ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With 1:46 remaining, Iowa got the ball on the nine-yard line. Given how difficult it was all game for the Hawkeyes to move the ball, it should have been simple for Michigan football to win the game.
With 26 seconds remaining, the Hawkeyes were dead-to-rights, facing a third-and-12 on their own 40. Needing to score a touchdown, all the Wolverines needed were two stops. And it appeared as if they got one of two, with an incomplete pass making it fourth-and-12 with 60 yards to go, ultimately, and 19 seconds to get there.
But as cornerback Jyaire Hill broke up the pass at the sideline, senior Zeke Berry made an uncharacteristic play, hitting Tony Diaz after he was out of bounds. 15 yards, automatic first down. Now Iowa was in business
when it had no right to be.
It was one of several miscues by the maize and blue, culminating in a 20-19 loss that shouldn't have been. After the game, team captain Rod Moore said that there was a lot that the team could have done to finish, from missed plays to boneheaded mistakes.
"I would say, defensively, just ending the game. As you can see, we had about three opportunities to close out the game and then two stupid penalties," Moore said. "So we shot ourselves in the foot. I mean, we just gotta be better, execute better as a whole entire team."
As far as the penalty on Berry, Moore didn't learn about who had committed it until after the game. Calling the play on Berry's end 'stupid,' Moore says that he had to play smarter.
He didn't say anything to him after the game, but he reiterated that these types of miscues cannot happen.
"I didn't really know that that was a penalty on him until we got into the locker room," Moore said. "I didn't really say anything to him because he's an old enough guy to understand, like, that's a stupid penalty. But you gotta be smart, and you gotta be smart, and you gotta be smarter."
But why would it happen in the first place? Moore gave his thoughts, believing that Berry was just a little too hyped up and not thinking of the situation.
"I think we just play with so much, like, a lot of energy, and sometimes you can't contain that," Moore said. "Maybe it's just letting your emotions get the best of yourself, and that's what happens when you have penalties like that. So, I mean, like I just told him, he's gotta be smarter."
Before that 91-yard drive to end the game, the Wolverines had surrendered just 194 yards total. That's a good third of the amount of success that Iowa had on offense, and it came at the worst possible moment for the Wolverines. And there were other opportunities missed: such as close calls that could have been picks had the defense been just a little bit better.
"I mean, I'm gonna be real, all the yards came on that last drive," Moore said. "So, like I said, with the first question, it was three opportunities where we could've got off the field myself. I should've caught that. Zeke could've caught one, and then I can't remember the last one, but."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Rod Moore calls out Michigan's 'stupid penalties' in stunning Iowa loss
