guests prompted security to clear his way. Since Michigan’s resurgence under former coach Jim Harbaugh, there have been few, if any, games that have featured as much pomp, pageantry and visiting support as this weekend in Ann Arbor, when Michigan (No. 10) hosted Texas (No. 3), which was a benchmark for both teams and their conferences (Big Ten and SEC, respectively).
“This is a tough place to win,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They’ve obviously won 23 games in a row here, and this is obviously a tough opponent. So our players played with the poise and composure that they showed, but at the same time, the physicality and toughness that we needed to play with today. I thought they just did a really good job.”
Almost a year to the day after Texas invaded Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and earned a season-deciding victory over then-No. 3 Alabama, securing the school’s first berth in the national semifinals, the Longhorns stormed the home of the defending national champions and overwhelmed them on both sides of the ball. They took a quick lead and then took it easy in the second half as dozens of fans left the stadium early. It was a performance that left little doubt that Texas had qualified for a potential repeat of the College Football Playoff, where the Longhorns should be considered legitimate contenders for the overall title. It was the kind of thrashing Michigan itself had become accustomed to during a three-year resurgence that relied on smash-mouth football to win three consecutive Big Ten championships. It was a victory from start to finish, with the Wolverines being crushed 31-12 and not reaching the end zone until long after Sarkisian had taken his starters off the field.
If the win over Alabama on Sept. 9, 2023, proved the Longhorns are capable of upsetting legendary head coach Nick Saban, leader of the sport’s most elite program, then Saturday’s destruction of Michigan showed Texas is here to stay.
“We couldn’t do it without a win,” said linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. “That was something that felt a little different for us (compared to the win against the Crimson Tide last year). I was a young guy on that team and I followed the cues. This year it felt like, ‘OK, now I know we’re going to win. We’re not going to lose this game.’ That’s just how it felt.”
And that’s probably how it felt from the game’s first drive, from the moment Sarkisian elected to receive the opening kickoff and Texas began to tear the Wolverines’ vaunted defense to shreds. Quarterback Quinn Ewers, whose resume now includes road wins at Alabama and Michigan, said the Longhorns were well aware of how aggressive new defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale’s plays were likely to be, how much Martindale “likes to blitz and win games with his decisions, I guess,” a description that hints at the coach’s perceived arrogance. So Sarkisian and Ewers simply responded in kind — “fighting fire with fire,” as Ewers described it — and took advantage of an inexperienced secondary with passes of 33 yards and 24 yards on the first possession, though the latter was ultimately nullified by a holding penalty that scratched a touchdown off the board.
The Longhorns’ offensive play began in the trenches, where an offensive line loaded with NFL talent shackled what was widely considered an elite defensive line — a classification that will almost certainly be called into question after Saturday’s timid performance. The defensive tackle duo of Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, considered by some to be the best in college football, combined for zero sacks and just half a tackle for loss. The edge rushing duo of Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore, both admired by scouts, did not sack Ewers once and managed to hit him just once. They were equally porous in the running game, allowing 5.1 yards per carry on the Longhorns’ first 25 attempts, even though Texas was down to its fourth and fifth running backs due to injuries.
A missed field goal on the first possession was offset by four consecutive drives in which Sarkisian regularly beat Martindale, giving the visitors a 21-point lead. Ewers completed 10 of his first 13 passes and completed 24 of 36 passes for 246 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers. The running attack produced 143 yards and one score, with four players each rushing for 22 yards.
“We’re at our best offensively when we can run the ball, when we can play RPO, when we can run play-action passes, when we can drop back, when we can screen you,” Sarkisian said. “We try to do a lot. And we try to make it difficult for our opponents by trying to defend everything we can. And if we can’t run it — and if we can’t run it with a physical attitude — then a lot of other things are going to be difficult.”
But Michigan was unable to run the ball despite facing a Longhorns defense that allowed 118 rushing yards to Colorado State last week. Texas’ dominance in the trenches extended to include a newly formed defensive line that stifled tailbacks Donovan Edwards (eight carries, 41 yards) and Kalel Mullings (six carries, 25 yards) despite losing tackles Byron Smith and T’Vondre Sweat to the NFL Draft, with both players selected in the first 38 picks. Even quarterback Alex Orji, who switches paces and rarely plays as backup to starter Davis Warren, finished with minus-one yard on two carries and twice failed to move the chains on crucial third down attempts as hordes of Longhorns charged at him.
What was left of the Wolverines’ offense was little more than a weak passing attack that lacked the throwing or receiving talent to overcome a multi-point deficit. That’s how slim Michigan’s margin for error is without JJ McCarthy at quarterback and with last year’s entire offensive line in the NFL. It took Warren, who was intercepted twice, until the 11th minute of the fourth quarter to eclipse 100 yards through the air. And when his only consistent opponent – tight end Colston Loveland – dropped the ball untouchable in the second period of the second quarter and Texas returned the ball for a game-winning touchdown, it was clear the Wolverines had no chance. A team that prides itself on its toughness was thoroughly outplayed.
“None of the moments should feel too big for us anymore,” Sarkisian said. “And that’s exactly what I praised them for in the locker room. That’s who we are. That’s how we know how to play. There’s nothing better than going on the road and having great composure and being able to play like that, because that’s how you can kind of take over a game when you start shutting a crowd down.”
By the end of the third quarter, Sarkisian’s team had accomplished that goal, as dozens of fans clad in corn jackets began to file toward the exit, all remnants of the electrifying pregame atmosphere gone.
Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with a focus on the Big Ten. Follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.
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