Last Saturday night in Beaver Stadium, the undefeated Michigan Wolverines led a two-loss Penn State team by a touchdown in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
The Nittany Lions were pinned at their own 20-yard line with less than a minute to go, and any chance of tying the game was largely dependent on a combination of skill and luck that almost never align in those desperate situations.
It did for Penn State, though, when freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg orchestrated a brilliant drive to tie the game. The Nittany Lions would go on to win in a quadruple-overtime thriller, all to the delight of many Ohio State fans.
It’s easy for fanbases to revel in the misery of their rival’s failures, but in this scenario, Buckeye Nation should have been rooting for the Wolverines.
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Almost seven years ago to the day in Beaver Stadium, on October 14, 2006, the undefeated Michigan Wolverines led a two-loss Penn State team by a touchdown in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
The Nittany Lions were pinned at their own 19-yard line with less than two minutes to go, and the odds of tying the game against a Wolverines defense that had been stout all night were, in a word, slim.
Those odds diminished almost instantly as Michigan surrendered just nine yards on four plays. The Wolverines took over, quarterback Chad Henne took a knee, and Michigan survived to preserve its undefeated season.
It was the Wolverines’ seventh victory of the year, and it also…
Continue Reading: Why Ohio State Fans Need to Be Rooting for Michigan
