It went from an omen to a miracle in a flash. All it took was a second. And a heave. And a prayer.
Oh, and a do-over, of which Bryce Underwood took advantage. Michigan football's quarterback airmailed his first Hail Mary, and Western Michigan players stormed the field, thinking time had expired.
A review gave the Wolverines 1 last second. Underwood compensated this time as he dropped back. He took air out of his throw, still rifling it nearly 50 yards.
J.J. Buchanan, playing in his first game in maize and blue after transferring from Utah, leapt, just as he had on the game’s first drive – talk about foreshadowing.
He rose and rose and arched his back nearly parallel to the ground as he snagged Underwood’s missile over the crowd of Broncos jerseys
and hauled in the most memorable touchdown in Michigan Stadium since Kordell Stewart ripped out U-M's heart by heaving it to Michael Westbrook.
His catch gave U-M a 13-12 win, and Kyle Whittingham’s first victory coaching U-M. (Though not his first at the Big House, but we'll get to that in a bit.)
Those who stayed stormed the field. Students at first, and then everyone else who had held onto whatever fading hope they could muster.
This was ugly before it was historic, brutal before it was beautiful.
It probably shouldn’t have been. Then again, Western Michigan won 10 games, the Mid-American Conference and a bowl game, last season, and returned a nice bit of their core. And Michigan had an unproven offensive line protecting a quarterback who had yet to show he could quarterback.
Not at this level. Not consistently. Not yet after a freshman year with too many turnovers.
Not until that final drive, and that final heave. Not until he saved – for now – Michigan's season.
One minute he looked like he might be fighting for his starting job soon and the next he was swarmed in the middle of the field.
Whittingham surely felt the whiplash, too. U-M's desultory performance until the Saturday night miracle can’t all be laid at the feet of Underwood, who missed receivers, fled the pocket too soon, threw an interception and nearly threw another.
No, save most of the blame for Whittingham, who rolled out a team that hardly seemed to have a discernible plan, not to mention less identity and not enough discipline.
It’s early, yes. One game. But the last time a Michigan coaching debut looked like this the tenure didn’t end so well.
Rich Rodriguez lost his first game leading the Wolverines ... to Whittingham, when he coached Utah in 2008. (Whittingham also got the win in another U-M's coach's debut, taking down Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines in the 2015 season opener in Utah.)
Is someone trying to say something here?
No. It’s just sports. The unbreakable Russians lost gold in hockey to a bunch of college kids, back in 1980. Tom Brady and the 18-0 Patriots went down to Eli Manning and the Giants. The Tigers got to the playoffs two years ago, riding “pitching chaos” and, at one point in August, less than a 0.2% chance to get there.
The Wolverines were a second from a similar fate, not that anyone confused this year’s team with the historic upsets of such giants – or Giants, perhaps, in Brady's case.
So, how about this:
Michigan has a long way to go, clearly. And in a different era, few would begrudge that. But U-M has an idea about itself, and so does a healthy chunk of the fanbase.
Besides, Indiana just won the national title in what surely was the quickest program turnaround in modern history. The blueprint is out there. And while no one expected Whittingham to be Curt Cignetti ... no one expected him to be RichRod, either.
Too soon?
Maybe. But this?
Just seven points on the board until the Hail Mary?
Despite a superior roster, more size, more speed, more of just about everything?
The offensive line was supposed to be better than last year's. It wasn’t.
The defensive line was supposed to be better. It was ... just not when it mattered most, as the Broncos chewed up some 14 minutes of clock, from the third to the fourth quarter, when they took control of the line of scrimmage.
That was stunning, too.
WMU doubled up U-M in time of possession – and even bullied them at times. It’s one thing to see first-game mishaps, sure.
But the Wolverines didn’t look ready.
There was a late hit. An illegal substitution. Multiple illegal formation penalties. A fumble on a punt return. A fumble on a quarterback scramble.
The last was seemingly a defining blow in a moment of near-desperation, when Underwood escaped pressure, took off downfield and picked up a first down ... until WMU’s Josh Franklin swiped at the ball from behind and Underwood was getting tackled.
That looked like the game. Should’ve been the game. And when the Broncos drove down and kicked a field goal to take a 12-7 lead with 34 seconds left?
Yeah, it was the game.
But then this is football – college football – and despite WMU finding the inches and the will and the momentum in the second half – their 20-play, nearly 14-minute, 71-yard drive and field goal flipped the game – it wasn’t ... quite ... enough.
The Wolverines weren’t meant to lose apparently. Not on a night when the sideline saved them from an interception, and then from a pick-six. Not on a night when one Hail Mary looked like it ended the game. But didn’t.
Not on a night when a five-star quarterback couldn’t settle his feet and read the defense and make the throws that were there to make, and still, it didn’t matter.
Sometimes, history has other ideas.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football had every reason to lose to WMU. But history had other ideas
