COLUMBUS, Ohio — Michigan put itself in position to pull the stunner against rival No. 2 Ohio State.
And, with plenty of help from the self-wounding Buckeyes, the Wolverines got it done.
Dominic Zvada converted a 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds left to break the tie, and the Wolverines defense held up to give Michigan a 13-10 victory at Ohio Stadium and its fourth consecutive in the series. Michigan was a 19½-point underdog against Ohio State, which squandered a chance to play Oregon for the conference championship next week.
A skirmish broke out at midfield, when Michigan players gathered at midfield waving a Michigan flag in the faces of Ohio State players. It lasted several minutes.
Michigan senior running back Kalel Mullings rushed for 116 yards on 32 carries and said postgame, ‘For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. It’s bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people, they gotta learn how to lose, man. You can’t be fighting and stuff just cause you lost the game. We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting and now people want to talk and fight. That’s wrong, it’s just bad for the game, classless in my opinion. People gotta be better.’
The game was filled with mistakes from both offenses. Jayden Fielding missed two short field goals for Ohio State and Will Howard threw two interceptions, one to Aamir Hall in the second quarter which set up the Wolverines’ lone touchdown. Michigan’s Davis Warren threw two interceptions, including one into the end zone with the game tied in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The Buckeyes, which were ranked No. 2 by the College Football Playoff committee this week, will likely make the field as an at-large team.
The Wolverines will learn their 2024 bowl season fate a week from Sunday.